According to the Serb member of Bosnia’s tripartite Presidency, Milorad Dodik, the Peace Implementation Council (PIC), the international body overseeing the implementation of Bosnia’s 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, is an “illegal organisation of powerful countries” that is preventing Bosnia’s Republika Srpska (RS) entity from making its own decisions.
“The PIC is an illegal organization of powerful countries that think that they can impose violence with arrogance and that they can crush us in our demand for freedom and an independent RS within the framework of BiH according to the Dayton Peace Agreement,” Dodik said on Sunday.
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“If it cannot be independent within the Dayton framework, it has the right to choose its own path. And I believe that because of their behaviour, we will get into that situation very soon. The PIC is a false and non-existent organization that is not in the Dayton Agreement,” he added.
The day before, Ambassadors of the PIC strongly condemned the “escalation of tensions by some political leaders,” noting that the recent decisions the parliament of BiH’s RS entity made following the ban on genocide denial imposed by the outgoing international administrator “undermine stability and impede effective government.”
The outgoing High Representative tasked with overseeing the civilian aspects of the implementation of the Dayton Agreement in Bosnia, Valentin Inzko, used his special powers last week to introduce amendments to the BiH’s Criminal Code which sanction the glorification of war criminals convicted by final and binding judgments, as well as the denial of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
While welcomed by Bosniak top officials in the country, Inzko’s move prompted officials from Bosnia’s Serb-majority Republika Srpska entity, who have been denying the 1995 Srebrenica genocide for years, to discuss a “joint response.”
Political leaders in the RS, including those from the opposition, decided on Monday that members of their parties will not participate in the work of BiH institutions “until the issue is resolved.”
On Friday, the RS National Assembly discussed the issue and rejected Inzko’s new law.
Dodik said that German politician Christian Schmidt, who took over the post of High Representative in BiH on Sunday, “is not welcome.”
“Republika Srpska expressed its stance through an agreement between political parties and conclusions of the RS National Assembly,” he said, arguing that Schmidt’s election was not in accordance with the Dayton Agreement.
“Mr. Schmidt, you are not welcome here. You were not elected High Representative. RS has no need to, and will not respect anything you do.”
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