SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina), February 11 (SeeNews) – The protests of the past few days in Sarajevo and other cities in Bosnia have highlighted serious economic, social and political problems in the country, the mission of the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) to Bosnia said on Tuesday.
A wave of anti-government protests over persistent unemployment, corruption and lack of political progress broke out in the Southeast European country last week. The unrest began in the city of Tuzla on Wednesday over the closure of bankrupt local factories which had employed most of the local population.
“We encourage the authorities at all levels in BiH to listen to legitimate and peacefully expressed demands for reforms,” the head of the OSCE mission to Bosnia, Fletcher M. Burton, said in a statement.
The OSCE recognises the basic right of the people to stage peaceful and lawful demonstrations and protests, but strongly condemns violence against people or properties, and the excessive use of force by anyone, he added.
The head of the OSCE mission to Bosnia stressed that a constructive dialogue between government leaders and citizens should form the basis for progress within a democratic and peaceful environment, leading to effective and sustainable solutions.
Bosnia is divided into a Serb Republic and a Muslim-Croat Federation by the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement that put an end to the three-and-a-half-year ethnic war in the country. The Republic and the Federation have their own governments and parliaments linked by a weak central government.