Bosnian Serbs on Tuesday began celebrations of the "national holiday" of their entity, Republika Srpska, defying a 2016 legal ban and angering Bosnian Muslims who view it as a provocation.
Muslims in Bosnia oppose the event as it marks the creation of a "Serb republic" in Bosnia on January 9, 1992, three months ahead of an ethnic war that claimed 100,000 lives and displaced more than two million people.
Among the founders of the Republika Srpska was Radovan Karadzic, who was jailed by an international court for genocide committed during the 1992-1995 conflict.
The key event is a parade of the Republika Srpska police forces which will take place Wednesday in the northern town of Banja Luka, capital of the entity.
Post-war Bosnia is divided along ethnic lines into two semi-independent entities -- Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation.
They are linked by a loose central government and tripartite presidency that includes representatives of three major communities.
Republika Srpska is predominantly made up of Orthodox Christian Serbs who account for a third of Bosnia's 3.5 million inhabitants.
Muslims comprise half the country's population, while Catholic Croats are the third major ethnic group, representing 15 percent of the total.
Bosnian Serb strongman Milorad Dodik, who served as the Serb member of Bosnia's tripartite presidency since November, said Tuesday that the country was "a failed society that can hardly survive without international intervention".
Dodik spoke after laying wreaths at a memorial to Serb soldiers killed during the war.
"Some realities should be accepted. As we endure the existence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, they (Muslims) should get used to us," said the former social-democrat-turned-nationalist.
A representative of Bosnian Muslims, Ramiz Salkic, said the day would "never be a holiday" for his community as it reminded Muslims of "expulsions, the destruction of our property and murders of our loved ones -- the genocide of our people," Salkic said.
Karadzic, the political wartime leader of Bosnian Serbs, and his military chief Ratko Mladic have been condemned by the Hague-based UN court for former Yugoslavia for war crimes and crimes against humanity for their role during the war in Bosnia.
Both are notably found guilty for genocide, the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys.
