GIVE US FREEDOM, GUARANTEE THE DAYTON AGREEMENT AND WE WILL BE PARTNERS

BANJA LUKA, MAY 21 /SRNA/ - The President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik emphasized that his address is not a call to rebellion, nor a threat to peace, it is not, as some will claim, a project of division, but a call to return to balance and harmony, to the Dayton - the way it was signed.

"But we are also realistic. We know that a lot of time has passed. We do not pretend that BiH in 2025 is the same as it was in 1995. That is why today Republika Srpska presents a proposal, not a request," explained the president of Srpska in his address, which SRNA broadcasts in its entirety:

"We propose a structured, time-limited dialogue between the signatories of the Dayton Agreement. A dialogue that is not conducted by decree, but with the mediation of diplomacy; a dialogue that does not take place secretly, but with full transparency; a dialogue that should answer one simple question: `How to make the next 30 years of peace better than the previous ones?`

If the answer to that question implies changes to the Dayton Agreement, then let's talk about it - openly and honestly, using the instruments that Dayton itself foresees regarding possible changes to the Constitution, with parliamentary agreement, commissions with representatives of different parties and the consent of the two entities and all three peoples - as Dayton mandates.

But let's reject, once and for all, the idea that a foreign bureaucrat, or some unelected council, can impose constitutional changes without consent. And that is not peace. That's not law. It is colonialism under the guise of state building. It's all a scam, a lie.

Let me say something that will resonate in the West, and even in Washington. We cannot expect the US to solve our problems and we do not ask them to do so. We do not believe in permanent dependence, no matter how great the other side is, we do not believe in state building experiments. BiH is not a project, it is established by the Dayton Agreement, i.e. the Constitution of BiH, as common to the nations that make it up.

As President Trump said in his historic address last week in Riyadh: `The birth of the modern Middle East did not come from Western interventionists... but from the people of the region themselves.`

Let it be so here as well. Let's take responsibility - not for conflict, but for dialogue. Let's be the generation that will restore the letter of the Dayton and leave behind Schmidt's decrees, lessons from Brussels and failed experiments of those who never lived here.

I have stated what we believe in and what we reject, and I will also state what we propose. We propose cooperation and partnership. We already have proven friends and partners in the world. We have Russia, China, Hungary... Now we are also looking for a partner in the United States of America.

We seek America as it was - and as it can be again - not as an adversary, not as an occupier, not as an arbiter, but as a guarantor of peace, a partner in development and a protector of our sovereignty. Because it was the United States that created the Constitution of BiH on the basis of the American Constitution. The United States of America led us to the Constitution of BiH, to peace in Dayton. In addition, the present-day United States of America has understood the importance of the signed agreement ever since Brussels.

We believe in the words of Vice President JD Vance: that Europe and America have been lulled into a security framework over the past 30 years, a framework that was created in the Clinton era, conceived by those who sought to build states as they saw fit, a framework that cannot respond to the challenges of the next 30 years.

BiH needed peace in 1995 and we got it. BiH in 2025 needs reforms - real, legal, democratic reforms. And they imply a return to the basics, the foundations that made the Dayton possible.

In this sense, we are open to dialogue and cooperation that is based on the Dayton principles and that is useful for all peoples in BiH; we are ready to be a reliable partner to everyone who wants it: the European Union, Russia and the United States of America.

In this sense, allow me to address Washington briefly from this place. We know that the United States is deeply concerned about its strategic dependence on Chinese minerals. We know that President Trump's administration has prioritized restoring and securing critical mineral supply chains through partnerships with friendly nations. We know that the US has explored the possibilities of cooperation in Ukraine, South America and Africa - with more or less success.

That is why today, for the first time, I publicly declare: Republika Srpska is ready to explore a partnership in the field of strategic minerals with Hungary and the United States of America. We stand ready to support America's efforts to diversify and secure critical minerals supply chains. We are ready to offer value. We are ready to offer transparency. We are ready to offer cooperation based on sovereignty - not on corruption, not on war, not on manipulation.

Give us freedom, confirm our existing sovereignty, guarantee the Dayton Agreement, our political autonomy and independence - we are partners too."