The International High Representative, the body responsible for overseeing peace in the fractured country of Bosnia-Herzegovina, meets in the capital Sarajevo on Wednesday. The meeting is likely to focus on a new law, passed by one of the country's two semi-autonomous governments, which could eventually put the very existence of the International High Representative at risk.

The Prime Minister of the Bosnian Serb Republic (Republika Srpska), Milorad Dodik, has called for a referendum on the powers of the High Representative - and on the so-called Dayton Peace Accord which established the current dual-government political system in Bosnia-Herzegovina. A new law making it easier to set up referendums within Dodik's territory could make this public vote a reality.

"The judges and prosecutors have no legitimacy," Dodik told Deutsche Welle, in reference to one of the International High Representative's biggest tasks, war crimes prosecutions from the conflict in the early 1990s.

Dodik believes the international community as a whole has spent too much time in Bosnia-Herzegovina and thinks the International High Representative is holding the country back.

"People within the international community simply create crises, because they know that if they leave Bosnia, they'll have to go to Afghanistan," he said.

"The war still isn't over"

Legal prosecutions dating back to the 1992-1995 conflict in Bosnia are a controversial issue in the divided country, and foreign judges and prosecutors assist local legal figures during the cases. The goal is to guarantee an independent judiciary, and to keep the nationalist rhetoric that pervades local politics out of the courtroom.

"Many judges here are competent to hear war crimes cases," one of Sarajevo's international judges, Patricia Whalen, says. "But do the people trust that?"

"I'm not sure that trust is there, because the war still isn't over, I mean, fifteen years later, the same issues are being fought out every day among politicians, and I think it would be irresponsible to withdraw from the court."

Prime Minister Dodik has frequently advocated splitting the two parts of Bosnia-Herzegovina into independent entities, sometimes using Kosovo's unilateral split from Serbia - which has since been recognized as official by much, but by no means all, of the world - as an example to support his case. Even though Dodik has since softened his message on secession, not everyone is convinced that his goals have changed.

Possible secession

The country's Deputy High Representative, Raffi Gregorian, says the referendum on his organization in the Bosnian Serb Republic is provocative, and believes it could be the first step on the road to another referendum on secession.

"There are other clues along the way that suggest that's the case," Gregorian said. "Like efforts to break up state institutions or prevent them from functioning. They all seem to be leading in the same direction. The only question is: how far will they go?"

According to the country's constitution, a referendum held in the Bosnian Serb Republic would have no legal standing in Bosnia, but it could cause political and social upheaval in the country.

While Dodik says his desire for this first referendum is not aimed at setting up another one on secession, he also will not rule out the possibility for the future, saying it's important to ask the people what status they want. His references to Bosnia-Herzegovina as a "virtual" and "pointless" country in the past lead many to believe that he still eyes secession for his government.

"I only say what most people think," Dodik said. "This is a virtual, pointless country, only sustained by the international community. I'm not against Bosnia-Herzegovina, but if we can't find ways to make this a functional country, we should not rule out peacefully talking about ways to partition it."

Raffi Gregorian from the International High Representative, however, doubts that such an issue would be resolved through peaceful discussion.

"I'm not going to speculate as to whether they will actually do that [secede], but I don't think it would happen smoothly."


Author: Mark Lowen / msh
Editor: Andreas Illmer