In recent weeks, the political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina has deteriorated considerably. There is even talk of the risk of the federal state imploding. It should be noted that for 30 years, it is the ethno-nationalist parties which have ruled the country without interruption and to remain in power, they have continued to stir up divisions between Muslim Bosnians, Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats.
The Serbian nationalist leader, Milorad Dodik, has been threatening for more than 15 years for example to secede and he now seems to have taken action since he recently announced that he wanted to create institutions parallel to the federal state for the Serbian Republic, with in particular a justice, a tax authorities and above all an autonomous army.
Serbian nationalists have not at all appreciated a law passed this summer by the high representative of internationals in Sarajevo. Before leaving his post, this high representative, who has important powers provided for in the peace agreements, decided to sanction the denial of the Srebrenica genocide, one of the worst massacres of the war, in July 1995: more than 8,000 men and adolescents were killed by Serbian forces. This massacre has been qualified as genocide by international justice, but on the Serbian side, it continues to be denied or minimized.
In any case, this law served as a pretext for the Serbian leaders to initiate the secession of the Serbian Republic. An option supported, for example, by Dragana. “Why not make this secession? asks the hairdresser in Pale, the former capital of the Serbs. It was the same with the war: Muslims wanted their country and we wanted ours. Today you only hear about Srebrenica all the time and that only sows more hatred. “
“We would have to go our separate ways to end this.”
Dragana, a Serbian hairdresserto franceinfo
With the rise of these political tensions and community discourse, some fear a return to violence. The situation worries many and the local media evoke every day the risks of conflict. This concern is especially present in the countryside where the populations are still mixed.
Hatidza, for example, lives in a village located on the dividing line that separates the two entities of the country. “Here, we have no problem between Serbs and Muslims, we live like citizens, she assures. But when you listen to political speeches, you don’t know what to believe. I was fourteen when the last war broke out and now some would like to prepare another “, worries Hatidza.
Ended just 26 years ago, the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina left more than 100,000 dead and more than two million displaced.