SARAJEVO: Ethnic Serb leader Milorad Dodik insisted Thursday that he was not a threat to Bosnia, a day after signing laws that banned the country’s central police and judiciary from his statelet.
The legislation has escalated political tensions in the deeply divided Balkan country and serve as a key test for its fragile, post-war institutions.
Since the end of Bosnia’s inter-ethnic conflict in the 1990s, the country has consisted of two autonomous halves — the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska (RS) and a Muslim-Croat federation.
The two are linked by weak central institutions, while each has its own government and parliament.
“Neither the Republika Srpska nor I are a threat to Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Dodik said in a message to the “people of the RS, Serbs, Bosniaks (Muslims) and Croats.”
Late Wednesday, Dodik signed several controversial laws adopted in February by the Bosnian Serb lawmakers.
One of them bans Bosnia’s state court, the state prosecutor’s office and the central police force (SIPA) from operating in RS.
Dodik pushed the legislation through the RS parliament last week, after he was sentenced to a year in prison and banned from office for six years for refusing to comply with decisions made by Christian Schmidt — the envoy charged with overseeing Bosnia’s peace accords.
Several Bosnian Muslim political leaders slammed the adoption of the laws by Dodik, calling it a “coup.”
The Bosnian Muslim member of the country’s joint presidency Denis Becirovic said an appeal was made in Bosnia’s Constitutional Court to annul the legislation.
“Brutal attacks on the Dayton peace agreement and constitutional order... must be stopped,” he said earlier referring to the 1995 accord that put an end to the years of bloodshed.
On Thursday, Becirovic met with the head of the European Union delegation in Bosnia and ambassadors from the bloc to discuss the crisis.
Analysts meanwhile warned that Dodik’s actions risked unleashing more chaos in Bosnia.
“With these new laws that have been adopted, the situation seems even more dangerous,” Veldin Kadic, a professor of political science in Sarajevo, told a local broadcaster.
In a seeming bid to calm tensions, Dodik called for political talks within the country without interference from “foreigners.”
“I hope we have understood that our future lies solely in our agreement, in the agreement of our peoples... That’s all I ask,” he said.
Dodik, a Kremlin ally, is set to meet with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade later Thursday, the Serbian leader’s office said in a statement.
Dodik, 65, has the right to appeal last week’s verdict, which he said was the result of a “political trial” intended to “eliminate him from the political arena.”
For years, Dodik has pursued a relentless separatist agenda that has put him on collision course with Bosnia’s institutions.
The RS president has repeatedly threatened to pull the Serb statelet out of Bosnia’s central institutions — including its army, judiciary and tax system, which has led to sanctions from the United States.
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Bosnian Serb leader says he is no threat to Bosnia
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Bosnian Serb leader says he is no threat to Bosnia
- The legislation has escalated political tensions in the deeply divided Balkan country
- “Neither the Republika Srpska nor I are a threat to Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Dodik said
Backlash as Australia kills dingoes after backpacker death
- The euthanization program has stirred debate about how to manage the local population of dingoes
- Wildlife experts said killing the animals was the wrong response and may threaten the island’s dingo population
SYDNEY: Australian authorities have sparked a backlash by killing a group of dingoes linked to the death of a young Canadian woman on an island in the country’s east.
The Queensland government said six animals were put down after 19-year-old backpacker Piper James’s body was found on January 19 at a beach on the World Heritage-listed island of K’gari.
The euthanization program has stirred debate about how to manage the local population of dingoes, a sandy-colored canine believed to have first arrived in Australia 4,000 to 5,000 years ago.
An autopsy conducted on James’ body found evidence “consistent with drowning” but also detected injuries corresponding to dingo bites.
“Pre-mortem dingo bite marks are not likely to have caused immediate death,” said a spokesperson for the Coroners Court of Queensland.
The coroner’s investigation into the cause of death was expected to take several weeks.
In response, the Queensland government said a pack of 10 dingoes involved would be euthanized after rangers had observed some “aggressive behavior.”
Six of the dingoes had already been euthanized, the state’s environment minister, Andrew Powell, told reporters Sunday.
“Obviously, the operation will continue,” he said.
The traditional owners of K’gari, the Butchulla people, said the state’s failure to consult with them before euthanizing the dingoes — or wongari in their language — was “unexpected and disappointing.”
“Once again, it feels as though economic priorities are being placed above the voices of the people and traditional owners, which is frustrating and difficult to accept,” the Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation said in a statement to Australian media this week.
‘You are food’
Wildlife experts said killing the animals was the wrong response and may threaten the island’s dingo population, estimated at just 70-200 animals.
Given their small numbers, killing a pack of 10 animals would harm the population’s genetic diversity, said Mathew Crowther, professor of quantitative conservation biology at the University of Sydney.
“There’s no moral from the dingoes’ point of view. They’re just being wild animals, doing wild things,” Crowther said.
Dingoes tend to lose their fear of people as they interact with tourists, some of whom defy advice against feeding the animals.
“That’s the worst thing you can do to a wild animal,” Crowther said.
“They just relate humans to food, and if you don’t give them food, well, you are food — that’s basically how it is.”
Dingoes are wild, predatory animals and need to be treated with respect, said Bill Bateman, associate professor in the school of molecular and life sciences at Curtin University.
The canines are more likely to attack children or people who are alone, and may be triggered when people turn their backs or run, he said.
“These are important animals, and therefore we need to change the way we deal with them, otherwise we’re just going to keep reacting to these attacks and driving the population of dingoes down,” Bateman said.
Wildlife managers, rangers, Indigenous people and tourism operators need to work together so that humans and dingoes can coexist on the island, he said.
Todd James, the father of Piper, has described on social media how his family’s hearts were “shattered” by her death.
News of the dingoes’ euthanization was “heart-wrenching,” he told Australian media, adding however that he recognized it may be necessary for safety because of the pack’s behavior.
The Queensland government said six animals were put down after 19-year-old backpacker Piper James’s body was found on January 19 at a beach on the World Heritage-listed island of K’gari.
The euthanization program has stirred debate about how to manage the local population of dingoes, a sandy-colored canine believed to have first arrived in Australia 4,000 to 5,000 years ago.
An autopsy conducted on James’ body found evidence “consistent with drowning” but also detected injuries corresponding to dingo bites.
“Pre-mortem dingo bite marks are not likely to have caused immediate death,” said a spokesperson for the Coroners Court of Queensland.
The coroner’s investigation into the cause of death was expected to take several weeks.
In response, the Queensland government said a pack of 10 dingoes involved would be euthanized after rangers had observed some “aggressive behavior.”
Six of the dingoes had already been euthanized, the state’s environment minister, Andrew Powell, told reporters Sunday.
“Obviously, the operation will continue,” he said.
The traditional owners of K’gari, the Butchulla people, said the state’s failure to consult with them before euthanizing the dingoes — or wongari in their language — was “unexpected and disappointing.”
“Once again, it feels as though economic priorities are being placed above the voices of the people and traditional owners, which is frustrating and difficult to accept,” the Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation said in a statement to Australian media this week.
‘You are food’
Wildlife experts said killing the animals was the wrong response and may threaten the island’s dingo population, estimated at just 70-200 animals.
Given their small numbers, killing a pack of 10 animals would harm the population’s genetic diversity, said Mathew Crowther, professor of quantitative conservation biology at the University of Sydney.
“There’s no moral from the dingoes’ point of view. They’re just being wild animals, doing wild things,” Crowther said.
Dingoes tend to lose their fear of people as they interact with tourists, some of whom defy advice against feeding the animals.
“That’s the worst thing you can do to a wild animal,” Crowther said.
“They just relate humans to food, and if you don’t give them food, well, you are food — that’s basically how it is.”
Dingoes are wild, predatory animals and need to be treated with respect, said Bill Bateman, associate professor in the school of molecular and life sciences at Curtin University.
The canines are more likely to attack children or people who are alone, and may be triggered when people turn their backs or run, he said.
“These are important animals, and therefore we need to change the way we deal with them, otherwise we’re just going to keep reacting to these attacks and driving the population of dingoes down,” Bateman said.
Wildlife managers, rangers, Indigenous people and tourism operators need to work together so that humans and dingoes can coexist on the island, he said.
Todd James, the father of Piper, has described on social media how his family’s hearts were “shattered” by her death.
News of the dingoes’ euthanization was “heart-wrenching,” he told Australian media, adding however that he recognized it may be necessary for safety because of the pack’s behavior.
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