US & CROATIA WARN SERBS: CEASE AND DESIST OR FACE CONSEQUENCES

Bosnian Foreign Minister Sven Alkalaj, who is of Jewish background, responded today to the Bosnian Serb threats of secession by stating the following in Ankara, Turkey: "They can have a referendum for a sewage system, but not for the subversion of any part of the country." Last year, Alkalaj called for the Srebrenica Genocide to be memorialized every single day and not just once per year on July 11th.

On a more serious note, the United States warned Tuesday that a referendum could undermine ethnically-divided Bosnia's fragile stability as Bosnian Serb lawmakers discussed plans to remove obstacles to a plebiscite.

"The United States would consider provocative any referendum that threatens the stability, sovereignty or territorial integrity of Bosnia-Hercegovina," the US embassy in Sarajevo said. It also warned against "any question that would challenge the structures of the Dayton peace accords (which ended the 1992-1995 war), including the authorities and decisions of the High Representative."

Croatian President Stjepan Mesić repeated that he would use the country's military to intervene in neighboring Bosnia. Now Mesić rejected accusations that he was acting as a warmonger, stating that the "real warmongers are those that are urging RS [Serb entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina] Prime Minister Milorad Dodik to call a referendum".

“We know who decides on whether this will be done by NATO, the Bosnia-Herzegovina military or the Croatian military,” Mesić said, adding that he would "cut off the corridor" and that the Dayton Agreement was a guarantee for the unity of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

He said that Bosnia-Herzegovina "must survive", and that Serbian President Boris Tadić "should urge the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina that it is their country and that Sarajevo is their capital city, where they should create their policy".