“Instead of breaking the anti-Dayton blockade of the work of state institutions and returning to constructive work in the interest of all citizens, Milorad Dodik continues to move in a very dangerous direction. It is high time to stop. His announcement that he will declare the independence of the Republika Srpska in six months indicates a path that can only overthrow the Dayton Peace Agreement and endanger peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, warned the member of the Presidency of BiH,” Sefik Dzaferovic.
Dzaferovic says that Dodik’s ultimatum that the Armed Forces, the judiciary and other institutions must be abolished will never be accepted. Not now, not in six months, not ever.
“Therefore, he can only try to unilaterally break the Dayton Peace Agreement and thus disturb the peace, but even then RS will not become independent. International law, bh. patriots and the Euro-Atlantic community have more than enough strength to prevent that,” Dzaferovic points out.
He notes that RS is an entity, which exists under the Dayton Peace Agreement. If Dodik tries to go beyond that framework, warns Dzaferovic, that entity can only disappear, and the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina will exist, because, unlike the entity, it existed before Dayton and under international law it can exist without Dayton, and RS outside of Dayton – does not exist.
“That is why my advice to all political options in the RS entity is to keep Bosnia and Herzegovina as it is now,” Dzaferovic underlines.
According to Dzaferovic, the Constitutional Court with European judges and additional state competencies, the implementation of which was later agreed upon by all, are Dayton categories, and Dodik cannot say that it is no longer valid now, that 25 years of Dayton implementation are not valid.
“Because, if we start with that logic, then we can say that the entities do not apply either, that there is no longer an agreement for their existence. We can’t decide what Dodik will do, even after ’92. we have the right to underestimate such threats, but we know what we will do – if it is endangered, we will defend the integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” it is stated in the statement of Sefik Dzaferovic.
