Banja Luka – The President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, said that Srpska is ready to directly address the signatories and guarantors of the Dayton Peace Agreement to demand protection and compliance with the commitments enshrined in the treaty that ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

During a session of the Republika Srpska Government, Dodik said that, given the overall situation and the gradual collapse of the Dayton Agreement, it was ‘quite natural’ for Republika Srpska to appeal to Serbia and Croatia, as signatories to the Framework Agreement, to defend Srpska’s position.

“Republika Srpska is a signatory party to all the Dayton Annexes. By virtue of this, we will ask Serbia and Croatia to protect not only the agreement, but also our constitutional position,” Dodik said.

In addition to the direct signatories, Republika Srpska also intends to address the international guarantors of the agreement, including Russia, the United States and France. According to Dodik, these nations have a historical responsibility in safeguarding peace and the delicate political-institutional balance provided for in the Dayton Treaty.

He reiterated that the agreement is based on a balance between two entities – the Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina – and three constituent peoples, and repeatedly denounced what he saw as attempts to empty Srpska’s competences and centralise power at state level, contrary to the agreements signed in Paris in 1995.

This diplomatic initiative marks a new chapter in relations between Srpska and international actors, at a particularly tense time for the internal politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina and for the regional balance in the Balkans.