“We are facing a serious threat from the Serb member of the BiH Presidency, Milorad Dodik, who is trying to create chaos within the state of BiH. The British government must do more, not words but actions, to reduce this threat. We must act to prevent a repeat of what happened on our doorstep 26 years ago,” Lord Bourne said during a debate in the House of Lords of Great Britain. He stressed the need for the Bank of England to work with other EU and G7 central banks to exclude Dodik and his allies from the system of fast transactions and circulation of money at the international level. He called for this to be done urgently.
“The Bosnian part of the state under Serbian leadership is trying to undermine the constitutional process of BiH and the state apparatus. I can say that the name of Paddy Ashdown still resonates because he was a strong High Representative. And the law that was passed by the former High Representative Valentin Inzko to criminalize any attempt to deny the genocide – Dodik does not recognize that law. Behind all this we have the influence of Serbia and some strange influence of Russia, which is supporting all this that is happening. Who knows what will happen if the West does not react. Secession may occur. We must not face the situation of 25, 26, 27 years ago. NATO and the G7 must use their joint influence. We cannot shamefully fail to act as it was 26 years ago. This is a geopolitical issue. Peace must survive,” said Lord Bourne
He stressed that a greater presence of British forces is needed through NATO or EUFOR and that they must give clear support to High Representative Christian Schmidt.
“We need to impose sanctions, we have the legal framework for that. It was all provided for in the 2020 resolution when we negotiated our exit from the EU – freezing the funds and institutions that provide funds to Dodik and his allies. We need to do it now. In the long term, we have more to do – to support civil society and strengthen institutions of that kind. But it is imperative to address the immediate threat of secession and unrest in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We cannot allow this to happen again to this wonderful country that has positive ties with us,” Bourne said.
He called on the British government to react and act with action, not words.
Source: N1
