Republika Srpska Leader Calls Bosnia 'Unsustainable'

SARAJEVO -- Republika Srpska Prime Minister Milorad Dodik has called Bosnia-Herzegovina "an unsustainable country" and dismissed diplomatic efforts by the international community to amend the country's constitution, RFE/RL's Balkan Service reported.

Dodik was commenting to Radio B92 on October 10, one day after meeting with U.S. and European Union representatives and local politicians at the Butmir military base near Sarajevo.

That gathering had been described as a "mini Dayton" as it was organized in response to the most severe crises in Bosnia since the 1992-95 war which ended with the Dayton Accords peace agreement.

Dodik told journalists that "we are not interested in the constitutional changes" and added, "Bosnia is demonstrating its failure by the fact it came into being only as a result of the efforts of the international community to sustain it as a state."

That statement was made after Dodik met with Serbian President Boris Tadic. Before that meeting, Dodik had told journalists that some constitutional changes are acceptable for his party as long as the process goes through institutions.

He suggested after talks with Bosnian politicians that Republika Srpska might accept talks on "minimal constitutional corrections."

But after a subsequent trip to Belgrade Dodik told the daily newspaper "Vecernje Novosti" that he was not sure "whether even minor changes to the constitution would be possible."

EU and U.S. representatives have given Bosnian officials an October 20 deadline to find common ground and agree to constitutional changes.