Several emissaries from the United States (U.S.) and Europe have visited Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in the past few weeks in an attempt to calm the situation, subtly threaten those who play dirty and call for dialogue.
The agony of the political crisis in BiH has lasted too long for citizens to be optimistic that some call for dialogue will solve all the issues. The two key problems that are generating the crisis are Milorad Dodik’s secessionist policy, along with the blocking of state institutions, as well as the fight for the Election Law. No progress can be seen in any of these problems.
The U.S. threatens sanctions more directly. They assigned a team with different responsibilities. Matthew Palmer is in charge of Electoral Reform in BiH, who, in co-operation with the European Union (EU) envoy Angelina Eichhorst, is trying to moderate the deal. The complexity of the issue is a completely different topic to address, but it is linked to the destabilizing effect of Republika Srpska (RS).
The U.S. then sent a diplomat in charge of the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, to BiH, who called for dialogue and announced possible sanctions, which were reportedly on the table.
After Escobar, Derek Chollet, a special adviser to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, landed in Sarajevo. He repeated a similar story. He advocated a return to dialogue, an end to the policy of collapsing state institutions, and hinted at thepossibility of sanctions. The political rope in BiH is too tight and it is a real miracle that the international factor thinks that at this moment it is enough to sit at the table and make some kind of dialogue to get out of the crisis while in parallel, the RS government conducts the procedure of withdrawal from state institutions and blocks any kind of decision-making at the state level.
Does anyone think that it is enough to exchange a few diplomatic thoughts and that everything will be forgotten? Even though the dialogue is needed, it cannot be established at a time when the starting positions are not the same. Why would legitimacy be given for talks to those who reject the validity of state law, who announce the formation of an entity army, form parainstitutions, insult the entire nation by reducing it to a religious group, and much more.
Would an American negotiate for his country in such conditions? Or he would demand that the destructive individualswithdraw and return to state institutions, start cooperating and solving problems.
Do both the U.S. and the EU representatives believe that by immediately and temporarily calming down Dodik, by bringing him to the negotiating table, they will manage to extinguish his long-term desire to achieve the set goals. The problem of secession can be solved with clear and decisive moves if there are strong statements on the protection of the territorial integrity of BiH, and not by postponing such a destructive policy and putting the problem under the rug, which will come to the surface again if no clear message is sent.
Ultimately, the citizens suffer in this whole story. They are suffocated by both the crisis and the futile story of the need for dialogue while undermining the state still hangs in the air and is being carried out in the field.
E.Dz.
Source: Klix.ba
