DODIK: SECURITY COUNCIL HAS BEEN MISUSED; WE WILL SEEK CONSENSUS-BASED DECISION-MAKING

BANJA LUKA, NOVEMBER 2 /SRNA/ – Republika Srpska will additionally insist on defining positions on important issues within the BiH Presidency by consensus, SNSD Leadert Milorad Dodik stated.

Dodik stressed that one of the reasons for this was that the BiH Presidency Chairman Denis Bećirović has recently misused the floor of the UN Security Council during a debate on BiH by presenting personal views that had not been agreed upon within the BiH Presidency.

"Given everything we have witnessed, we will now insist that international policy matters, apart from military issues, must be determined by consensus within the Presidency," Dodik announced.

He recalled that a BiH Presidency member may express at international forums only positions that have previously been agreed upon by the Presidency.

"Once again, Bećirović lied. Once again, he spoke only about Muslims, thereby undermining BiH. We have long been accustomed to this, and we have no intention of defending BiH, but we are obliged to state our position there. In other words, he expressed only his own views," Dodik said at a press conference following a session of the SNSD Presidency.

According to him, such an address violated the fundamental principles governing the functioning of BiH, as the country's representatives cannot express internationally positions that have not been agreed upon.

"He must not appear in the international arena or at international forums and present his personal views. He can only state a position agreed upon by the Presidency. The position he presented was a lie, a lie and nothing but a lie! It was the statement of a frustrated and embittered man who is doing more than anyone else to undermine the very BiH he supposedly claims to defend," Dodik stressed.

Dodik questioned how it was possible to criticise Serbia, Croatia, Serbs and Croats in BiH while presenting such positions as the common views of all constituent peoples.

"How can you criticise Croatia, Serbia, Croats and Serbs in BiH without making it clear that these are not the positions of Serbs and Croats? How is that possible? Who are you trying to deceive? You are lying to the entire Security Council. And then you are lying to the entire international community. When are you finally going to stop lying? And how do you expect to build BiH?" Dodik asked.

In his address before the UN Security Council on October 30, which had not been coordinated within the BiH Presidency, Bećirović strongly criticised Republika Srpska and Serbia.