The US expects nothing less than full respect for the Dayton Accords, and territorial integrity and sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the US Embassy in Sarajevo said on Wednesday, following the ambassador's meeting with Bosnia Presidency member Milorad Dodik. Those undermining the stability will bear real-life consequences, according to the statement.
“For 25 years, the U.S. has been a strong partner of BiH (Bosnia and Herzegovina), fully supporting the prosperity, stability, and peace of this country. Actions that undermine those goals bear real-life consequences,” the US embassy said on its official Twitter account following the meeting of Ambassador Eric Nelson and Dodik.
Meeting today with Member of the BiH Presidency Dodik, Ambassador Nelson underscored that the US expects nothing less than full respect for the Dayton Accords, and the territorial integrity and sovereignty of BiH.
— US Embassy Sarajevo (@USEmbassySJJ) February 19, 2020
The meeting comes in the wake of the most recent political crisis in Bosnia, which emerged after the Serb leadership decided to halt the decision-making process at the state level over a Constitutional Court's ruling that assessed a law in the Serb-dominated entity, Republika Srpska, unconstitutional.
Decisions of the Constitutional Court are final and binding, the foreign ambassadors gathered in the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) – which oversees the peace process in Bosnia, said on Thursday.
With the exception of the Russian ambassador in the PIC Steering Board, all diplomats agreed that the State Constitutional Court is “is the cornerstone upon which the constitutional framework of Bosnia and Herzegovina relies, and an essential pillar for the rule of law and democracy in Bosnia.”
In response to the Serb leader's threats of the Serb-majority region's secession, the ambassadors said Bosnia's entities had no right to secede and they only existed by virtue of the State Constitution.
