\n Bosnian Serb lawmakers stirred controversy on Friday by announcing a September referendum on whether to keep celebrating their entity's statehood day on January 9, a contentious date in the eyes of Bosnia's non-Serb communities.\n<\/p>\n
\n The decision, backed by 64 out of 83 deputies, risks deepening ethnic divisions in the Balkan country which since the 1992-1995 war has been made up of two semi-independent entities -- the Serb Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation.\n<\/p>\n
\n The referendum also defies a court order to change the date out of respect for Bosnia's other groups, particularly as it coincides with an Orthodox holiday.\n<\/p>\n
\n Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik defended the January 9 date in an address to parliament ahead of the vote.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"This issue is not only about the Day of the Republic, it's a key issue for our overall relations and our future,\" Dodik said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Voters in the September 25 referendum will be asked the following question: \"Do you support that the Day of Republika Srpska be marked and celebrated on January 9?\"\n<\/p>\n
\n On that day in 1992, Bosnian Serbs proclaimed the so-called \"Republic of Serbian people\", at a time when Bosnia was still part of the former Yugoslavia. Bosnia's other communities took it as a sign that Bosnian Serbs weren't interested in a united Bosnia.\n<\/p>\n
\n Three months later marked the start of a war that pitted Muslims and Croats against Serbs and then Muslims against Croats, claiming some 100,000 lives overall.\n<\/p>\n
\n Bosnian Muslim leader Bakir Izetbegovic filed a formal protest against the January 9 celebrations with the constitutional court in 2013, arguing that it left out Bosnia's other groups.\n<\/p>\n
\n The court found in his favour late last year and ordered the Serb-run entity to choose a date that would also be acceptable to the country's ethnic Croats and Muslims.\n<\/p>\n
\n Bosnian Serb political parties however rejected the court's ruling.\n<\/p>\n
\n Bosnia's two semi-autonomous entities are linked by weak central institutions, while each has its own government and parliament.\n<\/p>\n
\n Dodik has in the past repeatedly threatened to organise a referendum on the independence of Republika Srpska as well as on the authority of central judicial bodies dealing with organised crime, war crimes and terrorism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bosnian Serb lawmakers stirred controversy on Friday by announcing a September referendum on whether to keep celebrating their entity's statehood day on January 9, a contentious date in the eyes of Bosnia's non-Serb communities. The decision, backed by 64 out of 83 deputies, risks deepening ethnic divisions in the Balkan country which since the 1992-1995 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-28427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n