Bosnia’s Republika Srpska (RS) entity government sent its own report on the situation in the country to the UN Security Council, in which it said that its activities throughout the previous months are not meant to lead toward secession from the country, but to strengthen BiH’s constitutional structure.
Although the official who is tasked with reporting on BiH in the UN Security Council is the High Representative of the international community in the country, the RS usually also sends its own report to the UN separately.
RELATED NEWS
In the report which the current High Representative, Christian Schmidt, is expected to present to the UN Security Council next week, he warned that BiH is faced with increased threats to its stability and integrity due to, among other issues, the policy pursued by the authorities in the RS entity. He warned that the laws passed by the RS with the aim of transferring state-level powers to the entity level undermine peace and stability.
The RS Government denied these accusations.
“RS is not proposing to take away any of the powers or competencies granted by the Constitution to institutions at the level of BiH, it is only trying to strengthen BiH as envisaged by the Dayton Agreement, and not to weaken it,” the report states.
The report says that the claims of the Bosniak parties in BiH led by the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and their supporters that RS is planning secession are just “provocative propaganda” aimed at attracting support for their project to centralise all competencies and put them under their control.
RS has absolutely no plan to secede from BiH, either de jure or de facto and only insists that everyone respects the Dayton Agreement, it said, adding that those who oppose this are the true forces that create destabilisation in the country.
“Persistent disregard for this fact by many in the international community, as well as claims that the centralization of power in the hands of SDA-led parties is in some ways more appropriate for European integration, are not only wrong but potentially increase the risk of instability in BiH, which can not succeed as a country dominated by an ethnic group that not only ignores but also abuses the rights of Serbs and Croats,” the report says.
It also notes that pressure from foreign forces can further alienate RS citizens and even cause instability in BiH, but that no foreign pressure, from any source, will ever lead the RS leadership to “give up on defending the rights of the RS based on the BiH Constitution or abandon the Dayton compromise in favour of the domination of one ethnic group over all others.”
The report emphasizes that RS categorically rejects violence as a way to resolve political disagreements and is firmly committed to peace and that it does not want to challenge BiH's sovereignty or territorial integrity in any way.
“This is not about revoking the powers or competencies that were, as agreed in Dayton, given to institutions at the level of BiH, or about violating the amendments to the Constitution of BiH, which were adopted in the prescribed procedure after signing in Dayton. The RS has every right to insist that the constitutional structure established by the Agreement and the rule of law based on that constitutional structure are respected by the parties both in BiH and abroad, and will continue to work to protect its rights under the BiH Constitution by political and legal means, taking into account that success and progress are only possible with the protection of the rights of the entities and constituent peoples of BiH,” it says.
The report accuses “irresponsible officials in Sarajevo” and “some foreign capitals” of “constantly making absurd, inflammatory accusations” according to which every attempt by RS to exercise its legitimate constitutional rights is seen as a step towards secession.
Those making such inflammatory accusations have either bad information or bad intentions, the report said.
The RS insists that the Dayton formula for decentralized separation of powers is the only legitimate and sustainable basis on which a successful BiH can be built.
“There is simply no other alternative – citizens of Serb and Croat nationality in BiH will not allow the rights guaranteed to them by the Dayton Accords to be neglected in a way that will allow the SDA party to achieve its goal, ie to achieve dominance with a strong central government in Sarajevo,” it said.
Kakvo je tvoje mišljenje o ovome?
Budi prvi koji će ostaviti komentar!