If the signals from Serbia are largely positive, those from Bosnia reflect the mixed reception that the Karadzic arrest has received from Bosnia’s different entities. The parliament in Bosnia’s Serb Republic (Republika Srpska) suspended sessions last week in protest at what Mladen Bosic, the leader of the Serb Democratic Party (formerly led by Karadzic), described as an “orgy” of celebrations by politicians in the Bosnian Federation over Karadzic’s arrest. Bosic claimed that Karadzic’s trial would be “a trial against the whole of Republika Srpska”.
Karadzic himself has warned in the past that “my arrest will mean the end of the Bosnian Serb republic”. Indeed, some Bosniak (Muslim) politicians, most notably Bosnian President Haris Silajdzic, have hinted that Karadzic’s arrest should be followed up by the abolition of Republika Srpska: “Karadzic is arrested, but his project is not. It is alive and thriving,” he said. “The international community has a duty to erase the effects of genocide in Bosnia, not just to arrest Karadzic.”
Milorad Dodik, the Prime Minister of the Bosnian Serbs, has responded that Republika Srpska as a whole is not responsible for Karadzic’s crimes. Just as Bosnian politicians are raising voices for the abolition of Republika Srpska, so Dodik has been quietly laying the groundwork for Republika Srpska’s eventual secession, leading Paddy Ashdown, former High Representative for Bosnia, to warn: “The division of Bosnia that was his [Karadzic’s] dream is now more likely than at any time since he became a fugitive.” Karadzic’s trial could prove explosive at any number of levels.


















2:01 PM