Rats Infest Bosnia's Mostar Amid Political Deadlock

Facing a growing problem with vermin infestation, the mayor of Bosnia's main southern town of Mostar, Ljubo Beslic, has asked for an urgent financial support for an extermination campaign from the Environment Fund in Bosnia's Federation entity.

A city official told BIRN on Monday that Beslic sent a letter to the Federation Environment Fund at the end of last week.

"We are receiving citizens' complaints on a daily basis, so we are looking for a way to find financial means for targeted removal of rats for the whole city area," Beslic said in the letter, which was obtained by BIRN.

He warned that the vermin problem represents a "direct danger to citizens' health and security."

Beslic said the infestation was caused by recent construction works, but officials and experts said the poor collection and disposal of garbage in the Mostar region also contributed to the problem, as well as the fact that no systematic extermination and disinfection has been carried out in some nine years.

These problems have been directly caused by the prolonged political crisis in Mostar, which has affected the work of the city's public services.

Mostar, which has about 100.000 inhabitants, has been ethnically divided since Bosnia's 1992-95 war. Its population is almost equally split between Bosniaks and Croats.

Past ethnic divisions have become reflected in local politics. For the past 15 years the city has been ruled by the main Bosniak and Croat national parties, the Party of Democratic Action, SDA, and the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, but their conflicting positions eventually led to a complete standstill.

The city has not held local elections since 2008, as the HDZ and SDA failed to agree on a new statute as well as new election rules...