Ahead of the vote on the Srebrenica Resolution at the United Nations, politicians from Republika Srpska presented a number of controversial ideas.
Mladen Grujicic, the current mayor of Srebrenica, and his party leader Milorad Dodik announced the possibility of changing the name of Srebrenica.
This idea, which was publicly confirmed by Grujicic on 30 May, was allegedly motivated by fears that the Srebrenica Resolution might repel investors.
Two months have passed since then and neither Grujičić nor Dodik have done anything concrete on this matter. In the meantime, Grujicic lost support for a new mandate, because the pro-Serbian parties decided to support Milosh Vucic as the head of Srebrenica.
Dodik also made a number of controversial statements, including the claim that “no one died on July 11” in Srebrenica. He also announced that he will send a peaceful secession agreement to politicians in the Federation. All these statements seemed to be attempts by Dodik to score political points before the elections or after losing important battles.
It remains unclear from which stream within the SNSD the idea of changing the name of Srebrenica came from, and if this is related to the upcoming local elections in October. It is important to note that, in the context of calming political and other tensions, no initiative was taken to change the name of Srebrenica, which could have negative consequences for all parties.
