Bosniak leader warns of “clashes”

BANJA LUKA

Clashes are possible in Bosnia if the work of state institutions is blocked and the Office of the High Representative closes, warns SDA leader Sulejman Tihić.

In an interview with Banja Luka daily Nezavisne Novine, Tihić said that he did not know why his earlier statements had caused such a storm, as he was not calling for violence, but peace.

He added that he had not given up hope of reaching an agreement with the other party leaders, unlike Republic of Srpska Prime Minister Milorad Dodik, who, he said, was not honoring previous agreements.

Ahead of tomorrow’s meeting of political leaders hosted by International High Representative Valentin Inzko, the SDA leader said that the meeting would be held in a broad format, and that, besides the leaders of the “Prud Troika”, representatives of other parties would also be in attendance.

“I received an invitation from International High Representative Valentin Inzko and I will attend. I didn’t attend the meeting of the Prud Troika because of the jingoistic rhetoric mixed in with hate speech by Milorad Dodik, and his failure to honor what had been agreed,” he said.

According to Tihić, the substance of Constitutional reform, the Law on Property, the census and returns had all been agreed, though all wrapped up in the same package.

“Of the five agreed things, Dodik dropped three and rejected them in parliament. The SDA agreed to a census with ethnic and religious declarations, but only with the support of returns, but the returns strategy didn’t pass the Bosnian House of Peoples,” said the SDA leader, adding that there was no sense in an agreement if that could not be implemented.