The current leaders of the Serbs and the Croats in Bosnia seek to divide the country on an ethnic basis and are ignoring the fact that it is populated by citizens and not only by members of ethnic groups, Democratic Front (DF) official Milan Dunovic told N1 on Wednesday.
Bosnian Serb Milorad Dodik and Bosnian Croat Dragan Covic have formed an alliance even before the October election in Bosnia.
“They sent a message to Sarajevo that they want a division of Bosnia on an ethnic basis. They said, and their statements were similar, that they are the legitimate representatives of the Croats and the Serbs,” Dunovic said.
“They intentionally and consciously keep forgetting that citizens live in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he added.
He also spoke about speculations that the Central Election Commission (CiK) might base its decision on distributing the mandates following the October General Election on the 2013 census instead of the one from 1991.
Which census is used will be a sign of what direction the country is going toward, Dunovic said.
“Should it (the 2013 census) be used, it could represent legalisation of ethnic cleansing,” he said.
The Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the 1992-95 war prescribed in its Annex VII that everybody who was forced to leave their home during the war has the right return. The idea was to erase the results of ethnic cleansing, which in practice turned the once mixed Yugoslav republic into clusters of ethnic-based enclaves.
The Agreement also prescribed that until the expelled return home, the division of power in the communities will be distributed according to the 1991 census, the one prior to the ethnic cleansing.
However, nationalists have obstructed the return of the refugees ever since the end of the conflict and Annex VII has never been fully implemented. Meanwhile, the 2013 census has exposed the full extent of the ethnic cleansing effects.
Those pursuing the idea of a multiethnic Bosnia and Herzegovina request the pre-ethnic cleansing census to be used in distributing seats in communities. Nationalists, however, insist on the new census.
Should the 2013 census be implemented, “we would get a complete victory of ethnicity on the ground,” Dunovic said, adding that this is exactly what Covic is going for.
“The Central Election Commission cannot declare that Annex VII has been implemented. Only the High Representative and the Parliament of Bosnia can declare that,” he said.
The High Representative is Bosnia’s top international official who is tasked with overseeing the civilian implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
Should the 2013 census indeed be used, the Office of the High Representative (OHR) should react, Dunovic said, “as this is a direct breach of the Dayton Agreement.”
“Some CiK members have been saying that the 2013 census should be used. Some even said that the 1991 census is not good at all. They need to be aware that they have to face the consequences of this,” he said.
