EU reinforcements arrive as partition fears rise in Bosnia

EU military reinforcements started arriving in a nation that sits on a knife’s edge, as leaders voice grave concerns about an emerging “vacuum”.

EU military reinforcements started arriving in Bosnia on Tuesday, as concerns grew over escalating defiance by the country’s ethnic Serb statelet that some feared could bring back interethnic instability.

The European Union Force (EUFOR) said in a statement that troops under its command were starting to arrive at Sarajevo airport and by land.

“Military personnel, vehicles and helicopters from the Czech Republic, Italy and Romania will reinforce EUFOR troops over the coming days,” it said.

Moves by the Republika Srpska (RS) — the ethnic Serb half of Bosnia — to pass laws forbidding access to its police and judiciary sent alarm bells ringing in Europe and America.

Open defiance by Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik of Christian Schmidt, the high representative charged with overseeing the peace accords that ended Bosnia’s 1990s war, has aggravated the situation.

The RS laws were later struck down, and Dodik was convicted last month and given a one-year prison term for his feuding with Schmidt, along with a ban on holding office for six years, though he can appeal that sentence.

But the Bosnian Serb leader remains unrepentant.

NATO chief Mark Rutte on Monday flew to Sarajevo and said the alliance will not allow a “security vacuum to emerge”.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio separately told reporters: “We’re hoping we can do anything we can to avoid another conflict in Europe from emerging.” Rubio has accused Dodik of jeopardising Bosnia’s stability.

EU military reinforcements started arriving in Bosnia on Tuesday, as concerns grew over escalating defiance by the country’s ethnic Serb statelet that some feared could bring back interethnic instability. (Photo by ELVIS BARUKCIC / AFP)

Since the end of Bosnia’s interethnic war in the 1990s, the Balkan country has consisted of two autonomous halves — the Serb-dominated RS and a Muslim-Croat region.

The two entities have their own governments and parliaments and are linked by weak central institutions, which include a three-member presidency made up of ethnic Serb, Croat and Bosniak Muslim representatives.

EUFOR did not say how many troop reinforcements it was sending to Bosnia. Images it published showed a transport aeroplane at Sarajevo airport dropping off a contingent of Romanian soldiers.

Chair woman of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Council of Ministers, Borjana Kristo (R), and Secretary General of NATO Mark Rutte, shake hands as they arrive to an official meeting. (Photo by AFP)

EUFOR’s Facebook page also said that several Italian military helicopters arrived at its base in the Sarajevo suburb of Butmir.

Last Friday, EUFOR announced a “temporary increase” in the number of troops in Bosnia as a “proactive measure”.

It has not given the total number of soldiers currently deployed in the country. An Austrian parliamentary delegation that visited Bosnia in February said there were 1,500 EUFOR personnel in the country.

Originally published as EU reinforcements arrive as partition fears rise in Bosnia