“Bosnia's Serbs must not tie status to Kosovo”

“Bosnia's Serbs must not tie status to Kosovo”

"I think Serbs should in no way link their status to the resolution of the Kosovo question," said Špirić, an ethnic Serb who became prime minister in February. "That would be nonsense."

"Under Dayton the Serb Republic is an integral part of Bosnia and they (Bosnian Serbs) don't question its sovereignty," Špirić said in his office overlooking downtown Sarajevo.

"I would not be sitting here if I didn't believe in this."

Bosnian Serb separatist rhetoric has grown louder since Montenegro voted to end its voluntary union with Serbia a year ago, although leaders say secession could become an issue only if their autonomy came under threat.

The issue inflamed the run-up to Bosnia's general election last September, slowing the country's European Union integration process and putting in question Bosnians' ability to run their own affairs without outside help.

Špirić, a member of the Serb Republic's dominant Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, the party of the Bosnian Serb Republic's Prime Minister Milorad Dodik, said Bosnian Serbs have no pretensions of going it alone or joining Serbia.

"We primarily have to be dedicated to Bosnia and to solving problems in Bosnia, taking care that this wave (Kosovo) does not splash against our shore," the 50-year-old-economist told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

Mutual trust needed

Dayton split Bosnia into two highly autonomous regions linked by weak central institutions, and the complex arrangement has functioned only thanks to strong international tutelage.

Some Muslim and Croat politicians say the Serb Republic was founded on genocide and should be scrapped, together with the federation, because such a division is unnatural. International overseers say any such change has to be founded on consensus.

The main problem today, Špirić said, "is this autistic message from Sarajevo that the Serb Republic is unwanted".

Consensus has been notoriously lacking in talks on police unification, a key condition for Bosnia to sign a Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union, the first step on the long road to the membership in the wealthy bloc.

The Serbs reject a plan to merge their police with that of the federation. But Špirić said solutions acceptable to all sides could be easily found, if politicians worked to develop mutual trust and stop looking to foreigners to solve problems.

"We have to realize that we are each other's most important partner for the success of this country," he said.