Republika Srpska has no plans for secession from Bosnia but it insists on the full implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the war in Bosnia (1992-1995), said the Republika Srpska (RS) entity government in their annual report to the UN Security Council.
The report consists of two parts. The first part is the 20th report of the RS government to the UN Security Council speaking of the recent general election in Bosnia and the situation in the previous period, while the second part is called Subversion of the Dayton system.
In the first part, the RS government said the election of the Croat Presidency member reflects why it is essential to make sure that every constituent people be allowed to elect its own representative in the Presidency.
Zeljko Komsic, a social-democrat candidate was elected in the Bosnia's October 7 general election with 225,500 votes while his main opponent, Dragan Covic, now outgoing Croat member of the Presidency and leader of the main Croat party, the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH), won 154,819 votes.
Covic, his HDZ BiH and the parties gathered around the Croat People's Assembly (HNS), the umbrella Croat political organisation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, strongly disapproved of Komsic's election, claiming that he was elected owing mostly to the Bosniaks’ votes.
The RS government also wrote they are ready to work with all political actors in the country for the better future of all peoples. Thes said they wish to build stronger ties with the EU and US institutions and work on processing of war crimes and fight terrorism.
In the Special Report of the RS government titled The Subversion of the Dayton System, they accused the strongest Bosniak nationalist party, the Democratic Action Party (SDA) of violating the Dayton Peace Agreement which is also the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
According to them, the SDA is attempting to create a centralised state through allegedly illegal actions by the High Representative in Bosnia, who oversees the civilian implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement. These alleged attempts to centralise the country led to Bosnia becoming a dysfunctional state.
Further in the report, they deal with the Bonn Powers of the High Representative, calling them fictitious. Through these powers, the High Representative can overturn any decision and impose their own.
“There is no legal basis for the dictatorial powers through which the High Representative imposed hundreds of laws and constitutional amendments, as well as several hundred extrajudicial sentences. By means of dictatorial powers, the High Representative systematically centralized the power in Sarajevo, contrary to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
“Furthermore, through the dominance in the Constitutional Court and other courts in the country the High Representative prevented any questioning of the legality of his actions,” they noted. “Now that the Dayton structure has already been damaged, the same constitutional protection mechanisms that were supposed to block the centralization of Bosnia now allow the Bosniaks to block the return of the Dayton structure.”
The RS government also accused the US of interfering with the general election by allegedly providing more than USD 100 million to the media in Bosnia, without any transparency, with the aim of thus influencing the election.
They warned of the necessity to reform the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina saying that the presence of foreign judges is harmful to the sovereignty of the country and its democracy.
“The Court suffers the lack of legitimacy because of the foreign judges and the court’s political nature. All the Serb and Croat officials support the abolition of the function of foreign judges in the Constitutional Court, but the SDA is blocking the necessary reform,” they said, adding that the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina also needs a reform.
When it comes to the “SDA’s domination,” the RS Government warned that the SDA’s policies after the war led to Bosnia becoming a safe haven for jihadists.
“The SDA and other Bosniak parties are threatening with violence whenever there is a political disagreement. The SDA often attacks the legitimacy of the RS (…) and it obstructs the implementation of the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rughts’ decisions concerning the election.”
They added that the RS retains the right to declare itself on Bosnia’s NATO membership by holding a potential referendum on this issue.
“The RS has no plans for secession but it insists on the full implementation of the Dayton political structure. EU Officials often stress that Bosnia’s decentralised structure is not an obstacle to its EU accession. Republika Srpska will continue to advocate for the necessary reforms through political dialogue, but it has the right to correct material violations of the Dayton Peace Agreement.”
The report is sent to the UN Security Council several days after the High Representative presents its own Progress Report which deals with the events that occurred in Bosnia over the past year, and which affect the stability of the country and the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
