Bosnian Serb co-president of a nation he despised

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October 8, 2018 2:36 PM

On Sunday he took another sharp turn: he became co-president of a country he has branded a "failed concept".

From a West-backed moderate to the torch-bearer of Bosnian Serb nationalism, Milorad Dodik is a veteran of political transformations.

The 59-year-old won the Serb seat in Bosnia's tri-partite presidency, which he will share with a Bosnian Muslim and Croat member.

It is not Dodik's first taste of power. The strongman has dominated Bosnia's Serb-majority region since 2006, first as prime minister and then as president.

But his new post -- sitting at the top of the national administration -- is an unusual one for a man who told AFP two years ago that he could not "pretend to support the failed concept called Bosnia and Herzegovina."

Bosnia is "a place that nobody wants except a few idealists in Sarajevo who want to preserve it", he added.

Dodik has routinely threatened to call a vote on the independence of the Serb enclave he has been running for over a decade, a threat to the fabric of the country.

The country's other half is home mainly to Bosnian Muslims and Croats, a legacy of the ethnic-cleansing of communities during the 1992-95 war.

Friend to foe

Born in 1959, Dodik, a towering figure over six feet (1m 83) tall, may have dreamt of a career in basketball but found his calling in politics.

In fact, he owes his rise to the West, who supported what they thought was a moderate social democrat in a conflict-scarred country.

In the late 1990s, Dodik was one of few politicians whose "hands were not dirtied by war and crime", said political analyst Tanja Topic.

He made a name for himself by challenging Radovan Karadzic, then political leader of the Bosnian Serbs and a champion of ethnic cleansing.

In 1998 US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright described Dodik as a "breath of fresh air".

At the time, Dodik called for Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, the Serb military chief dubbed the "Butcher of Bosnia", to be tried at the Hague.

But in a sign of how far he has turned, today Dodik refers to Mladic as a Serb hero.

"Whatever the verdict... Ratko Mladic remains a legend of the Serbian people," Dodik said last November ahead of Mladic's guilty sentence in his genocide trial.

'Political pragmatism'

Dodik appeared to start changing his tone after a defeat in 2000 elections.

Following that loss he embraced more nationalist rhetoric -- and won.

His evolution has alienated him from former allies in the West, with the US levelling sanctions against him in 2017 for trying to undermine Bosnia's integrity.

But he has sought a new friend in Russian president Vladmir Putin, who he visits frequently, including just before Sunday's polls.

Dodik's one constant is "political pragmatism", says Topic.

The other is his unpredictability -- making it difficult to foresee what he will do with his new role.

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