Two US fighter jets flew over Bosnia on Monday in a demonstration of support for the Balkan nation’s integrity in the face of the increasingly secessionist policies of Bosnian Serb pro-Russia leader Milorad Dodik.
The US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons flew as part of joint air-to-ground training involving US and Bosnian forces. The flyovers took part in the regions of the eastern town of Tuzla and northern Brcko, a statement from the US embassy in Sarajevo said.
“This bilateral training is an example of advanced military-to-military cooperation that contributes to peace and security in the Western Balkans as well as demonstrates the United States’ commitment to ensuring the territorial integrity of BiH [Bosnia and Herzegovina] in the face of anti-Dayton and secessionist activity,” the statement said.
Photo: AFP
“The United States has underscored that the BiH Constitution provides no right of secession, and it will act if anyone tries to change this basic element” of the Dayton peace agreements that ended the 1992 to 1995 war in the nation, the statement added.
The ethnic conflict in the 1990s erupted because Bosnia’s Serbs wanted to create their own state and join neighboring Serbia. More than 100,000 people were killed before the war ended in a US-brokered peace accord that created Serb and Bosniak-Croat entities held together by joint institutions.
Dodik, who is president of the Serb entity called Republika Srpska, has defied US and British sanctions over his policies. Backed by Russia, he has repeatedly threatened to split the Serb-run half from the rest of Bosnia.
Dodik’s government on Monday started marking a controversial national holiday that Bosnia’s top court has declared unlawful. On Jan. 9, 1992, Bosnian Serbs proclaimed the creation of an independent state in Bosnia, which led to the bloodshed.
Bosnian media reported that the thunderous sound of jets flying over could be heard in the northwestern town of Banja Luka — the main town in the Serb entity — during a ceremonial gathering there.
In a speech, Dodik reiterated that the “the aim of the Serb people is a Serb state in these areas,” regional N1 TV reported.
Western nations fear that Russia could try to stir trouble in the Balkans to avert attention from its invasion of Ukraine, which was launched by Moscow nearly two years ago.
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