Dodik: After Vučić's visit to Zagreb, I expect tensions to calm down

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Commenting on the visit of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić to Croatia, the president of the BiH entity Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, said that the history between the two countries is difficult, but that everything should be done to make the lives of citizens as good as possible. 

He stated that he expects tensions caused by verbal outbursts to calm down.

When asked what that visit would mean for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dodik said that Vučić's visit to Zagreb is stabilizing, and that it will have positive repercussions for Serbs and Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but he does not think it is directed against the third nation.

“My party and I have good cooperation with the political representatives of Croats in BiH,” Dodik said on the show “Pošteno” on Federal Television, reports Patria agency.

When asked what reconciliation means to him, Dodik said that he had an illusion that it could be achieved quickly, but that he now realizes that it is very difficult. He accused the Hague Tribunal of not being fair to Serbs, and reminded that Croats now also have their perception of the verdicts in The Hague, and that Bosniaks consider the Hague verdicts for Serbs to be too lenient. 

“With such fundamental disagreements, it is very difficult to achieve anything, except for a courteous call for peace,” said Dodik. He called the war in BiH in the 90s a civil war.

He said that most Serbs would gladly have an independent Republika Srpska, which would be included in some state form together with Serbia, and that Croats want to achieve a third entity. “But when they are not allowed to talk about it publicly, they will always find a way, as Andrić used to say, to secretly pursue their national aspirations, which in essence do not mean reconciliation,” said Dodik. He called for the exclusion of any violence.