Escobar: There is no Army of Republika Srpska, this is not 1991

(Patria) - Gabriel Escobar, the US State Department's Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, gave an interview to N1, and among the numerous questions posed to him were those about the Army of Republika Srpska, which Milorad Dodik increasingly mentions, as well as those about the current rhetoric of Zoran Milanović, the President of the Republic of Croatia.

Among other things, he answered the question of what would happen if one day the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina woke up to find soldiers of Republika Srpska on the entity line.

“That will not happen. I have said it once and I will repeat it: There will be no war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is not 1991,” Escobar emphasized.

When the N1 journalist noted that it was not about war, but about the Army of Republika Srpska, Escobar stressed that it does not exist and that no one is interested in that kind of escalation.

“First of all, there is no Army of Republika Srpska. Secondly, we have a mandate to preserve peace from the UN Security Council. No one is interested in that kind of escalation. Not Serbia, not Croatia, not Russia, no one. What we need to do, if we look at the armed forces, is how to create capable armed forces to meet the needs of everyone. Along with that, despite all the differences, between all levels of government, we should ensure that the state functions,” concluded the US Special Envoy for the Western Balkans.

About Zoran Milanović
Gabriel Escobar also spoke about the moves of Croatian President Zoran Milanović.

Asked what he thinks about the moves of President Milanović, for whom some would say he is mocking genocide, Escobar replied that Croatian institutions will work on good neighborly relations.

“I have never met him. We have a very good partnership with Croatia. That is a partnership with institutions, with the people, not with individuals. My conversations with Croatia are very good, and I receive from them a commitment that they will work on good neighborly relations,” our interlocutor responded.

However, we asked, who is Croatia, to which Escobar replied that it is “institutions.”

Asked whether he also thinks of institutions like the president, he stated that he does not make decisions about everything.

“The president does not make decisions about everything. They are part of a broader framework in the EU and within it they must be good neighbors. Within NATO they contribute well, and that is the Croatia we need to cooperate with,” concluded Gabriel Escobar.