Croatia's PM: Peace in Bosnia must be 'renewed every day' at 30-Year Dayton conference

The conference, titled "30 Years After Dayton: Leading the Way with Local Solutions," was organised by the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. It included three distinct panel discussions addressing the historical context of the Dayton Agreement, the current situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and the prospects for the future of the nation.

Plenkovic underscored the critical role the Dayton-Paris Agreement played in bringing an end to the bloodiest European conflict since the Second World War.

"Thirty years ago, in the winter of 1995, the weapons across the hills and valleys of BiH finally fell silent. The Dayton-Paris Agreement halted the deadliest conflict on European soil after WWII, a war that, until the conflict in Ukraine, stood as one of the darkest moments in recent European history," Plenkovic stated. He added that, three decades on, the hard-won peace should not be taken for granted.

Stressing the imperative to maintain stability, he reiterated that "peace must be protected, strengthened, and renewed every day."

"We have gathered in Zagreb not only to remember but to promote dialogue and mutual understanding. The story of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s is not distant history; it is a living warning and an ongoing source of hope," the Prime Minister remarked.

Plenkovic further highlighted the paramount importance of consistently supporting the foundational accord.

"The focus should not be on questioning what was agreed but on supporting Dayton continuously and with hope. BiH can always count on Croatian support," he confirmed.

Contributing a differing viewpoint, panelist Muhamed Sacirbey, the former BiH ambassador to the UN and wartime foreign minister, concurred broadly with his fellow speakers but contended that the Dayton Agreement represented a "suboptimal solution" compared to alternative proposals considered at the time.

"The Vance-Owen plan was rejected by Pale and Belgrade. From today’s perspective, that plan would not only have been superior to Dayton, but even Bakir Izetbegovic once thought the same. It was a missed opportunity not to adopt a cantonal structure for the entire country," Mr. Sacirbey lamented. He observed that, in his capacity as a lawyer unaffiliated with any BiH political party, he maintained that BiH should be represented as a unified state rather than through existing ethnic divisions.

US Congressman Michael Turner, who served as the Mayor of Dayton, Ohio, when the landmark agreement was signed, reflected on the historical significance of the host city.

"As the then-mayor of Dayton, I am proud our city hosted such an agreement. At that time, there was optimism that peace would prevail, but today we meet to highlight that, thirty years later, the situation in the Western Balkans remains fragile," Turner concluded.