U.S. Senator Chris Murphy described his observations during a meeting with the three members of Bosnia’s Presidency in Sarajevo last week, noting that he and his colleagues left the meeting “deeply concerned about the short-term stability of this important country.”
BiH Presidency members Sefik Dzaferovic, Zeljko Komsic and Milorad Dodik met with US Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Chris Murphy, Thom Tillis and US Ambassador Michael Murphy last week.
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Senator Murphy noted on his blog later that this was his first trip to Sarajevo, which he called “one of the most magical Balkan cities”.
“Nestled in a small valley in the Dinaric Alps, Sarajevo is a spellbinding mix of Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman architecture, representing the two cultures that continue to pull at this international city. Moving through the city, you can see the evidence of its violent and recent past. Bullet holes dot the city’s main thoroughfare, nicknamed “Sniper Alley” because it was lined with Serb sniper posts which fired on city-dwelling Bosniaks as they traversed the besieged city”, the described BiH’s capital.
As soon as the senators arrived, they were on their way to meet with the three members of Bosnia’s Presidency, Zeljko Komsic, Milorad Dodik and Sefik Dzaferovic.
“Our excellent Ambassador, Michael Murphy, hurriedly briefed us in the van ride from the airport, and we strategized with him about how to approach the meeting”, Murphy wrote.
He then explained the power-sharing system in BiH which includes a tripartite Presidency, with each member representing one of the three dominant ethnic groups in the country.
He explained that, “for a while, the three presidents begrudgingly found the compromise necessary to keep the new nation running”, but that lately, mostly due to the “obstinance and separatist rhetoric” of Bosnian Serb Presidency member, Milorad Dodik, “the tripartite executive branch has lurched into crisis, unable to make any decisions”.
“As a result, Dodik, backed by Russia, has begun to make plans to set up his own Serb-only government institutions. This could lead to civil war and disaster for the region — exactly the kind of chaos that Putin would root for and foment”, Murphy warned.
“Our preparation for the meeting mattered little. From the jump, Dodik and the Croat and Bosniak leaders were more interested in arguing with each other than having an actual dialogue with us. We sat with our mouths agape as they lobbed insults and aired grievances, clearly interested only in exacerbating the existing crisis”, he described the meeting.
“We tried our best to explain to them how America has long struggled with the same issues Bosnia wrestles with — both our nations are multicultural with power-sharing between a strong national government and strong state governments. But they were barely listening to us, and we left the meeting deeply concerned about the short-term stability of this important country.”
Then, as the senators were preparing for a press conference, a U.S. embassy press officer mentioned “two sensitive topics” to raise in anticipation of questions from the local press.
“First, she flagged that the audio of the meeting introductions captured one of us saying to Dodik, who is the subject of U.S. sanctions, “Good to see you, President Dodik.” She was concerned about the connotation of suggesting it’s “good” to see someone on a U.S. sanctions list. We smiled and told her it wasn’t something to worry about”, he wrote.
“Second, she told us we might get a question about an allegation Dodik has made recently — that the U.S. and Britain are planning to kidnap him and lock him in a windowless basement. We laughed — and then realized that she was indeed serious”.
According to Murphy, Senator Tillis proposed that they should agree on a one-word answer to that question – “Absurd”.
“While in Serbia, our goal was to make diplomatic progress on goals important to the United States, here it was clear that our mission was going to be mostly one of fact-finding. Senator Shaheen, Senator Tillis, and I spent the rest of our trip discussing the implications of our meeting with the presidents and our other engagements in Sarajevo, and started to plot a strategy for how Congress could address the growing stability crisis in Bosnia”, Murphy wrote.
