U.N. Vote on Syria Provokes New Crisis in Bosnia
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
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.
10 August 2012, 11:32
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how funny of the Serbs to invoke the Bosnian constitution. It's them who are the first to breach it in a grave and consistent manner, and thus to paralayse Bosnia.
We the European citizens are no longer letting to fool ourselves from this primitive propaganda.
11 August 2012, 07:38
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The Serbs in Bosnia are very smart and have the upper hand when it comes to the constitution considering they can block anything they see as a threat to their stability. There is really nothing the Bosnian Muslims can do to reign in power back to their side unless they're ready for another blood and costly war, which they are not.
This also does seem quite interesting, perhaps the Muslim President and the foreign minister are working together against the other two Christian Presidents? Interesting.
