Bosnia Court Rejects Bid To Stop Serb Area Lobbyin

Haris Silajdzic, of Bosnia`s inter-ethnic presidency asked the court to suspend all lobbying activities of the Serb Republic.

Bosnia's constitutional court has rejected a request by the Muslim member of its tripartite presidency to ban lobbying by the Serb region, the court said in a statement on Tuesday.

Haris Silajdzic, of Bosnia's inter-ethnic presidency, has said the Serb Republic used a U.S. lobbying group to promote its interests among U.S. officials on foreign trade, diplomatic relations, and constitutional and other reforms.

He asked the court in September to suspend all lobbying decisions, documents and activities of the Serb Republic, one of Bosnia's two autonomous regions, before a final ruling on the dispute.

In a statement rejecting Silajdzic's request, the court said: "The constitutional court concluded the applicant has not offered evidence ... that introducing an interim measure was in the interest of parties or regular procedure, but the evidence ... related to the final ruling."

Bosnia's two autonomous regions, the Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat federation, are joined in uneasy alliance in a central government set up under the Dayton peace accords that ended the 1992-95 war.

Silajdzic has accused the Serb region of wanting to be viewed as a "separate and independent international entity", thus encroaching upon the authority of the presidency.

Serb Republic Prime Minister Milorad Dodik, seen as Silajdzic's arch-rival, has dismissed the accusations and said his government would continue the lobbying, which he described as a legal way to explain the position of the Serb Republic.

The Serb Republic hired Quinn Gillespie & Associates LCC in 2007 for about $1.5 million per year to lobby for what it said were its cultural, economic and sports interests.

The court declined to elaborate on its decision or announce when the final ruling would be issued.

Western diplomats and local analysts see Dodik and Silajdzic as the main generators of Bosnia's political crisis and deadlock in reforms since the general election in 2006.

Silajdzic, one of the signatories of the Dayton accords that split the country into two halves, repeatedly has called for the abolition of the Serb Republic. Dodik in turn has threatened with a referendum of secession of the Serb region from Bosnia.