The US announced on Monday it sanctioned 4 officers in Bosnia and Herzegovina for actions it says undermines the Dayton Peace Agreement. This comes after the Republika Srpska Nationwide Meeting (RSNA) passed a legislation saying selections from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s constitutional court docket have been null within the Republika Srpska, one of many two states that makes up Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Workplace of the Excessive Consultant beforehand called the legislation “an unacceptable offence towards the Dayton Peace Settlement, a critical problem to the rule of legislation within the RS, and an assault on the constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
The sanctions from the US Division of the Treasury’s Workplace of International Belongings Management (OFAC) apply to at least one state-level official in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zeljka Cvijanovic, who’s the Serb member of the nation’s three-person presidency. The sanctions additionally apply to 3 officers in Republika Srpska: RSNA Speaker and President Nenad Stevandic, Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic and Minister of Justice Milos Bukejlovic. Any belongings they’ve within the US have been frozen and restrictions have been positioned on folks doing enterprise with them.
US officers condemned the actions of the 4 folks sanctioned, arguing they contributed to instability within the area and undermined the decades-old Dayton Peace Agreement by supporting separatist and nationalist laws. Below Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Monetary Intelligence Brian Nelson stated the sanctions have been carried out within the identify of peace and expressed dedication to sustaining the Dayton Peace Settlement:
This motion threatens the soundness, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the hard-won peace underpinned by the Dayton Peace Settlement. This habits additional threatens the nation’s future trajectory and profitable integration into Euro-Atlantic establishments. We are going to proceed to help the folks of Bosnia and Herzegovina of their efforts to take care of the rule of legislation and ensure peace and prosperity prevail.
The Dayton Peace Settlement is a US-brokered accord that adopted the Bosnian battle, which broke out after the breakup of Yugoslavia and resulted within the dying of 100,000 Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks. The settlement established Bosnia and Herzegovina as a multi-ethnic state with establishments in place to forestall additional ethnic violence. Tensions nonetheless stay, nonetheless, with the reminiscence of the battle nonetheless heavy and accused battle criminals nonetheless being prosecuted. Not too long ago, tensions have been excessive as many Bosnian Serb leaders endorse separatist and nationalist actions, main the UN to suspend sure legal guidelines. These newest sanctions comply with comparable actions by US officers final 12 months towards different Bosnian Serb officers.
