The US Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina reacted after the president of the Republika Srpska entity, Milorad Dodik, threatened again that Republika Srpska would declare independence and said that such rhetoric is the reason it is under US sanctions.
“Milorad Dodik’s separatist rhetoric and threats of secession from Bosnia and Herzegovina are anti-Dayton and dangerous, not only for the stability and security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also for the stability and security of the entire Western Balkan region,” the embassy said.
They stated that precisely these statements and Dodik’s anti-Dayton activities and attempts to undermine the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina are the reason why Dodik is under US sanctions.
“There is no right under the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina for an entity or any other sub-state unit to secede. Mr. Dodik’s delusions are a dangerous diversion from the peaceful, democratic and prosperous future that the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including those living in Republika Srpska, want and they deserve,” the reaction states.
They conclude that the United States of America has always supported and will continue to support the territorial integrity, sovereignty and multi-ethnic character of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, published his interview he gave for the Croatian National, in which he says that he will make a decision on “defending the RS if its property is touched.” He said that he is not in favor of secession from Bosnia and Herzegovina, but that he has the support of 10-15 countries.
In an interview with the Croatian weekly Nedjeljnik, which he published on his website, Dodik pointed out that the secession of the RS is not the plan of its leadership, but that now there are 10 to 15 countries that have expressed their willingness to support it, and that among them there are also member states EU.
“We don’t need more,” said Dodik.
Answering the question whether Russia is among those countries, Dodik said that the Russian Federation is now busy with some of its own problems and issues, but that he will ask it.
“Russia respects the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and that is the official policy we are dealing with. We have yet to see how Russia will behave at the moment of the new factual situation,” said Dodik.
He once again said that the RS will declare independence if High Representative Christian Schmidt imposes a law on property, that is, that the institutions of the RS will make concrete decisions.
“At the same moment, we will schedule a session of the National Assembly and declare the independence of Republika Srpska. What else should we do? I am just confirming the determination of the political and state leadership and the people of Republika Srpska that if property is touched, then the Republic is meaningless, it does not exist. We have to defend it and we will make such a decision”, said Dodik.
He stated that the territory of the RS covers 49 percent of BiH, which is written in the Geneva papers as the basis for the Dayton Agreement, and that the entity’s sovereign authority is in that area.
In addition to the usual views that Schmidt is not a high representative and that he cannot make decisions and the view that he is not guilty of what he is being tried at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, he also repeated the opinion that Bosnia and Herzegovina is not sustainable.
“BiH is unsuccessful and cannot survive for long because it is still under the domination of the American Democratic Party and its establishment,” he said.
Speaking about the potential conflict, he said that absolutely no one needs any attempt at violence in these areas.
“As far as relations are concerned, some things have been completed, the Croatian people have formed their own state, the Serbian people as well, and as far as the RS in BiH is concerned, BiH is a negotiated state and as such, of course, lives the destiny of a negotiated state, not a desired state” , said Dodik for the Croatian weekly “Nacional”.
He stated that it is obvious that “everyone in BiH did not want BiH, that it was imposed by the will of a former great power and that for the past 30 years it has not given its right to that concept”. Accordingly, he believes that three states should have been created instead of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“We should have gone to another concept, which was present at the top of the United States of America through what the former national security adviser Sandi Berger proposed, which is to form three independent states in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will be dominated by Serb, Croat and Bosniak – a Muslim component that would be more easily developed and absorbed into the international framework,” said Dodik.
The reason for this is that, as he says, no one is satisfied with the existing solution.
“Not only the Serbs, the Muslims-Bosniaks who believe that Bosnia should be theirs, i.e. centralized in the most important part, are equally dissatisfied, and that’s why they are reaching for the story to deny the rights of Croats and Serbs,” said Dodik.
He also lobbied for the Croats, claiming that they want to deny them their rights in the BiH Presidency.
“That’s why I say that Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country of experiments in which various American and other offices are still living, which try to blame everyone who is not in their position of false multiculturalism, which is actually advocating for the dominance of the Muslim majority in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” said Dodik categorically.
In this regard, he states, Republika Srpska is fighting, but that does not mean that any forms of violence should be resorted to.
“That’s just Bosnia. Any other, including the one that lives today, is not acceptable to us and must disappear in a political sense,” said Dodik.
He repeated that there is no plan for the secession of Republika Srpska, but that it is an option that should not be ruled out.
“So, neither the Serbs, nor the Croats, nor the Muslims-Bosniacs, nor the international community is satisfied with BiH. That’s why some solution should be given, and we propose to return to the original Dayton, but that option is not considered”, concluded Dodik, KLix.ba reports.
