U.N. Vote on Syria Provokes New Crisis in Bosnia
A Bosnian Serb leader called Thursday for Bosnia's foreign minister to resign, accusing him of violating the constitution after he voted for the latest U.N. resolution on Syria.
Nebojsa Radmanovic, the Serb member of Bosnia's joint presidency, called on Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija, a Muslim, to resign, saying that only his departure could prevent a "deterioration of the crisis in Bosnia".
"If he does not resign, we will raise the question of Lagumdzija's responsibility... and that could lead (to) a more difficult and serious" situation, Radmanovic told reporters in Sarajevo.
Radmanovic did not object to the resolution itself, which was adopted Friday by the U.N. General Assembly and condemned the violent crackdown on the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Rather, he criticized the foreign ministry for failing to follow the proper procedure ahead of the vote, saying Bosnia's three-member presidency had never discussed the issue and that the country's U.N. ambassador should therefore have abstained.
Since the end of the 1992-1995 war, Bosnia has been divided into two semi-autonomous halves -- the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Serbs' Republika Srpska -- linked by a weak central government and a joint presidency with Muslim, Serb and Croat representatives.
All major foreign policy decisions are supposed to be made unanimously by the presidency's three members.
Radmanovic accused the foreign minister, as well as Bakir Izetbegovic, the Muslim member of the presidency, of "violating the constitution and the laws.
He also accused the foreign minister of "actively participating in the deterioration of (the political) crisis" in Bosnia.
Bosnia is still plagued by inter-ethnic political bickering that has slowed its journey toward joining the European Union.
Source: Agence France Presse
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