Bosnia's Republika Srpska (RS) entity is creating a state of emergency to scare the BiH residents into accepting anything they say, former Bosniak Presidency member Haris Silajdzic told N1 Wednesday, adding that the good thing is Bosnia has returned to the world's focus, meaning secessionist plans will not go as planned.

“Insisting on turning the RS towards another centre of power, causing various issues such as the one about the agricultural land and the persistent passing of laws that are overturned by the Constitutional Court [were made on purpose] and I think that the trigger for this was the Constitutional Court’s decision on forests, after which those who reject Bosnia as a state realized that they cannot achieve their goals legally. Therefore, they are creating a state of emergency to scare the population, which will then accept any solution as such. And so this situation will last until a solution is reached that suits those who want to destroy BiH,” Silajdzic said.

The Constitutional Court overturned the RS Law on Forests stipulating that the entity can freely dispose of the state property – which is the forest. After an appeal to the Constitutional Court, the Court decides against the Law, stating that only state-level institutions can decide on how the forests and forest land can be used.

But according to him, most Bosnians want a European Bosnia, a normal democracy just like in any other European country. He also added that he believes most people want to join NATO, but that the Russian Federation is openly threatening the country in case it does join the alliance.

In his opinion, the problem is that the Dayton Peace Agreement, that ended the 1992-1995 war in the country, has been broken several hundred times without a reaction of Bosnia’s judicial institutions. He also said that the Dayton Accords have also never been completely implemented such as the right to return to pre-war places of residence.

In case of a total failure of the Dayton Agreement, Silajdzic said he believes Bosnia would return either to the constitution of the Republic of BiH or to one of the solutions he supported during his time in office – which is the reorganization of Bosnia into multi-ethnic regions.

“If there’s no return, if we’re no longer abiding by the Dayton Agreement, then we’ll return to the old order of things – 100 percent Bosnia, 100 percent of our culture, coexistence, our original paradigm in which people truly lived together, which always served as the haven for all unwanted peoples across Europe,” the formed Presidency member said.

He then warned that world powers could also strike a deal at the expense of BiH and that the events in the country should be seen as part of a much larger whole – as connected events in Bosnia, Montenegro and Kosovo, who are under strategic pressure of Russia and the ideology of ‘Greater Serbia’ that is now disguised under the notion of a ‘Serb world.’
However, this pressure has also produced a positive side-effect – which is that Bosnia has once again come into focus of the world, he added.
This is the finals
Silajdzic then said that the latest round of negotiations regarding the future of Bosnia is the final negotiations on the very end of the war that has been going on all this time.
“These are the days when the fate of BiH will be decided and I hope that all the actors will be serious in this. We are now in an environment of coercion, secession, intimidation and the response of the international community which is not adequate because they too are subject to that pressure. There was a division of the state and other levels of government and in this process, they will focus on the country’s property and its management, including the property of the former Yugoslavia, the Socialist Republic of BiH, public goods such as rivers, goods of general interest such as forests, agricultural land – precisely those that were the subject of the decision of the BiH Constitutional Court,” Silajdzic told N1.

When asked to comment on the lobbying attempts by ‘pro-Bosnian’ politicians or the lack thereof, Silajdzic believes that they are either unaware of the severity of the situation in the country, or that they just do not care.

“We are in a serious situation now, this is the finals. What happens in these talks and among teams will determine BiH's future in the next 30, 40 or more years. Because if there is no mention of the verdicts of the Hague Tribunal, where almost the entire leadership of the Republika Srpska was sentenced to long or life sentences then the Court did its job. However, today no one talks about this in order to discuss the problems in Bosnia out of the historical context because they are bothered by the existence of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Silajdzic told N1.