Lagumdžija: Neither Dodik nor Cvijanović have reason to be pleased with the UN Security Council statement

(Patria) - Head of the BiH Mission to the UN, Zlatko Lagumdžija, commented on the statements of Željka Cvijanović, who said that no sentence lobbied for by Lagumdžija was included in the UN Security Council statement, nor any sentence supporting Christian Schmidt, nor any condemning Milorad Dodik or Republika Srpska.

"Regarding the statement by the Chairperson of the Presidency that 'no sentence for which Zlatko Lagumdžija lobbied was included in the UN Security Council Statement...', I can say the following:

As for my work, or what they call lobbying, I considered it of paramount importance to express the full consensus of all 15 Security Council members on 3 fundamental points:

First, the Dayton Peace Agreement with all its annexes has their consensual and full support, which means that the entire institutional and constitutional-legal framework built in accordance with it over three decades must also be respected;

Second, EUFOR should have undivided support to act in accordance with its mandate, which is clear and complementary to the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina;

And third, no one should have any doubt that the Security Council, as a whole, fully stands behind the sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which are unequivocally defined by the Dayton Peace Agreement," Lagumdžija stated.
He stated that he does not know what the Chairperson of the Presidency was reading when she considered it important to state that "no sentence for which Zlatko Lagumdžija lobbied was included in the UN Security Council Statement".

"Instead of repeating the three previously stated points, I will only quote three key points precisely stated in the Security Council Statement, which was not difficult to notice, given that the Security Council Statement as a whole has 6 sentences:

- The Security Council reaffirms its full support for the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement and all its annexes.

- The members of the Security Council express their support for the operations of EUFOR Althea to act in accordance with their mandate.

- The Security Council remains unreservedly committed to the sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in full accordance with the Dayton Peace Agreement.”

What is crucial in the Security Council Statement is what it says, not what is missing, because it reflects the position of all 15 Security Council members.

However, regarding her claim that the Security Council Statement does not include support for Schmidt and condemnation of Dodik, it should be said that the opposite is true: her requests to discuss the OHR and not Dodik's secessionism – requests that the Chairperson of the Presidency made to the Security Council members, and which were promoted on her behalf by the Russian ambassador – were not included in the Security Council Statement.

It should be reminded that last summer, the UN Secretary-General sent her a clarification that the High Representative is appointed by the Peace Implementation Council (PIC), not the Security Council, so this time too, she missed the topic, the place, the time, and me.

In any case, if I were in the position of the President of Republika Srpska and the Chairperson of the Presidency, I would not have the slightest reason to be pleased with the latest Security Council Statement. On the contrary," Lagumdžija stated.