Bosnia’s Republika Srpska installs temporary president as Dodik steps aside | Conflict news

Bosnia’s Serb entity names interim president after a state court banned separatist Milorad Dodik from politics.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Serb-majority entity named Ana Trisic Babic as interim president, marking the first formal acknowledgment that Milorad Dodik will step aside after being banned from politics by a state court.

The Republika Srpska parliament confirmed Babic’s appointment on Saturday and said he will remain in office until early presidential elections scheduled for Nov. 23.

Lawmakers also annulled several separatist laws passed during Dodik’s rule that had challenged the authority of an international envoy and Bosnia’s constitutional court.

Dodik, a pro-Russian nationalist who has pushed for Republika Srpska to secede and join Serbia, refused to leave office despite receiving a political ban. He continued to travel abroad and claim presidential powers while appealing the court ruling.

The US Treasury Department announced on Friday that it had removed four of Dodik’s allies from its sanctions list, a move he publicly welcomed as he campaigns for sanctions against himself to be lifted.

Dodik is currently sanctioned by the United States, the United Kingdom and several European governments for actions that undermine the Dayton peace agreement that ended the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.

separatist movements

Bosnian electoral authorities stripped Dodik of his presidential mandate in August following an appeals court verdict that sentenced him to a year in prison and banned him from holding political office for six years.

The Central Election Commission acted under a rule that requires the removal of any elected official sentenced to more than six months in prison.

A Sarajevo court had convicted Dodik in February for refusing to comply with decisions issued by the international envoy, Christian Schmidt, who is overseeing the implementation of the Dayton accords.

Dodik dismissed the ruling at the time, saying he would remain in power as long as he maintained the support of the Bosnian Serb parliament, which his allies control. The Republika Srpska government called the verdict “unconstitutional and politically motivated.”

Dodik maintains strong support from his regional allies, including Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. He has repeatedly threatened to separate the Republika Srpska from Bosnia, raising fears among Bosnian communities and prompting previous US administrations to impose sanctions.

Bosnia remains governed by the U.S.-brokered Dayton Accords, which ended a devastating war that killed about 100,000 people. The agreement created two largely autonomous entities – the Republika Srpska and the Bosnian-Croat Federation – with shared national institutions, including the presidency, the military, the judiciary and the tax system.

Tensions have risen in recent years as Dodik openly rejects the authority of the international envoy and declares Schmidt’s decisions invalid within the Republika Srpska.