The Embassy of the United States of America in Sarajevo stated that the separation of Republika Srpska from Bosnia and Herzegovina means “its end”.
The embassy’s comments came after the RS government said it would draft an agreement in the next 30 days to be sent to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s other entity, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for “peaceful separation”.
“Yesterday, Mr. Dodik announced that the government of Republika Srpska had made an official decision to propose the “secession” of RS from Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is a secession of the RS by another name, and it is dangerous, irresponsible, anti-Dayton and jeopardizes the territorial integrity, sovereignty and multi-ethnic character of Bosnia and Herzegovina. These are the core interests of the United States. “The United States will protect and defend them by, among other things, holding those who jeopardize them accountable for their actions,” the U.S. Embassy said.
“Mr. Dodik and the RS government have tried to justify this decision with a series of lies and misinformation aimed at intimidating the RS public into following them down this dangerous path. The facts are simple and straightforward. There is no international conspiracy to abolish the RS and Mr. Dodik cannot point to a single statement by a US official calling for the abolition of the RS. BiH is not a merger of two entities. As stated in the Dayton Peace Agreement and the Constitution of BiH, BiH is the successor state of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina does not provide the entities or other sub-state units with the right to secede or “separate”. RS can only exist within Bosnia and Herzegovina. The secession or “separation” of RS does not mean the independence of RS or the end of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it means the end of RS, which jeopardizes a future within the Euro-Atlantic institutions that the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina have “BiH, including RS, he wants to ensure that the residents of RS, their children and grandchildren do not have the peaceful, prosperous and democratic life they deserve,” the US Embassy concluded.
The Prime Minister of RS, Radovan Viskovic, said after the meeting that “this is not secession, peaceful separation is not secession. We will offer it, if you consider us a genocidal nation, which we are not, then we do not have to live together “. Dodik attended the meeting, too.
The RS government made this proposal during a meeting on the eve of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly session at which the resolution declaring July 11 as the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Srebrenica Genocide was adopted.
The nationalist Dodik has long threatened to secede Republika Srpska from Bosnia and Herzegovina by trying to abrogate the Dayton Agreement, which brought peace to Bosnia after the genocidal war.
In 2022, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Bosnian Serb leader Milorad for his involvement in destabilizing and corrupt activities that threaten to tear Bosnia and Herzegovina apart.
