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SARAJEVO, November 8 (FENA) - BiH Presidency member and Vice-President of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) Šefik Džaferović told reporters today that the statement of French President Emmanuel Macron, that BiH is 'a ticking time bomb' due to returnees from foreign battlefields, is completely unfounded and inaccurate.
“According to our agencies, at the moment, slightly less than 100 BiH citizens are at the Syrian battlefield, where half of them are women and half are men,” Džaferović said.
According to him, since 2016, no departure to the Syrian battlefield has been recorded from BiH.
He emphasized that BiH has taken measures, prescribed punishment for this type of activity and is successfully dealing with the issue.
“Therefore, that cannot be the reason why BiH would be called a 'ticking time bomb'. The main problem that BiH has, and I believe President Macron knows it too, are those who want additional territorial, ethnic divisions in BiH and those that simply block functioning of BiH institutions,” Džaferović said.
He added that this was mainly due to the inaction of the international community.
“The Republic of France, led by President Jacques Chirac, played a very important role in stopping the war in BiH, establishing peace and concluding the Dayton Peace Agreement. I urge the French President to bear in mind these facts and to make his full contribution to solving this fundamental problem in BiH, thus removing the blockades, discouraging or eliminating these retrograde political forces and finally making BiH operational,” said Džaferović.
Asked to comment the statement of the BiH Presidency member Milorad Dodik where he "welcomed Macron's statement on BiH", Džaferović said that "some retrograde political forces from BiH and the surrounding area would like BiH to have this type of problem and would like BiH to be a 'ticking time bomb' 'because of returnees from foreign fronts'.
“Unfortunately, this is not so, because then those retrograde forces think that it will be easier in such an environment to be able to complete and achieve their unacceptable and illicit goals more easily. That is the essence of it, and I think President Macron should have taken more care of that. I hope he will finally understand this issue in this way,” Džaferović said.
He also commented on the meeting of the BiH Presidency Chairman Željko Komšić and him with US Ambassador Eric Nelson, and said that it was a meeting announced earlier in the context of the current political situation in BiH, the formation of government and circumstances due to the fight against extremism and terrorism.
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