Politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The announcement on Friday of a ban on genocide and war crimes denial by High Representative Valentine Inzko, the international official who oversees implementation of the peace deal that ended the 1992-95 Bosnian war, was hailed by representatives of survivors of the Srebrenica gecocide.

The Sejdic-Finci decision, which concerns the inability of Bosnian citizens who are not part of the constitutive triad (i.e. Bosniaks, Serbs, or Croats) to be elected to the sate presidency, has remained unimplemented for more than a decade - during which time two general elections have taken place in Bosnia.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday that from now on, Belgrade wants to see regular reports from the High Representative, the official tasked with overseeing the implementation of the 1995 Dayton peace deal that ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The delegation from Banja Luka is led by the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Dodik, and the President of the Republic of Srpska, Zeljka Cvijanovic.
The meeting was held in the building of the General Secretariat of the President of the Republic of Serbia.

Dzaferovic believes that Serbia has no rights when it comes to the appointment of the High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina and that the only obligation that Serbia has under the Dayton Agreement is to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina by "not taking any action that would violate those values of BiH in any way".

Berlin has given no indication that Schmidt's appointment signifies any meaningful increase in its commitments to Bosnia; a fact which is readily apparent given that Chancellor Angela Merkel is herself preparing to step down later this year.

Christian Schmidt of Germany will take over from Valentin Inzko as head of the international community's Office of High representative, OHR, to Bosnia from August 1, the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council, PIC, which groups countries overseeing the peace in Bosnia, confimed on Thursday.

Lawmakers in the Republika Srpska National Assembly voted on Tuesday evening to reject a demand from High Representative Valentin Inzko, the international overseer of Bosnia's peace agreement, for people convicted of war crimes to be stripped of decorations awarded to them by the National Assembly in 2016.

Behind a Bosnian Serb call for talks on the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina lurks the latest threat of secession by the country's Republika Srpska entity, but analysts question whether Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik is playing to anyone but his domestic voters.

The president of Bosnia's Serb-dominated Republika Srpska entity, Zeljka Cvijanovic, presented controversial Austrian author Peter Handke with the Order of Republika Srpska on Friday in Banja Luka for "exceptional work and contribution in the field of cultural and spiritual development".