Dodik and Čović Speak About Radicalisation of Bosniaks, World Media Warn of the Opposite

Bosnia and Herzegovina, (Patria) – The currently leading political party of Bosnian Serbs, SNSD, bases its political campaign on spreading fear of Bosniaks. The president of the BiH entity Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, constantly emphasises the story about radical Muslim circles in the country, as well as that the danger to that entity comes from Sarajevo, although he offers no concrete examples for these claims.

He has recently been joined by the president of HDZ BiH, the ruling Croatian party in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dragan Čović. During a recent visit to Zagreb, he said that Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot be organised as a civic state, because that would practically mean that Bosnia and Herzegovina would become a Muslim state, alluding to the fact that Bosniaks are the most numerous people in the country.

Analysts warn that the presidents of SNSD and HDZ BiH are using such rhetoric only because they cannot offer concrete economic progress in the country, and that they are trying to stay in power through nationalist rhetoric, with the help of which they control the judiciary in the country, which could prosecute them.

The German government recently announced that there are no indicators of a rise in radicalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina, nor of numerous departures to foreign battlefields. The government published such data after the insistence of some members of the German Parliament.

On the other hand, the British magazine Guardian reminded today that the Ministry of Interior of the BiH entity Republika Srpska purchased 2,500 automatic rifles, “which is worrying given Russia's influence on that part of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

As stated in the text by Julian Borger, the rifles will arrive in RS soon:

"2,500 automatic rifles will arrive in RS from Serbia in mid-March, ahead of the planned opening of a new training centre created under Russian influence.”

The newspaper writes that the weapons arrive at a time when the stability of BiH is in question.