WILL SARAJEVO PARTIES COME TO THEIR SENSES? State property is not defended by reaction, but by strategic action!

By Rasim Belko

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Milorad Dodik, president of the BiH entity RS and SNSD, can go as far as the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the international guardians of the Dayton Peace Agreement allow him. 

And there is no doubt that the registration of state property is the last step that Dodik and his masterminds need to take to get into a position to carry out secessionist plans with the stamp of the hegemony of the nineties. 

State property is the last line of defense, the last bulwark, and all responsible parties should therefore direct much more attention and effort towards finally resolving this issue, as the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina defines it. 

“Dodik can go as far as the BiH institutions allow, primarily the Prosecutor’s Office, and as far as what we call the international community here, in the form of the OHR or the US Embassy, allows. It seems to me that the reactions coming from the American Embassy at this moment dictate a different narrative and tempo, and it is to be expected, or at least I want to sense, that the reactions could be more robust,” said Muharem Cero, an expert on state property, yesterday on Radio Federacije. 

However, for there to be a more robust reaction from the international community, the reaction must primarily be more robust and decisive within the political front that defines itself as pro-Bosnian or Bosniak. And that front is quite negligent towards state property. 

Because the property of Bosnia and Herzegovina, its territory, rivers, forests, cannot be defended by letters and Dodik’s calls to desist. It is defended by decisive pressure and clear action that will make it clear to Dodik, internal and international factors, that state property is one of the red lines. The pro-Bosnian factor, out of fear, ignorance, or negligence, instead of a clear message that if that red line is crossed, the Dayton Peace Agreement will be annulled and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be reactivated, is largely dealing with trivial matters and mutual snatching of positions. 

Dodik uses all of this extensively, because unlike Sarajevo, he has surrounded himself with extremely astute experts who meticulously plan his every step. That is why he has come close enough to the independence of RS to tell everyone: “Touch the property and you will see secession”. 

Naturally lost pro-Bosnian politicians react to such messages with verbal accusations and statements about who Milorad Dodik is, but they never understand what they need to be and that the issue of state property is the issue of the final defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

Therefore, political parties based in Sarajevo, which often adorn themselves with the title of pro-Bosnian parties, should highlight the issue of state property and offer solutions for it in the conclusions after every presidency and main board session. 

And as long as their focus is on armchairs and political fratricidal wars, Milorad Dodik will have ample room to realize, as he said, the dream of an independent Republika Srpska. 

The story about state property has actually been reduced to Dodik’s tireless attempts to legalize the de facto situation created with the help of Serbia through aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina, through the National Assembly of RS and other institutions. And mostly from Sarajevo, the response is forced by requests for constitutionality assessments and pleas to the OHR to do something. 

This cannot go on forever, and Dodik knows it, and his “minds” know it even better. The leader of the HDZ, Dragan Čović, also knows this, who, in Dodik’s style, only much quieter, registers state property to administrative units of the imagined neo “Herceg Bosna”. 

Those in Sarajevo are quite unaware of these problems, which is why they obviously do not offer final solutions for state property. Because if solutions were offered, forces in the international community would certainly be found to support those solutions. There is no doubt that this international community is not aware of where the story of appropriating Bosnia and Herzegovina’s property could lead. 

But, in order to try to do something, solutions must first be offered. The parties from Sarajevo do not offer them, perhaps waiting for Dodik to give up on his own and become a pro-Bosnian oriented politician. 

And if they don’t know how to beat Dodik, let them at least try to copy how he works. In the Sarajevo political spectrum, there is definitely a lack of both “minds” and “intelligence”. This is clearly visible in every move they make. 

Therefore, it is time for them to wake up, because if the property disappears, the armchairs will disappear too.