Any discussion on the Dayton 2 and questioning the position of Bosnia's Serb majority part Republika Srpska (RS) will mean the death penalty of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serb Presidency member and Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik said Friday in Belgrade, after talks with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
“Many dare speak of the Dayton Peace Agreement. For us, Serbia is the guarantee of the Dayton Accords, but the international community has removed Serbia from its important ad-hoc body in charge of implementing the Dayton Accords which is also not part of that Agreement – the Peace Implementation Council,” Dodik said.
Together with the Council, the High Representative – international community's official in charge of overseeing the civilian implementation of the Dayton Accords which ended the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia, has destroyed the Dayton Peace Agreement, Dodik noted, adding that the RS and Serbia are defending what was left from it.
“All the requests to discuss the Dayton Accords will lead to RS leaving Bosnia and its constitutional framework. Those thinking they can implement their political concepts as Bosniak Muslims do through the Dayton 2 must know that any such talk will mean the death penalty for Bosnia and leave us with no reason for staying in Bosnia,” Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik said.
“We're in Bosnia because we respect the remains of the Dayton Peace Agreement and because we think it is still a valid agreement. It should be clear to everyone that the RS has sufficient capacities and that no corrections to the Dayton Accords are possible without the RS. I have no intention of discussing anything but the return to the original Dayton Agreement which could somehow save Bosnia. Anything else would mean that the RS will not be part of Bosnia,” he stressed.
Serbia's Vucic said they indeed did discuss the Dayton Accords as a historically important agreement and the only possible solution.
“It is the only possible solution in which all sides are winners and losers at the same time. I said that as far as Serbia is concerned, we will accept the agreement of all three peoples. Nobody else and no two peoples can impose solutions to anyone people,” Vucic said.
RS within Bosnia
“We want the RS to be within the framework of Bosnia and Herzegovina, we want full respect of the Dayton Peace Agreement and any breaking or amendment of the Dayton Accords must have the approval of the Serb people and the RS. There will be no change to the Dayton Agreement without the Serb approval,” Vucic noted and added:
“I know that the best thing for us is to preserve the RS within Bosnia's framework because that's how we guarantee peace and stability,” to which Dodik waved his head, as visible in the video below.
