Serb Region Faces Lawsuit Over Bosnia Forgn Policy

These are all foreign policy activities which severely and directly encroach upon the state`s authority.

The Muslim leader in Bosnia's tripartite presidency accused the country's Serb region on Monday of acting overly independent and asked the constitutional court to block its moves undermining the state's authority.

Bosnia is made up of two autonomous regions, the Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat federation, which are joined in an uneasy alliance under the central government under the Dayton peace accords that ended the 1992-95 war.

Muslim leader Haris Silajdzic said the Serb Republic was using a U.S. lobbying group to promote its interests among U.S. officials on issues such as foreign trade, diplomatic relations, and constitutional and other reforms.

"These are all foreign policy activities which severely and directly encroach upon the state's authority," Silajdzic told a news conference. "I expect the constitutional court to declare such activities unconstitutional."

He accused the Serb Republic of trying to "position itself as a separate and independent international entity".

Bosnia's two regions are autonomous in decision-making in most spheres, but under the Dayton agreement, the three-man inter-ethnic presidency is the Balkan country's sole authority for dealing with foreign policy.

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.

Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik said the lobbying was legal and would continue to help explain the position of the Serb Republic.

Silajdzic said the constitutional court should suspend all decisions, documents and activities of the Serb Republic which are the subject of the dispute before its final ruling.

He has also said he will take the Serb Republic to the constitutional court over its decision to pull out from the state electricity network it formed along with the federation to enable Bosnia to join the southeast Europe's energy community.

The international community involved in the implementation of Bosnia's peace process said the Serb Republic's move was illegal and asked the government to revoke it.