Confused Konaković contradicts himself, can the damage from the ambassadorial coup be fixed or not, will there be sanctions or not?

By: Rasim Belko

It is no longer necessary to write that Bosnia and Herzegovina has the wrong and diplomatically incompetent person at the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That Elmedin Konaković is in the wrong place and without the minimum qualifications is clear to most citizens of this country.

And every new ripple in the socio-political circumstances in Bosnia and Herzegovina shows that he is a person who works exclusively in the interest of remaining in a political position, which is often contrary to the interests of the state and the people from whom Konaković comes.

After Dodik cursed genocide and annulled the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court of BiH, Konaković said that partners from RS “can count on them”, meaning the Trojka, of course.

Today, after the letter from the realistically Dodik's, fictitiously state ambassadors, Konaković managed to deny himself in two media statements and show that he is de facto afraid of even the thought of reacting contrary to the intentions of Milorad Dodik.

“It is known that the appointment of ambassadors and consuls is within the jurisdiction of the BiH Presidency. The MFA does not have effective tools to sanction ambassadors and consuls in any way. We can invite them for consultations, as can any member of the BiH Presidency. They have refused to come at the MFA's invitation so far, and when they refuse, there is no option to sanction them,” the MFA told Sarajevo's Oslobođenje.

During the day, he also gave a statement to Avaz, saying: “Nothing we haven't seen before, and that is that ambassadors delegated by the member of the Presidency from RS largely support the policies from RS. What is important in this case is that nothing that any ambassador in the system does contrary to the BiH Constitution, the protection of its institutions, is something that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot easily change. To be honest, I don't see that anything special can be changed, nor that they can harm the state of BiH with their actions, nor will I allow it as Minister of Foreign Affairs.”

Does the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BiH have effective tools or is it powerless to act on ambassadors? In the first scenario, Konaković says it doesn't, and in the second, that the Ministry can easily change anything the ambassadors do!

Second, the very fact that so many ambassadors and consuls are sending support to a separatist against whom an indictment has just been filed is damage to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Minister Konaković.

Such is the head of Bosnian-Herzegovinian diplomacy, which has not been at lower levels for a long time. And while that is the case, Milorad Dodik's ambassadors, while collecting good sums from the budget of Bosnia and Herzegovina, will be able to do what the separatist regime from Banja Luka orders them to do.

Meanwhile, the MFA will pose for photos in Sarajevo and enjoy the film festival.

And the state will sink deeper, because Dodik's ambassadors do not have time to pose for photos, they are persistently working for “their cause”. And Konaković does not dare to even respond to them in writing, but confuses the public about what he can and cannot do.

For example, the first thing Konaković could do is send a note to our embassies and consular representations, as well as their hosts, and warn them that judicial actions in Bosnia and Herzegovina are exclusively the affair of our state and that ambassadors do not have the authority to comment on them publicly.

Second, Konaković's premise that the ambassadors' positions are benign is not true, because by definition, ambassadors are the main communicators of the country that sends them to the host country. Given that each member of the Presidency has the right to an ambassadorial quota from a specific nation, imagine how many diplomats are currently walking the world saying that Bosnia and Herzegovina is a colony where Serbian politicians are persecuted.

And Minister Konaković does not dare to send even a letter or instruction. Because, let's not forget, secessionists can count on the Trojka as a stable partner!