The United Nations (UN) on Thursday expressed concern over the tensions and political tensions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, calling for peace and stability.
“We call on all political leaders to fully support and facilitate the work of state institutions to consolidate peace and ensure stability throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Calling on “relevant actors to exercise restraint,” Dujarric said they should refrain from divisive discourse and actions and instead engage in constructive dialogue and cooperation.
Dujarric’s statement comes amid escalating tensions after the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in late February sentenced the president of the Bosnian entity Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, to a year in prison and a six-year ban from holding the office of president of the RS, for “disrespecting the decisions of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
The Bosnian Prosecutor’s Office has issued an arrest warrant for Dodik, as well as RS Prime Minister Radovan Višković and Nenad Stevandić, the head of the entity’s assembly.
They are suspected of the crime of “attacking the constitutional order” after the RS National Assembly adopted, and Dodik signed, a decree publishing in the Official Gazette laws prohibiting the operation of state judicial and security institutions in that Bosnian entity.
