The Embassy of the United States of America (USA) in Sarajevo issued a statement on the occasion of the holding of the All-Serbian Assembly and said that the Republika Srpska is not a state, but an entity that can only exist within Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“The conclusions adopted at the All-Serbian Parliament relating to the Dayton Peace Agreement and the independent state of Bosnia and Herzegovina are rooted in legal misinformation and riddled with errors,” the statement said.
The statement adds that these conclusions do not represent a defense of the Dayton Peace Agreement, as the makers claim, but that they are a deliberate attack on that agreement and the state institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“This is dangerous. The public statements of the officials of the Republika Srpska, especially the President of the RS Dodik and the President of the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska Stevandić, about the conclusions and plans for the ‘disunification’ of the RS, another name for secession, represent an attack on Dayton and on territorial integrity, sovereignty and the multi-ethnic character of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” the announcement states.
The American Embassy in Sarajevo pointed out that the Dayton Peace Agreement and the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina explicitly state that Bosnia and Herzegovina is the successor state of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina with its internal structure modified so that it consists of two entities.
“Neither Dayton nor the Constitution of BiH gives entities, or any other sub-state body, the right to secession, ‘disassociation’ or any other clumsy synonym for secession invented by RS officials. RS is not a state and can only exist within Bosnia and Herzegovina “It has no legal personality outside of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dodik’s plans and actions endanger the peaceful, democratic and prosperous future in the Euro-Atlantic institutions that the citizens of BiH, including the residents of the RS, want and deserve,” the embassy said.
