Bosnia and Herzegovina | Prospect of new war in Bosnia – EuFor peacekeeping mission expires

Defence Redefined

04/11/2021

The EU warns that Bosnia and Herzegovina are in imminent danger of war (which would imply a return to uncertainty and escalation of existing threats) now that the mission of the EU Peacekeeping Force (EUFor) is about to expire. To date, the said force has largely ensured the hard-to-keep balance in the area.   

In a UN report released by The Guardian, Christian Schmidt, High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that if the Serb separatists carried out their threat and formed their own army, thus splitting the Armed Forces in two, further peacekeeping forces will need to be sent in order to ensure that the country does not slip into chaos or even a new war.

Currently, the international peacekeeping force remaining in Bosnia consists of 700 members of the EU Force (Eufor), while NATO officially maintains a presence in Sarajevo.

Bosnian-Serb leader, Milorad Dodik, threatens to withdraw from state-level institutions, including the national army created with international assistance over the past 25 years, and re-establish a Serbian force. 

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On October 14, Dodik said he would force the Bosnian army to withdraw from Republika Srpska (the Serb half of Bosnia) by encircling its barracks and that in case the West tried to intervene, there were “friends” who had promised to support the Serbian cause, an alleged reference to Serbia and Russia.

The Srpska police conducted “counter-terrorism” exercises last month on Mount Jahorina, where Serb forces bombarded Sarajevo throughout the duration of the 1992-95 siege.

“This is tantamount to secession without proclaiming it,” Schmidt wrote in a report delivered to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday. He said Dodik’s actions endangered not only the peace and stability of the country and the region but, if not responded to by the international community, could lead to the undoing of the Dayton peace agreement itself.

Finally, the High Representative said that it was possible that there would be clashes between the national law enforcement agencies and the Bosnian Serb police.

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