STABLE AND CONSENCUALLY ORGANISED BiH THE ONLY WAY TO MOVE FORWARD

BANJA LUKA, NOVEMBER 19 /SRNA/ – A stable and consensually organized BiH in which the voice of every people is heard equally is the only way for the country to move forward, emphasized the Acting Republika Srpska President Ana Trišić-Babić.

"Republika Srpska remains committed to this path, because only such a BiH can be a home for all who live in it," Trišić-Babić stated in an op-ed for SRNA on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement.

We publish the full op-ed text by the Acting Republika Srpska President, Ana Trišić-Babić, for SRNA:

Today, we are privileged to celebrate peace and the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Dayton Peace Agreement framework.

This document represents the greatest state-building achievement of the Serb people in the 20th century, who defended the right to live as equals with the other constituent peoples and to independently decide on their future in this region.

In addition, this document is perhaps the greatest diplomatic achievement of the United States of America and the entire international community, which through its political engagement demonstrated the strength and necessity of political compromise in the Western Balkans.

The Dayton is proof that political coexistence in BiH is possible only through respecting this agreement and each of its provisions, which ceased the tragic wartime conflicts of the 1990s.

The fact that Republika Srpska continues to faithfully celebrate this event for 30 consecutive years, despite the differing views of official Sarajevo, is a clear indicator of the Serb people’s political commitment to preserving peace and stability in BiH.

It is evidence that the Serbs were not aggressors, but defended their historical right to political autonomy in BiH. The legacy of the Serb people is embodied in the history of BiH.

Thus, by defending the Dayton, Serbs also defend the historical heritage of BiH, as well as the cultural wealth of European Judeo-Christian civilization.

Although in the past some former high representatives heading the OHR amended and supplemented this document at will, ignoring the scope of their term defined at the Dayton, Serbs have remained consistent with every letter of the agreement and have shown readiness to defend peace and stability in BiH through political dialogue, without impositions and unilateral solutions.

Today it is important to clearly say: the challenges ahead of us cannot be solved by old methods, nor by repeating mistakes that have for decades distanced us from trust and political dialogue.

To prevent history in BiH from repeating itself, it is necessary to politically remove all those who work to undermine the Dayton Peace Agreement, the only true guarantee of peace and stability.

First among them is the OHR and the function of the high representative, who over the past 30 years has turned into a foreign administrator who has distanced all of BiH from democratic principles and pushed it toward autocracy.

This has directly violated international law and endangered political stability in BiH.

Republika Srpska can proudly and confidently face the truth, because through its existence and the defence of the political autonomy of all constituent peoples, it has defended international law.

The Dayton is not only the cornerstone on which modern BiH was built, but also a political signpost for all peoples of this region. It is essential for all constituent peoples in BiH that now, during a period of geopolitical instability, we faithfully adhere to every provision of the document that enabled peace and stability.

Likewise, it is equally important today to understand that Dayton does not mean closed-mindedness or rejection of change. On the contrary - it is a framework of stability that allows for dialogue on modernization, economic development, the European path, and a better life for citizens, but exclusively through agreement among legitimate political representatives, not through impositions.

In this sense, the messages coming in recent months from part of the U.S. administration are encouraging - messages calling for strengthening dialogue, calming tensions, and returning to political realism. They show that there is space for relations to be built on mutual respect, not on pressure.

The Dayton is the only guarantee of a bright future for BiH, as well as the guarantee of the political autonomy of Republika Srpska. Stable, consensually organised BiH - in which the voice of every people is heard equally - is the only path for this country to move forward. Republika Srpska remains committed to this path, because only such a BiH can be a home for all who live in it.

The General Framework Agreement for Peace in BiH, known as the Dayton Peace Agreement, was reached on November 21, 1995 at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, in the U.S. state of Ohio, and officially signed on December 14 that same year in Paris.

In the years after its signing, under pressure from the OHR and the Constitutional Court of BiH, a large number of competencies were taken from Republika Srpska and transferred to the BiH level.