Bosnian Serb leader says he will be 1st president of threatened independent Serb entity

BELGRADE, Serbia

Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik on Monday said that he will be the first president of an independent Serb entity, an entity he has threatened to form by seceding from Bosnia and Herzegovina, raising tensions in the region.

Asked by local TV channel K3 about his future, Dodik said he plans to get what he called "the first mandate of the president of the independent Republika Srpska," referring to the ethnic Serb-dominated Republika Srpska, one of the two entities making up Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He called on citizens of the entity to "hold on tight” to him and his policies.

Dodik has raised tensions in the Balkan country by publicly declaring his intention to secede Republika Srpska from Bosnia and Herzegovia, which declared independence in 1992, made up of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska.

The US and Great Britain have both imposed sanctions on Dodik.