The head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vrhbosna, which includes Bosnia's capital Sarajevo, archbishop Tomo Vuksic, warned on Wednesday that "the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been serious for a long time," and that "urgent measures are required" adding that "the international community has to take on its share of the responsibility for that task."

“There is obvious saber-rattling here, which threatens peace, and that is cause for concern,” Vuksic told the Vatican News website, which was carried by Bosnia’s Catholic News Agency (KTA), which was in turn carried by Croatia’s state news agency Hina.

Vuksic “expressed concern over political processes that have been ongoing” and have also resulted, as he said, because of “sins of omission” by the European Union itself, Hina said.

He recalled that “years have gone by in Bosnia without any intervention in the political, legislative sense, without any reforms, yet it is clear that the country requires new and better laws to establish the rule of law.” All that has “created conditions for secessionist and unitarist ideas, two political processes that are cause for the greatest concern,” he added.

Vuksic also said that the international community has to play “an important, stronger, and clearer role.”

“The problem is unjust laws full of loopholes,” he said, and added that “everyone in Bosnia can see election manipulation which is in fact legal because the law allows it.”

“Those laws need to be fixed to ensure each individual, group, people and religious community their guaranteed rights,” he said.

Archbishop Tomo Vuksic took over the Vrhbosna Archdiocese from Cardinal Vinko Puljic after Puljic had retired in January following 30 years at the helm of the Catholic Church in Bosnia.