Pursuant to Executive Order 14033, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has placed on its sanctions list two high-ranking politicians from Bosnia-Herzegovina for undermining the Bosnian 1995 peace agreement and democratic progress, N1 reported.
The latest blacklisted Bosnian officials with this OFAC action, the third taken under E.O. 14033, are the president of the Federation of Bosniaks and Croats, Marinko Čavara, as well as the health and welfare minister of the Serb Republic (RS), Alen Šeranić.
The Federation and the Serb Republic are the two highly autonomous entities that make up the post-war BiH.
Emphasizing that this action demonstrates the US steadfast commitment to the stability and prosperity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the US Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson, said that both Čavara and Šeranić have tried to follow ethnonationalist and political agendas at the expense of democratic institutions and BiH citizens.
It also reinforces the United States’ commitment to promoting accountability in the Western Balkans, including for those officials who threaten the peace, stability, and prosperity of their countries by undermining democratic processes or institutions in the Western Balkans.
The State Department explained that Čavara was sanctioned for direct or indirect participation in activities or policies that undermine democratic processes or institutions in the Western Balkans.
Čavara, on the other hand, has promoted the secessionist activities of the Republika Srpska by leading the process of adopting the law which envisages the establishment of the RS Drug Agency, which would effectively put an end to the jurisdiction of the BiH Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices.
The explanation adds that the formation of a new agency at the entity level represents an obstruction or threat to the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
In the statement that the US State Secretary Anthony Blinken tweeted following the decision, it is said that the US cannot allow ethno-nationalist parties to compromise Bosnia and Herzegovina’s future at the expense of its citizens.
According to Blinken, the US Treasury designated the two officials for undermining the Dayton Peace Agreement and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s democratic processes and endangering the stability of the region.
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