The statement of the member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Milorad Dodik that the consent of the Presidency of BiH is required for the deployment of additional military forces has no basis, BiH Presidency member Sefik Dzaferovic believes, given that the mandate of international military forces is clearly prescribed by the Dayton Peace Agreement.
As he explained, the arrangement on international military forces in BiH is defined by Annex 1A of the Dayton Agreement, and later by the Berlin Plus Agreement between NATO and the European Union (EU). NATO has a direct mandate to implement the military aspects of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
He reminded that, after the end of the Implementation Force(IFOR) mission, the North Atlantic Council decided on the number of troops within the Stabilisation Force (SFOR). Sincethe NATO Headquarters, along with the additional Altea mission, is the legal successor of SFOR, it is clear that the North Atlantic Council estimates and decides how many troops will be available to the NATO Headquarters, and given the provisions of the Dayton Agreement, BiH Presidency approval is not required.
Annex 1A, Dzaferovic added, clearly stipulates that the NATO mission is subject to the political control of the North Atlantic Council and that the military mission command has the authority to do whatever it deems necessary to carry out its mandate, including the implementation of its military forces.
“Finally, the decisions on the restructuring of military forces from IFOR, SFOR, to EUFOR and NATO headquarters, were made by the international community, and Dodik certainly cannot be the instance that will decide on that,” Dzaferovic mentioned.
He called on Dodik to stop, as he said, the insane attack on the constitutional order of BiH, respect the Dayton Peace Agreement in full, which means the General Framework Agreement, all 11 annexes, the European Convention on Human Rights, the Office of the High Representative (OHR), the BiH Constitutional Court, and all laws that, based on Dayton, have been passed in the past 26 years.
“Otherwise, the NATO and EUFOR missions in BiH must inevitably be strengthened, because they are obliged to protect the Dayton Peace Agreement,” Dzaferovic emphasized.
BiH Presidency Member and SNSD leader Milorad Dodik said on Saturday that while he is in the Presidency, he would never give consent for anyone’s military forces to come to BiH, emphasizing that no troops can come to BiH without the consent of the competent authorities. According to Dodik, it is the Presidency of BiH.
