Peacekeeping forces entered Bosnia on Wednesday due to escalating tensions within the nation, just one day following NATO Secretary General Mark Rutten's statements. reaffirmed support for the nation’s sovereignty and harmony.
Italian and Czech military forces landed at Sarajevo Airport and were welcomed by the EU force in Bosnia, referred to as EUFOR. In the following days, Romanian troops along with helicopters and additional military equipment are expected to arrive.
Rutte had promised NATO’s “unyielding” backing for Bosnia’s territorial integrity following a sequence of actions by Bosnian Serbs that heightened tensions almost three decades post the conclusion of a brutal conflict.
The leader of Bosnia and Herzegovinia's Serb-dominated region, known as Republika Srpska (RS), Milorad Dodik, has put forward new laws intended to prohibit the functioning of state-level security and judicial organizations across roughly half of the Western Balkan nation’s area.
Bosnia’s state-level prosecutors issued arrest warrants On Wednesday for three high-ranking Bosnian Serb officials, including Dodik.
Dodik, who had earlier stated that he doesn’t recognize the nation’s state-level prosecutor's office, dismissed the legitimacy of the warrant and any efforts to apprehend him. He also declared that he won't travel to Sarajevo for an interrogation.
His actions, earlier approved by the RS' National Assembly, were prompted by the initial judgment handed down by the State-level Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina against Dodik on February 26th. This led to significant political turmoil within the country aspiring for European Union membership.
The court in Sarajevo has convicted the Bosnian Serb political figure to one year of imprisonment and prohibited him from participating in politics for six years due to defiance towards the rulings made by the international community’s peace representative, German diplomat Christian Schmidt, an action deemed illegal. The decision is subject to potential appeals from Dodik.
In Bosnia, the High Representative serves as the primary mediator in significant conflicts and plays a crucial role in ensuring the enforcement of the Dayton Agreement from 1995, which was established to halt the war within the nation.
