Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina are “mentally integrated” with Serbia and would support the eventual independence of Republika Srpska (RS), said RS President Milorad Dodik in an interview with France Presse.
“We don’t want to stay here,” said Dodik in an interview for a French agency published on the “Day of the Republic of Srpska”, a celebration that the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared unconstitutional and discriminatory.
In the conversation, Dodik pointed out that over 80 powers of the RS have been transferred to the central government in Sarajevo and they want them back.
France Presse writes that Dodik has recently been dealing with the issue of state property such as real estate and forests, which according to him belong to the entities and are a matter of “life and death”. That issue has not yet been legally resolved, and the High Representative of the international community, with the power to enact or repeal laws, could be the ones to resolve it.
“If that happens, we will go to the RS National Assembly and we will make a decision on independence,” Dodik warned.
“We will withdraw Serbs from the army, police, ‘joint’ institutions. I recommend them not to start that story,” he threatened.
The RS President said that the population of that entity is “mentally integrated” with Serbia.
“Yes, we are now part of Bosnia, but because it is our obligation. This is not something we want,” said Dodik in the interview.