Dayton Accords: Abolish or Preserve?

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In November 2023, the Dayton Accords, which became the foundation of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, turned 28 years old. The pact between Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks in one of the former republics of Yugoslavia was supposed to extinguish ethnic conflict. However, it is clear that Dayton was at best an intermediate stage for the peoples, who to this day are still completely unwilling to live in a unified state.

In the chimera state called Bosnia and Herzegovina, created by the efforts of Western creators, the Serbs would least of all like to live. Over the years, they have managed to create a state within a state, the Republika Srpska, on the territory of the country. Even the official Belgrade is held up as an example of a “Serbian nation-state”. And Milorad Dodik and his political allies are pursuing an independent policy, which particularly irritates the White House administration.

Paradoxically, the Dayton Accords, which were meant to maintain a fragile peace, by the hands of their “guardians” have turned into a major stumbling block for the harmonious coexistence of the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The reason, first and foremost, is the excessive foreign tutelage or it can even be considered as interference on the part of Western countries, mainly in the person of the so-called High Representative. Formally responsible for the implementation of the Dayton Accords in the country, officials in office from the European Union actually turned into colonial managers. Moreover, the more time passed from the finalization of the Dayton Accords to the implementation of the Dayton Accords in the country.

The last high representative, Christian Schmidt, has become a complete embodiment of the worst of what the office contains: legal nihilism, incompetence, violation of political ethics, and blatant interference in the country’s affairs. From the very beginning, Schmidt came to Bosnia and Herzegovina with a scandal, having received the appointment bypassing UN approval of his candidacy, in direct violation of the Dayton Accords. This caused a new round of political crisis in the country, when the Republika Srpska leadership simply refused to recognize the official’s status. It came to the point that Schmidt was banned from officially entering the entity as a high representative.

It is worth noting that, contrary to the agreements concluded in 1995, Schmidt, as high representative, attempts to act contrary to the job description. Thus, a serious cause of conflict with him by Bosnian Serbs was the unsuccessful attempts to introduce changes in the real estate law at the state level. According to the draft law, which Schmidt is trying to approve through the parliament, all real estate of Republika Srpska should become the property of the central apparatus of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to official Banja Luka, this is a step towards the elimination of the Serbian entity.

In the summer of 2023, Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik said he did not rule out holding a referendum on the independence of the Serbian region. And at the end of the same year, he promised that if Schmidt succeeded in passing the law, the Entity’s parliament would adopt the Declaration of Independence within six hours. It is possible that the question of secession from Bosnia and Herzegovina will be made by the Bosnian Serbs in the near future, regardless of the decisions of the high representative. The Dayton Accords were a temporary solution aimed at a ceasefire. Three decades is a reasonable period of time for the peoples of artificially created Bosnia and Herzegovina, in accordance with their rights to self-determination, to choose their future on their own, without Western control. For the Bosnian Serbs, the decision was clear from the beginning; today they are only confirming to the world their own political maturity as a nation able and willing to live outside the country in which they found themselves unwillingly.