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Chicago IL – The Congress of North American Bosniaks (CNAB), along with the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada (IGC), the Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina (ACBH) in Washington, and the Bosnian American Genocide Institute and Education (BAGI) strongly condemns the recent agreement between two Bosnian political parties, the Serb Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) regarding their program for mutual cooperation within the legislative and executive branches of government of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
The above mentioned agreement represents a clear threat to the democratic, multiethnic, and civic future of BiH. This arrangement promises that all of the contentious issues regarding the authority of the central government are “solved” by shifting those authorities to the entities which are based on discriminatory ethnic divisions. This agreement severely undermines the statehood and sovereignty of BiH and is the first step of a new level of aggression on BiH – an objective once led by the war criminal Radovan Karadzic.
The SDP benefited from Bosniak votes in 2010 by advocating for democratic reforms that were based on principles of citizenry and not ethnic division. Also concerning is the transferring of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council to the entity level as well as the proposed changes in the Election Law which hope to transfer the responsibility for oversight of the electoral process from the Central Election Commission (CIK) to the municipal councils. These reforms are only the beginning of a complete dispossession of BiH state institutions in relation to the entities.
We have repeatedly warned BiH politicians and the international community that the President of Republika Srpska (RS), Milorad Dodik and the Chairman of the House of Peoples, Dragan Čović planned to steadily undermine all centralized institutions in BiH in order to ultimately bring about the division of the country. We fear that their next move will be demilitarization, the repeal of the Armed Forces of BiH and the creation of a so-called third Croatian entity which would cement the division of BiH. We appreciate Secretary Clinton visiting BiH during her tour of the Balkans and stating that”it is totally unacceptable that 17 years after the war ended, some still question Bosnia and Herzegovina’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” However, the RS and the “third entity” would have no remaining obstacles in illegally separating from BiH.
On behalf of the Bosnian diaspora in North America, we categorically reject all attempts at the destruction of BiH and we invite all appropriate leaders and advocates who believe in a united, multiethnic and sovereign BiH to take all legal means to oppose the implementation of this treasonous deal.
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