Bosnian Serbs Open Their Parliament
Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic on Saturday pledged reluctant respect for Bosnia’s integrity and vowed to work with Muslims and Croats in the country’s loosely unified postwar government.
She told the inaugural session of the new Bosnian Serb parliament in Banja Luka that “we are not entirely independent, that our sovereignty is limited and that we are obliged to abide by what has been signed.”
Plavsic, heard by international mediators, said Serbs were being forced “to live within a state which is not to our liking.”
Under the peace agreement reached almost a year ago, Bosnia has been divided into two loosely linked halves, a Bosnian Serb republic and a Muslim-Croat federation, that regard each other with mistrust.
Despite the Bosnian Serbs’ failure to win independence, Plavsic hailed “the beginning of a new era in [Serb] statehood.”
Muslim members of the Bosnian Serb parliament refused to swear an oath of office but joined their former foes in a minute of silence for Bosnia’s war dead.
Fourteen of the 18 Muslims elected to the assembly and a Croat deputy left the session, while Serbs took the oath expressing loyalty to the Bosnian Serb republic and to the Christian religion.
They returned to listen to Plavsic’s speech, which marked a significant step forward in the creation of joint institutions.
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