Milorad Dodik, the secessionist President of Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Republika Srpska, urged the entity’s government to adopt a resolution denying the Srebrenica genocide and then gather a rally “of the Serb people” to state they cannot live together with Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims).

In 1995, more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed by Serbs at Srebrenica during the bloody Bosnian war. The genocide was officially recognised by the international court for former Yugoslavia.

“At this gathering, we shall make it clear that we cannot live with Muslims, that is, Bosniaks who persistently slander us and impose responsibility where it does not exist,” Dodik as quoted in a statement on his personal webpage.

In another statement, Dodik said that if the UN adopts a draft resolution commemorating the Srebrenica genocide on July 11, Republika Srpska will initiate secession. That was agreed between most political parties in Republika Srpska during a meeting on April 15.

This is not the first time Dodik has threatened secession but over the past two years he and his ruling SNSD party have taken several steps towards secession. The international community has responded that a secession attempt will not remain unanswered.

“I am proud of the determination to implement those measures in terms of independence,” Dodik said.

“The genocide in Srebrenica did not happen. If it had, there would not be necessary to constantly impose that topic. The courts that have ruled, have convicted specific individuals, not a whole people,” Dodik claimed.

He claimed that 4,100 Muslims died in Srebrenica and that nobody has counted the 2,500-3,500 Serbs who have also died there.

“Genocide is a fabrication that separates us. They are trying to force us to stay in addition to the fact that they are smearing us,” Dodik also said.

He added that Bosnians have broken down the structure of Bosnia, by involving foreigners in internal affairs. Dodik is pushing for the expulsion of the international community’s high representative Christian Schmidt, the three foreign judges in the state-level constitutional court and several ambassadors.

The country comprises two autonomous entities – the Muslim-Croat Federation and Republika Srpska – and three constituent peoples – the Bosniaks, the Serbs and the Croats. Each entity has its own institutions and there are also state-level bodies.