BBC News Online: World: Europe

Bosnian Serbs rapped over isolationism

Nationalists are blamed for Bosnian Serbs isolationism

Mr Petritsch was in the RS capital Banja Luka on Monday to drive home his message to the entitity's President, Mirko Sarovic, and Vice-President Dragan Cavic.

He said the RS risked economic failure if it did not show more co-operation with the rest of Bosnia.

Nationalists

"Republika Srpska is still too much trying to preserve its own autonomy instead of reaching out to the other entities," Mr Petritsch told the BBC.

He blamed the continuing political dominance of the SDS - the party of wartime leader Radovan Karadzic - for the isolation of the republic.

"The nationalist SDS... is very much the ruling party in this country... so it makes it more difficult for the more pragmatic and liberal Prime Minister Mr [Mladen] Ivanic to do what is necessary," he said.

He warned the entity was too small to be economically viable on its own and that it would be a "poor island in the Balkans".

The RS has also come under fire from the United Nations war crimes tribunal chief, Carla Del Ponte, for its failure to hand over indicted war criminals to The Hague.

After much foot-dragging, a law on co-operation with the tribunal was finally passed in September.

This opened the way for the potential handover of the Balkans two most wanted indicted war criminals - Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic - who are believed to be hiding out in the republic.

But the RS is still perceived to lag far behind the Muslim-Croat federation in its dealings with international institutions.