The introduction of an auxiliary police unit in Bosnia’s Serb-majority part is completely legal, and it is only being formed to protect the territory and citizens of the region, especially regarding “Bosnia’s inability to deal with the migrant crisis,” said Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, responding to allegations that the new unit will be turned into a paramilitary unit.
The Government of Republika Srpska (RS), the Serb-majority semi-autonomous entity within the country, adopted end of March changes to the law on police which introduced an auxiliary police unit in the entity. The draft was sent to the RS National Assembly for adoption.
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Bakir Izetbegovic, the leader of the main Bosniak party in the country, the Party for Democratic Action (SDA), expressed concern that Dodik and RS authorities are “arming the entity police with military firearms, planning the formation of a reserve police unit and other things.
Izetbegovic’s statement came after Dodik accused the SDA of “mobilising” people and illegally producing arms in factories it controls in the other entity, the Federation (FBiH).
For Dodik, Izetbegovic’s statement represents an attack on Republika Srpska.
“There is a serious difference. What we are doing here, we are doing in accordance with standards and the law. They are doing things secretly, breaching the law,” Dodik told the RS public broadcaster.
The RS is not a threat to anyone, he said.
“The only purpose of forming the auxiliary police unit is the better protection of the territory and citizens of the RS, especially because of the inability to deal with the migrant crisis,” Dodik said, adding that other countries in the region have done the same.
Izetbegovic should not worry and that not one officer from the new RS police unit will ever enter FBiH for any reason.
“They could travel as citizens, but nothing else,” he said, adding that he is “sure that the other side (police in FBiH) is prepared to do so (enter the RS).”
