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Sparks Fly over Bosnia Police Reform Negotiations

04 10 2007  Efforts to reach agreement on a new police system – and open the way to further EU integration – ended in confusion this week, but hopes of a last-minute breakthrough remain.

By Srecko Latal in Sarajevo

The two most powerful politicians in Bosnia and Herzegovina reached a surprising agreement last week on the contentious issue of police reform, but the rapprochement between Haris Silajdzic and Milorad Dodik opened the floodgates to a spate of party-infighting.

Meanwhile, the international community extended the deadline for continuation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BIH`s EU accession process and at the same time considered imposing sanctions and solutions if domestic politicians cannot establish a broad consensus on their own.

Silajdzic and Dodik appeared to agree on a formula that sidesteps their fundamental differences over the state role in financing police operations and the capacity of police officers to cross the boundary line between BiH’s two entities.

The main Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) and Croat parties had already accepted a protocol backed by the international community that enshrines the three principles on modern policing required by the European Union.

However, Bosnia’s top international official, the High Representative and EU Special Representative, Miroslav Lajcak, said in his address to the BiH Federation Parliament on Tuesday that politicians still have more to do in order to reconcile their positions and reach an agreement that can win majority support in parliament.


“This is surely positive and encouraging,” Lajcak told parliamentarians, referring to the acceptance of EU principles by major parties and the apparent progress towards agreement made by Silajdzic and Dodik. “It has always been up to the political leaders to find a solution and compromise. That is the European way of conducting politics.”

He noted that the 30 September deadline had, in effect, been extended (for an unspecified number of days) to allow politicians to reach an agreement over police reform, which is the only remaining condition for BiH to initial a Stabilization and Association Agreement, SAA with the EU.

But while Lajcak appeared to express cautious optimism, local analysts expressed growing concern over the upsurge in party in-fighting that followed the announcement by Silajdzic and Dodik that they had reached agreement. The subsequent mud-slinging threatens to further deepen the existing political crisis in the country.

The tense political and ethnic situation which has existed in Bosnia since the 2006 elections worsened considerably in the past month as the final round of police reform negotiations got underway. If leaders fail to reach a consensus acceptable to the EU, BiH could lose another year in its EU accession process.

This would put the country further behind its neighbours; Serbia and Montenegro are expected to sign their Stabilization and Association Agreements in the coming months.

In an attempt to facilitate a breakthrough, the OHR in early September presented BiH leaders with a police reform protocol. The EU endorsed this document saying that it fulfils all three key EU policing principles; state-level legislative and budgetary competencies; no political interference in operational policing; and the establishment of police zones based on professional rather than entity criteria.

Yet the two BiH politicians who currently enjoy the greatest influence and who have each adopted the most radical stances, Milorad Dodik and Haris Silajdzic, boldly rebuffed the proposal even before it was presented to other local leaders.

Dodik is the Prime Minister of Republika Srpska and leader of the Independent Union of Social-Democrats, SNSD, while Silajdzic is the Bosniak member of the tripartite BiH Presidency and president of the Party for BiH, SZBiH.

Following Dodik and Silajdzic’s rejection, most of the other ruling parties initially discarded the proposal. As several rounds of political and technical negotiations failed, BiH appeared to be on the brink of further isolation. According to western diplomatic sources and local media, OHR has considered various sanctions, including even the dismissal of both Dodik and Silajdzic.

The two ruling Bosnian Croat parties – the Croat Democratic Union, HDZ, and HDZ 1990 – as well as the main Bosniak Party for Democratic Action, SDA, were first to succumb to the strong international pressure. All three parties accepted or signed OHR’s protocol last week.

In an apparent show of solidarity and attempt to avoid sanctions, the two biggest political rivals – Dodik and Silajdzic – met unexpectedly last Friday and only a day ahead of the deadline agreed on a different protocol for the reform of the local police.

The full text of this agreement was never presented to the BiH public, but according to various sources as well as public comments, it appeared to be rather vague and left key issues to be resolved through subsequent legislative procedures.

Some western diplomats suspected that this last-minute agreement was a ruse aimed at duping the international community to allow continuation of the EU accession process without any serious breakthrough on police reform.

The Dodik-Silajdzic agreement created complete confusion across the political scene and marked the beginning of a full-scale row between Bosnian Serb parties on the one hand and Bosniak parties on the other.

OHR asked for clarification of some key issues, such as budgeting and the question of political influence in police activities. OHR also asked all BiH politicians to act responsibly, to reconcile their positions and to reach an agreement that would be supported by a parliamentary majority.

Yet the renewed political infighting – which also appears to be the beginning of manoeuvring ahead of the 2008 local elections – suggests that agreement among local leaders has never been further away.

The SDA, as well as the HDZ and HDZ 1990 and other parties rejected the Dodik-Silajdzic agreement.

Among Bosnian Serb parties, the Serb Democratic Party, SDS, and the Serb Radical Party, SRS, strongly rejected the Dodik-Silajdzic agreement. The SDS said the agreement was “a farce” worse even than Lajcak’s protocol, and the SRS slammed it for allegedly abolishing the RS police, something which is not spelled out in the new proposal.

SRS President Milanko Mihajlica said the Dodik-Silajdzic deal proves that the two politicians are “directors and actors in a circus show that has lasted for more than two years.”

On the other side of the political spectrum, SDA leader Sulejman Tihic – who had grudgingly followed Silajdzic’s political lead and nationalist rhetoric ever since Silajdzic defeated him in the 2006 presidential elections – used this opportunity to get his own back and launch an all-out political assault.

Complaining about budgetary and structural elements in the proposal which allegedly maintain entity control over police forces, Tihic blasted Silajdzic for betraying Bosniaks in the pursuit of his own interests.

“The signatory (Silajdzic) of this protocol, who has based his entire political image on slogans about abolishing the entities and entity-ethnic-based voting, has finally demonstrated that this was nothing more than calculated deceit to gain more votes,” Tihic said, adding that the Silajdzic-Dodik agreement represents “the final legitimization of the consequences of genocide and ethnic cleansing.”

To add to the overall confusion, the Sarajevo daily, Avaz, reported on Monday that the SDA presidency does not support Tihic in his assault on Silajdzic.

One of the leading opposition parties, the Social Democratic Party, SDP, also slammed Dodik and Silajdzic.

“The two men had promised solutions but have instead offered an agreement that has the sole purpose of saving their seats and the seats of their blind followers, who are prepared to sign anything, even at the cost of betraying the country, principles and promises,” said SDP leader Zlatko Lagumdzija, also adding that the protocol legitimizes ethnic cleansing and maintains entity and ethnic voting in police structures.

Against the backdrop of this developing political row among Bosnian Serb and Bosniak parties, it would appear that reaching any kind of consensus on police reform in the next few days is unlikely. Yet all is still possible as local politicians still seem reluctant to test international readiness to impose new sanctions.

The international community has already considered possible sanctions against those local politicians who are regarded as being most to blame for the obstacles placed in the way of the European integration process. Furthermore, western diplomats said the Office of the High Representative, OHR may once again start using its extensive powers to impose solutions.

While failure to meet the EU deadline on police reform would probably mean missing another deadline in the EU accession process and further falling behind the rest of the region, there are also other possible consequences that could arise from the current situation.

On one hand the sacking of leading politicians would certainly heat up the situation even more. Bosnian Serbs have already warned that any sanctions against Dodik would result in all Bosnian Serb officials pulling out of all joint institutions and the complete blockade of BiH structures.

On the other side, further tensions among the SDA and the SZBiH could seriously affect both the state and Federation ruling coalitions, which strongly depend on the fragile alliance between these two parties.

In a column which appeared on Tuesday in the Sarajevo daily, Oslobodjenje, journalist Faruk Boric predicted that the fracas over police reform would have “significant political consequences” including the possible breakup of the ruling Bosniak coalition and maybe even of the Federation government.

“This would lead to a great crisis in the state executive government, which could even result in early elections,” Boric concluded.

For his part, Lajcak on Tuesday warned BiH politicians that the moment has come to abandon negative rhetoric and engage in constructive political dialogue.

“The destructive dialogue must stop and it must stop now. It must be replaced by a direct, frank and constructive dialogue. This is the only way that we will be able to accomplish more in the coming year than was accomplished in the last year,” he told the Federation Parliament.

Faced with the present political situation and the apparent failure of police reform and constitutional reform in BiH, the international community is considering a “return to the old-fashioned practice of imposing solutions,” British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said last week.

“Unless there are no surprises in the coming days, we must conclude that the efforts regarding police reform have failed and that we must reconsider our role,” Rycroft said.

This prospect will alarm those who believe that a similar approach, adopted by former High Representative Paddy Ashdown, resolved some short-term problems but made way for deeper, long-term problems.

“We call on the international community to learn a lesson and prevent the politicization of technical matters,” said one academic pressure group in a statement issued on Tuesday. “Coercing political leaders through the integration process is not working, it is simply punishing citizens,” argued the Alumni Center for Inter-disciplinary Post-graduate Studies.

Srecko Latal is a Balkan Insight contributor. Balkan Insight is BIRN`s online publication.