Republika Srpska to withdraw from Bosnia and Herzegovina, president says - TASS

Republika Srpska will hold a referendum on its independence from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the date will be determined according to the interests of the parties, the entity's President Milorad Dodik told TASS.

"There is a decision to cede, but a specific day has not yet been set. A lot of research has to be done, the analysis has to be completed. We would like to do it now, but there are two other parties involved in this issue. Of course, it takes time," he said in an interview on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

"Our task now is to start the negotiation process. But we are sure that at this stage there is already enough historical, general civilizational maturity and understanding that this should happen and will happen," Dodik said.

According to him, remaining within Bosnia and Herzegovina "is synonymous with the loss of time and opportunities" for Republika Srpska. "Therefore, it is necessary to realize what we want as soon as possible, so that we stop wasting resources hoping in vain that Bosnia and Herzegovina can do something," the president added.

"We absolutely do not want to create instability on the territory of our country. That is why, first of all, we made a proposal to Bosnia and Herzegovina to withdraw from the country, to terminate the Dayton Agreement. We are actually moving in this direction," he concluded.

Earlier, Dodik said that the Republika Srpska authorities would prepare a resolution on the entity's peaceful secession from Bosnia and Herzegovina within 30 days. According to him, it will provide for the preservation of the current model of functioning of the economy and its adaptation to the model of peaceful separation within a few years. The Republika Srpska leader linked the initiative to Sarajevo's proposed UN General Assembly draft resolution on the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, which Dodik called illegal. He also said the international community was not paying attention to the killing of some 3,500 ethnic Serbs by Islamic militias in the Srebrenica area during the armed conflict in the early 1990s.