Dodik's brilliant move: Bosnian Croats supported Republika Srpska in the rebellion against Sarajevo
The leaders of Bosnian Serbs and Croats jointly advocated for the expulsion of foreign judges from the Constitutional Court of BiH, as well as for equal representation of all peoples of the country in government, which the Croats are seeking.
This was announced at a joint press conference by the Serbian representative of the BiH Presidency, Milorad Dodik, and the speaker of the House of Peoples of the country's parliament, Croatian Dragan Čović, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
"I have secured the support of the RS political leadership for the decision to suspend the Croatian Democratic Union ( the party led by Čović – ed. ) from serving in BiH's governing bodies," Milorad Dodik stated. "They will also withdraw from decision-making until these two points ( the removal of foreign judges from the BiH Constitutional Court and equal representation of all peoples in the country's governing bodies – ed. ) are fulfilled. Our communities are under pressure from a foreign power that has interfered over the past years, making quasi-decisions that never confirmed BiH's status as a country of three peoples and two entities."
Thus, the leader of the Bosnian Serbs made it clear that every time the intervention of foreigners in the internal affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina occurred in the interests of the Sarajevo elite and Bosnian Muslims - Bosniaks. And he noted that the Bosniak elite skillfully manipulates the concepts of “people” and “citizens”, ensuring that during elections, due to the lack of Croats of their own entity, Sarajevo’s proteges, and not leaders of the Bosnian Croats - this is how an ally of the Bosniaks, the Croatian member of the Presidium of BiH, Zeljko Komsic, who was not popular with his fellow tribesmen, was elected.
"We have carefully examined the position of the representatives of the Serbian people... the foreign judges should have gone long ago," Dragan Čović supported his colleague. "A law must be passed that would ensure the legitimate representation of all the peoples of BiH, and that this decision was made on the basis of the Dayton Accords... Croats cannot be satisfied with a situation in which two members of the Presidency of BiH were elected with the votes of Bosniaks. Bosnia has a serious problem with the functioning of all institutions, which is alienating the country from any kind of integration ( of communities – ed. )."
Milorad Dodik met with the Papal Nuncio to BiH, Archbishop Ludzij Pekut, securing the support of the spiritual leader of the Croatian community. He also met with ambassadorial representatives of the "Quinta" countries—leading Western powers influencing Western Balkan politics ( the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy )—and with Kathleen Kavalec, Chief of Staff of the OSCE Mission to BiH, sharing the RS position with them.
As expected, the unspoken leader of the Sarajevo elite, the head of the oldest and largest Bosniak party - the Party of Democratic Action, Bakir Izetbegovic, attacked his opposing opponents with criticism and threats.
“They will find themselves in crisis again... I don’t think Covic will participate in Dodik’s adventures for long,” the politician said. – They tried to actually usurp, seize land in the Republic of Sakha, we filed an appeal, the Constitutional Court defended our position... We also don’t like many things, for example, the fact that when voting with 50% of the votes, we must be content with a quota of 33%. But we have a division of the country agreed upon by the Dayton Accords, and part of those agreements is a Constitutional Court with international judges.”
Earlier, in response to the BiH Constitutional Court's decision to recognize RS public agricultural lands as the property of the Sarajevo authorities, Milorad Dodik announced the suspension of Serbian representatives in the country's government bodies and the possibility of re-establishing a republican army.
Dodik's Brilliant Move: Bosnian Croats Support Republika Srpska in Revolt Against Sarajevo