Bosnia’s tripartite Presidency Chairman and its Serb member Milorad Dodik said if the flag of the Republika Srpska entity is not displayed in the rooms of the Presidency, then this institution will not hold any sessions.
“Bosnian flag, which also represents the flag of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) entity, was imposed by the High Representative. This means that I, as Presidency member from the Republika Srpska (RS) entity am coming to the rooms which only have the Bosnian and the FBiH flag, which is unacceptable,” Milorad Dodik said after a meeting with the RS President Zeljka Cvijanovic.
Bosnia’s Presidency consists of three members, coming from three constituent peoples, Bosniaks Serbs and Croats. The Bosniak and Croat members are elected from the FBiH entity, while the Serb member comes from the RS.
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Dodik said that the RS’ proved its international legal status when Bosnia was recognised as a country consisting of two entities and that “the time of the High Representative’s interpretation of the Dayton Peace Agreement is over.”
The institution of the Office of the High Representative is an institution set up by the international community to oversee the civilian implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement which ended the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“We’ll see if the flag will be displayed or not. If not, the Presidency won’t hold any sessions,” he concluded.
As for the first Presidency session after the October general election, he said it would have 50 items on the agenda, one of which is the dismissal of Bosnian ambassadors.
Dodik, who is the leader of the strongest nationalist party in the RS, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), plans to dismiss 16 ambassadors, especially the ambassador to Israel.
“We plan to dismiss all Serb ambassadors and to elect new ambassadors instead. We’ve had no use of those people; not once have they consulted the RS on any issue,” Dodik said. “Not even those in countries with which the RS had built good relations, like Israel, ever consulted us. They will be dismissed, immediately.”
He added he would try to find loyal substitutes instead.
Earlier, Dodik said that, as a Presidency member, he would primarily represent the interests of the Serb entity and that he wanted to introduce a new approach in state authority, one that would include the entities in the decision-making process.
The international community's High Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Valentin Inzko, on Wednesday warned that the country's foreign policy, including decisions on its association with alliances such as NATO, cannot be made by the entities but by the state, as clearly defined by the Dayton agreement.
