Serb Leaders 'Toying' With UN Srebrenica Resolution

Bosnian Serb and Serbian leaders are using tensions over the UK proposal for a UN resolution on Srebrenica for their own political games, an international diplomat told Balkan Insight on Tuesday.

"This is a highly emotional issue ? and local leaders are again playing with fire," the diplomat said.

The comment comes after the Bosnian Serb Chairman of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, Mladen Ivanic, on Monday berated Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and the President of the Serb-dominated Bosnian entity of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, about their positions regarding the resolution which the UK has proposed to the UN Security Council.

Following a joint session of Serbian and Republika Srpska governments on Friday, Nikolic and Dodik called on Ivanic to chair a session at which the Bosnian presidency would take a joint stand against the Srebrenica resolution.

This was clearly impossible since the Bosniak member of the presidency, Bakir Izetbegovic, would be likely to back the British resolution, while the Croat member, Dragan Covic, would most probably remain neutral.

Dodik's critics say he is using ethnic and political tensions over the UN resolution, as well as tacit support from Serbia, to undermine the Bosnian Serb opposition bloc, which is part of the ruling coalition and represents Republika Srpska at state level.

Following the October 2014 elections, a bloc of parties led by Dodik's Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, established a narrow majority in the Republika Srpska assembly.

But support for that majority has gradually weakened and Bosnian Serb opposition parties, including Ivanic's Party of democratic Progress, PDP, hope to topple the current entity government and appoint a new one.  ...