U.S. envoy: Bosnia Serbs cannot secede

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina, June 1 (UPI) -- A U.S. ambassador says Bosnian Serbs cannot vote in an independence referendum in a bid to secede from Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Ambassador Douglas McElhaney commented Thursday on a statement by Prime Minister Milorad Dodik of Republika Srpska suggesting that the Bosnian Serb entity could become an independent state, Belgrade's FoNet news agency reported.

Dodik's comments came in the wake of Montenegro's successful referendum May 21 when 55.5 percent of those who cast ballots voted for independence and secession from the union with Serbia.

"A referendum in Bosnia-Herzegovina is out of the question," McElhaney told Sarajevo's Dnevni Avaz newspaper.

The 1991-95 Balkan ethnic wars that cut the former Yugoslavia into independent states ended with the U.S.-brokered Dayton agreement, under which Bosnia-Herzegovina was declared a single state composed of two entities, the Serb-led Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croatian federation.

"The borders of Bosnia-Herzegovina have been internationally recognized. Bosnia-Herzegovina is a sovereign state and that has been solved," McElhaney said.

He called on politicians to accept reforms of the country's constitution to make a way for Bosnia-Herzegovina to sign a stabilization and association agreement with the European Union.