US hits Bosnian Serb leader Dodik with sanctions as int'l criticism grows
After the U.S. imposed sanctions on Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik on Tuesday for contempt of the Bosnian Constitutional Court, the question is now whether the European Union (EU) member states will take the same route.
Despite the possibility that each member state might separately decide on the matter, French Ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Claire Bodonyi said her country will decide on these matters together with the other EU member states, which means the issue may be on European Parliament's agenda.
EU parliamentarian, Igor Šoltes confirming the subject was on the EU's agenda, pointed out how the EP might look into what was happening and why, then consider both sides to make a decision.
Top official in Bosnia responsible for implementation of the Dayton Agreement, EU High Representative Valentin Inzko, welcomed the sanctions, saying they were of "great symbolic significance."
He added that Dodik had been playing with fire and had crossed a red line and will have to live with the consequences now. Inzko's office indicated that the sanctions were not meant as an attack on Serbs.
Together with the U.S., Germany, the EU and the member states of Peace Implementation Council (PIC) specifically pointed to the political and legal consequences of a failure to comply with a decision by the Constitutional Court.
In the meantime, the Society for Threatened Peoples of Bosnia-Herzegovina with its branches in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, England, Luxembourg and Italy appealed to the governments of 28 EU member states to uphold the U.S. sanctions.
In response, Dodik, called on Bosnia's Foreign Minister, Igor Crnadak, to declare the U.S. Ambassador to Sarajevo, Maureen Cormack a "persona non grata," or an "unwanted man," if not so, Dodik said he would take legal actions against Cormack and request the new U.S. Administration to relieve Cormack of her duty.
Several weeks before, Dodik was refused a diplomatic visa by the U.S. embassy in Sarajevo to attend Friday's swearing-in of the President-elect Donald Trump.
The German Embassy in Sarajevo in a recent statement said initiatives by the RS President Dodik, which are primarily directed against the state's legal institutions, would obviously divert attention from the disastrous economic situation of the country and the need for socio-economic reforms. Furthermore, it was indicated that the issue obstructs the recently launched reform process and the accession of Bosnia-Herzegovina to the EU.
The U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Maureen Cormack in a video message on the U.S. Embassy Twitter account on Wednesday confirmed the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), in consultation with the U.S. Department of State designated Milorad Dodik, the president of Bosnia's autonomous Serb entity, Republika Srpska (RS), as subject to sanctions. Cormack said the sanctions against RS President Dodik were imposed for non-compliance with the decision of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina to ban the organization of a referendum.
Sanctions were imposed on Dodik for his refusal to stop celebrating "Day of Republika Srpska" statehood on Jan. 9, which is discriminating against the country's other ethnic groups, Croats and Muslims, despite prohibitions by the Bosnia-Herzegovina's Constitutional Court and warnings from the U.S. and EU.
Jan. 9, a date tied to the brutal 1990s war, commemorates the date when Bosnian Serbs declared the creation of their own state in Bosnia, igniting the country's devastating four-year war. The war resulted in more than 100,000 deaths and turned half of the country's population into refugees.
The sanctions mean that any of Dodik's access to any property or interests in property within the U.S. jurisdictions was blocked, and U.S. citizens were prohibited from engaging in transactions with him.
Despite the possibility that each member state might separately decide on the matter, French Ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Claire Bodonyi said her country will decide on these matters together with the other EU member states, which means the issue may be on European Parliament's agenda.
EU parliamentarian, Igor Šoltes confirming the subject was on the EU's agenda, pointed out how the EP might look into what was happening and why, then consider both sides to make a decision.
Top official in Bosnia responsible for implementation of the Dayton Agreement, EU High Representative Valentin Inzko, welcomed the sanctions, saying they were of "great symbolic significance."
He added that Dodik had been playing with fire and had crossed a red line and will have to live with the consequences now. Inzko's office indicated that the sanctions were not meant as an attack on Serbs.
Together with the U.S., Germany, the EU and the member states of Peace Implementation Council (PIC) specifically pointed to the political and legal consequences of a failure to comply with a decision by the Constitutional Court.
In the meantime, the Society for Threatened Peoples of Bosnia-Herzegovina with its branches in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, England, Luxembourg and Italy appealed to the governments of 28 EU member states to uphold the U.S. sanctions.
In response, Dodik, called on Bosnia's Foreign Minister, Igor Crnadak, to declare the U.S. Ambassador to Sarajevo, Maureen Cormack a "persona non grata," or an "unwanted man," if not so, Dodik said he would take legal actions against Cormack and request the new U.S. Administration to relieve Cormack of her duty.
Several weeks before, Dodik was refused a diplomatic visa by the U.S. embassy in Sarajevo to attend Friday's swearing-in of the President-elect Donald Trump.
The German Embassy in Sarajevo in a recent statement said initiatives by the RS President Dodik, which are primarily directed against the state's legal institutions, would obviously divert attention from the disastrous economic situation of the country and the need for socio-economic reforms. Furthermore, it was indicated that the issue obstructs the recently launched reform process and the accession of Bosnia-Herzegovina to the EU.
The U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Maureen Cormack in a video message on the U.S. Embassy Twitter account on Wednesday confirmed the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), in consultation with the U.S. Department of State designated Milorad Dodik, the president of Bosnia's autonomous Serb entity, Republika Srpska (RS), as subject to sanctions. Cormack said the sanctions against RS President Dodik were imposed for non-compliance with the decision of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina to ban the organization of a referendum.
Sanctions were imposed on Dodik for his refusal to stop celebrating "Day of Republika Srpska" statehood on Jan. 9, which is discriminating against the country's other ethnic groups, Croats and Muslims, despite prohibitions by the Bosnia-Herzegovina's Constitutional Court and warnings from the U.S. and EU.
Jan. 9, a date tied to the brutal 1990s war, commemorates the date when Bosnian Serbs declared the creation of their own state in Bosnia, igniting the country's devastating four-year war. The war resulted in more than 100,000 deaths and turned half of the country's population into refugees.
The sanctions mean that any of Dodik's access to any property or interests in property within the U.S. jurisdictions was blocked, and U.S. citizens were prohibited from engaging in transactions with him.