The conclusions adopted at the All-Serb Assembly as they relate to the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA
US Embassy Sarajevo
The conclusions adopted at the All-Serb Assembly as they relate to the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA) and the independent state of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) are rooted in legal disinformation and riddled with error. They do not constitute a defense of the Dayton Peace Agreement, as the authors claim, but are a deliberate attack on that agreement and the state institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is dangerous. The public statements made by Republika Srpska officials, especially RS President Dodik and Republika Srpska National Assembly Speaker Stevandic, about the conclusions and plans for RS “disassociation” – secession by another name – represent both an attack on the DPA and on the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and multiethnic character of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As the Dayton Peace Agreement and the BiH Constitution explicitly state, Bosnia and Herzegovina is the successor state of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina with its internal structure modified to consist of two entities. Neither the DPA, nor the BiH Constitution provide the entities, or any other sub-state body, with the right of secession, “disassociation,” or any other clumsy synonym for secession concocted by RS officials. The RS is not a state and can only exist within Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has no legal personality outside of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mr. Dodik’s plans and actions put at risk the peaceful,democratic, and prosperous future inside Euro-Atlantic institutions that the people of BiH, including the residents of the RS, want and deserve.
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