During his visit to the Bosnian town of Vitez, Croatia's President Zoran Milanovic said he will consistently insist on the protection of the rights of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina and on compliance with the Dayton Agreement as long as it is in force.

Milanovic told reporters that there would be no more concessions when it came to the respect for the rights of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He recalled that he had demonstrated this stance during the adoption of the NATO summit’s final communique when he insisted on the incorporation of the obligation of the respect for the Dayton accords.

Milanovic said that he would keep insisting on the Dayton agreement during the adoption of documents of all other international associations and organisations Croatia is a member of.

He went on to say that his intention was to make sure that nothing should fall below the standards set out in the Dayton peace accords whose signatory is Croatia.

He underscored that the Croatian army’s engagement during the war helped the northwestern Bosnian town of Bihac not to fall into the hands of the Serb forces after Srebrenica.

The Dayton Agreement as Bosnia’s constitutional and legal framework is in force as long as the three constituent peoples do not agree otherwise, he noted.

In response to the questions from the press, Milanovic said that he would not pay an official visit to the capital city of Sarajevo until some things were resolved, referring to the status of Zeljko Komsic as the Croat representative in Bosnia’s tripartite Presidency, which is disputed by Croatia and Bosnian Croat officials who argue he was not elected by ethnic Croats.

That member of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s presidency must be elected by citizens of the Croat ethnicity, Milanovic explained.