Dodik remained silent about 1,500 Serbs from RS coming to work in Sarajevo daily

The ridiculous statement that there are more Chinese in Sarajevo than Serbs and Croats, made by Milorad Dodik in 2015 after Pope Francis' visit, is only surpassed by his claim that 1,300 Serbs live in Sarajevo. Dodik made this statement to raise new tensions about the "undesirability of Serbs in Sarajevo", even though he is aware that this lie can be easily refuted and verified. According to the 2013 census, more than 13,000 Serbs live in the Sarajevo Canton. And in just four city municipalities, there are more than 10,000, writes the Patria agency.

It is more likely that Dodik was referring to the number of Serbs who come to Sarajevo daily for work in institutions and companies from East Sarajevo, Pale, Sokolac, and other places, as this number is around 1,500. This would mean that Dodik does not recognize Serbs in Sarajevo, especially not those who defended the city from the Serb aggressor and who did not comply with the calls of Krajišnik and Karadžić to leave Sarajevo.

It should not be forgotten that parts of the municipalities of Stari Grad, Novo Sarajevo, and Novi Grad are separated and belong to the RS. In that area and East Sarajevo, which naturally gravitates towards Sarajevo, according to the latest data, there are slightly more than 61,000 inhabitants.

It is true that in 1991, 150,000 Serbs lived in and around Sarajevo, but at that time there were 527,049 inhabitants. Many of them left Sarajevo, as did Bosniaks, Croats, and others. It was important to save one's life. Dodik is aware that his math has nothing to do with common sense, but a lie told three times will become the truth for someone. And the elections are approaching.

Similarly, we could list places like Srebrenica, Prijedor, Banja Luka, where Bosniaks were numerous in 1991, and today that number is far from what it once was. We will take the example of Banja Luka, where according to the 2013 census, 7,680 Bosniaks live. According to the 1991 census, there were 28,500.

The "endangerment" of Serbs in Sarajevo is also shown by the fact that out of 75 BiH institutions (agencies, institutes, ministries, services), the leading positions a year ago were held by Bosniaks (28), Serbs (21), Croats (18, mostly in the financial vertical), in six institutions the principle of rotation applies (Presidency of BiH, PS BiH), and in two institutions they were from the "Others" category.

We will also give an individual example. In the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), out of 725 employees, 317 are Bosniaks, 285 Serbs, 117 Croats, and three are from the "Others" category. In leadership positions, there are 22 Serbs, 16 Bosniaks, and 11 Croats.

By: A. Varatanović