Bećirović on the referendum: The West must resist the reincarnation of Milošević's policy in the 21st century

Director of the International Institute for Middle Eastern and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) Ljubljana, Dr. Zijad Bećirović, told the news agency Patria that he "sees no need to reinvent the wheel and look for special solutions after such a stance by the Peace Implementation Council (PIC)".

- The High Representative should annul all decisions of the Republika Srpska bodies regarding the referendum, apply the Bonn Powers, because the PIC has clearly taken the position that the High Representative Valentin Inzko can do that.

The international community, nor the High Representative, should not hide behind domestic institutions, starting from the Constitutional Court to the BiH Prosecutor's Office. The matter is more than clear. These are anti-Dayton activities.

Any eventual attempt or activity to organize a referendum after the ban of the referendum by the High Representative should be personally sanctioned. If, after the decision of the High Representative, Milorad Dodik and Aleksandar Vučić continue with activities related to organizing the referendum, then it is obvious that Serbia is seeking conflict with Western countries and NATO, says Bećirović.

He believes that this would give the right to those who believe that Russia is behind such attempts, or that Russia might be preparing a similar scenario as in Ukraine and other countries.

- It seems that Serbia has entered into something from which it will be very difficult to "emerge". According to some international sources, certain files are already being compiled that document activities that could escalate into files of grave violations of international humanitarian law. Vučić, as well as Dodik, are becoming the reincarnation of the nineties of the last century, when Milošević was the "TuTi di Kapo" of all conflicts in the Balkans, reminds Bećirović.

He draws attention to carefully examining the latest reports on conflicts within the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

- These reports have contributed to the discovery that dozens of Serbian intelligence officers are continuously present in BiH, even in Srebrenica when the attack on Vučić occurred.

One should recall 1989 and 1990, when Serbian security officers were active in BiH and when the then leadership of BiH reacted. Today, joint exercises of Serbia and RS are being organized in BiH, something similar to digging trenches and artillery positions around Sarajevo, and the BiH public was then sent a message not to worry about anything. Is Serbia today doing everything that Slobodan Milošević once did?

The West must resist the reincarnation of Milošević's policy in the 21st century. Serbia sends diplomatic notes to BiH when some video is released showing the Serbian flag being burned. After documented allegations about countless Serbian spies roaming BiH, not a word from BiH's foreign policy towards Serbia. Why? Probably, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH, Igor Crnadak, is still investigating who from the MFA of BiH helped mark the genocide in Srebrenica, or is the foreign policy preoccupied with something else?, Bećirović wonders.

He points out that the West invested enormous efforts, resources, and time to stop the war in BiH, even when Russia was on its knees.

- And today, the West must not allow the repetition of the same Milošević scenario. It is simply incomprehensible that even Bosniak politics believes that when there is no Milošević and no JNA, then there is no danger for BiH. Milošević is no longer physically present, but there are some "Milošević's followers" in Serbia, and there is also Putin and a somewhat stronger Russia, says Bećirović.

The meeting in Belgrade reveals Serbia

- Tomorrow's meeting in Belgrade between Nikolić and Vučić with the Serb leaders from Republika Srpska speaks for itself and reveals how much Serbia is (not) interfering in the events in BiH. This is clear to official Brussels and official Washington. All of this will weaken Aleksandar Vučić's position in Serbia and the region in the future. I fear that Vučić will nullify all the good he has done and which the international community has somehow acknowledged him for with such moves. In this case, Vučić and Serbia could lose the most, emphasizes Bećirović.