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| Europe |
| Bosnia: Serb Leader Insists On Referendum Despite Criticism |
| 2006-06-07 |
| (AKI) - Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik on Tuesday admitted that holding a Serb referendum on independence in Bosnia was a “political adventure” that could be seen as "tilting at windmills”, but insisted it was the only way forward. “If Sarajevo persists in claiming that the Bosnian Serb entity Republika Srpska (RS) shouldn’t exist and is a genocidal creature, they will get the answer called ‘people’ and ‘referendum’,” said Dodik, during a lecture in northern Serbian city of Novi Sad. Dodik, who is prime minister of the RS said Serbs in Bosnia might resort to the same tool as Montenegrins had in their 21 May referendum if Muslim leaders in Sarajevo continued to press for the Bosnian Serb entity's abolition, on the grounds that it was “a genocidal creature” forged in war. His comments drew sharp criticism from the international community's high representative in Bosnia, Christian Schwarz Schilling, who said only former Yugoslav republics had the legal right to a plebiscite - which was not the case with the RS. Bosnia was divided into two entities, a Muslim-Croat federation and the RS by the Dayton peace accord that ended the civil war in 1995. But the international community has been gradually stripping powers from the entities to strengthen the central government. |
| Posted by:Fred |