Outgoing Croatian President Stjepan Mesic is threatening military action if the Bosnian Serbs go further with their attempts at independence. He was speaking to Croatian media a month before he is due to stand down.

The Serb part of Bosnia-Herzegovina is preparing to hold a referendum on independence. The move has led to an increase of tensions with Bosnia's other ethnic groups, the Muslims and ethnic Croats.

Mr Mesic believes that a referendum would breach the Dayton agreement which ended the Bosnian civil war in 1995. He argues that Croatia, as one of the signatories of Dayton, has a duty to see the accord is observed.

It is unclear what position Croatia's incoming president, Ivo Josipovic, will adopt on the issue. The international community's High Representative for Bosnia, Valentin Inzko, has already come out against the plans for a Bosnian-Serb referendum.

photo: Stjepan Mesic (flickr / Bertelsmann Stiftung)