SARAJEVO: Austria on Friday defended its decision to impose a travel ban on Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik after accusing him of threatening stability in his fragile Balkan nation. On Thursday, Austria and Germany jointly declared entry bans on Dodik and two other senior officials from the Serb statelet Republika Srpska (RS) in Bosnia.
Dodik, RS Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic and the statelet's parliamentary speaker Nenad Stevandic are under investigation in Bosnia for undermining the constitution and secessionist moves. "We want to send this clear signal that the actions and laws towards secession will not be tolerated," Austria's Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger said in a press conference in Sarajevo on Friday. "It's necessary in times like that to make a clear statement."
Tensions have risen since Dodik, 66, was convicted in February of defying Christian Schmidt, the international envoy charged with overseeing the peace accord that ended Bosnia's 1990s war. He has remained unrepentant and pushed through laws forbidding the federal police and judiciary from entering Bosnia's Serb entity in retaliation. He has for years pursued a separatist agenda, repeatedly threatening to pull the RS out of Bosnia's central institutions, including the army, judiciary and tax system, leading to sanctions.
Meinl-Reisinger said Dodik's recent actions "threaten the stability and the constitutional order and the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina," after meeting her Bosnian counterpart Elmedin Konakovic. Bosnian authorities have not arrested the three officials because such an operation was deemed too risky. Interpol refused on Wednesday to issue an international request for Dodik and Stevandic, after a protest note from Serbia, whose passport both men also hold.
The Austrian minister said the travel ban for the trio has already entered into force, banning them from both entering Austria and travelling through its territory. Bosnia's current crisis has to be solved primarily by the country's institutions and judiciary, Meinl-Reisinger said. "But... we have our interests too, as Austria, as the European Union," she added. "And I think when there are so many red lines that somebody crossed, the secessionist activities are not to be tolerated any longer." — AFP
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