The European Union's Main Diplomat Affirms All Efforts To Break Bosnia Cannot Be Accepted

JAKARTA - The European Union (EU) will not tolerate threats to Bosnia's territorial integrity, sovereignty and constitutional order, the Head of Foreign Policy for the Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday, referring to the separatist movement by Bosnian Serbian leaders.

"Any attempt to break up the country is unacceptable," Kallas said during a visit to the capital Sarajevo.

Bosnia is in the midst of the biggest political crisis in decades, after Serbian nationalist Bosnian leader Milorad Dodik was sentenced to one year in prison in February, banned from politics for six years for opposing an international envoy's decision.

In response, Dodik, who is president of the Bosnian autonomous Republic of Serbia (Republic Srpska), has initiated a law banning state and police courts from the region.

It has risen to become a legal and political stalemate that pits Dodik and its allies Russia and Serbia against the US and the European Union, and is seen as one of the biggest threats to peace in the Balkans since the 1990s conflict.

"The leadership of the Republic of Srpska undermines the constitutional and legal order of the country, threatening the fundamental freedom of all citizens," Kallas said while visiting the EU peacekeeping force (EUFOR) in Sarajevo.

He further explained that the European Union's decision in March to increase the number of EUFOR troops to hundreds "send a clear message that the European Union remains strongly committed to the stability of the region and the security of Bosnia and Herzegovina".

Kallas stressed that political leaders need to work together to resolve the issue but warned that "inflammatory rhetoric and divisive actions are dangerous" and contrary to the commitments the Balkan nation has taken under its EU path.

The Republic of Serbia and the Bosnian-Croatian Federation are two regions formed after the 1990s war that killed 100,000 people.

The two are linked by a weak central government in a country supervised by international authorities to prevent it from falling into conflict again.