Political crisis in Bosnia

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In news- Bosnia is going through its worst political crisis since its 1990s war. With the international presence in the region waning, unresolved rivalries and opposing interests among the three ethnic groups- Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats have resurfaced.

About the crisis-

• From 1992 until 1995, Bosnia was under attack by Serb and Croat forces aiming to divide the country into a Greater Serbia and a Greater Croatia, respectively. 
• The conflict ended with the US-sponsored Dayton peace accords reached in 1995 that established Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state composed of two entities: A Bosniak-Croat dominated Federation entity and a Serb-run Republika Srpska entity.
• The recent crisis began in July, 2021 when Valentin Inzko, then the high representative overseeing the implementation of the peace accord, banned denial of genocide and established war crimes, as well as the glorification of war criminals.
• Republika Srpska, along with allies China and Russia, does not recognise the Office of the High Representative and has long requested for it to shut down.
• Milorad Dodik, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Serb member of the tripartite presidency, recently announced that Republika Srpska would be moving towards forming its own Bosnian Serb army, after pulling out of Bosnia’s joint armed forces. 
• This announcement has alarmed many Bosniaks who fear a return to the violence of the 1990s as the International Court of Justice in 2007 found the Bosnian Serb army to be responsible for genocide in Srebrenica, located in the Republika Srpska entity near the border with Serbia.
• The European Union and the United States have issued statements calling “all political actors” and “all parties” to abandon divisive and secessionist rhetoric and respect state institutions.

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