SDA: Dodik protects Croats in FBiH, while in RS they are 'ethnically cleansed'

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Milorad Dodik's claim that "Croats should be given a third entity and that without it there is no BiH" is a brazen substitution of theses, which further aims to deepen the crisis and gain the support of radical circles within the Croatian people for his own anti-constitutional policy, the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) announced this evening.

As stated in the announcement, if new ethnic-territorial divisions in BiH were possible – and they are not, Dodik could be asked which part of the territory of the RS entity he planned to include in the so-called third entity?

- It is hypocritical that the "generous" offer of a "third entity" to Croats comes from the RS, from which, along with Bosniaks, they were ethnically cleansed and where, even 25 years after the war, they cannot exercise basic human and constitutional rights.

Instead of nonsensical claims about the need to form a third entity, the authorities in the RS entity, which are under Dodik's full control, should enable basic rights for members of the Bosniak and Croatian peoples, and above all, representation in institutions in accordance with the Constitution - the SDA states.

The announcement emphasizes that in the RS entity, according to the 2013 census, 14 percent of Bosniaks and 2.5 percent of Croats live, but they are nowhere near represented in the entity institutions in accordance with these numbers or the 1991 census, which is a right that belongs to them according to the Constitution. There are many examples, and the most drastic are in the MUP RS and the public service RTRS, where members of other ethnic groups can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

- Therefore, Dodik's supreme cynicism is to "care" about the rights of Croats in the Federation of BiH, where they are represented more than their census numbers, while at the same time the authorities under his control are carrying out discrimination and a kind of apartheid against Bosniaks and Croats in the RS entity.

There will be no new ethnic-territorial divisions within BiH, just as there can be no secession, unilateral return of state competencies to entities, formation of para-institutions... Such a policy unnecessarily creates tensions, slows down the economic development of BiH, drives young people out of the country, and exhausts all citizens, regardless of which people they belong to and in which part of BiH they live. Therefore, it is high time that Dodik be stopped in this by the actions of BiH judicial institutions and sanctions from the international community - the SDA concludes.