Ambassador Murphy: u.s. Will Not Sit Idly as Dodik Steers Bosnia into Conflict

Michael Murphy US Ambassador to Bosnia (Photo: YTPrintscreen)

The U.S. ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Michael Murphy, said on Dec. 15 that the U.S. “will not sit idly” and watch President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik dissolve Bosnia and Herzegovina and lead the country into a conflict.

“I will not speculate on what the United States will do in the future in response to continued anti-Dayton activities. If Dodik thinks that the U.S. will sit around and watch him dissolve the country, leading it into a conflict, he is wrong,” the ambassador said in an interview with the Bosnian Federation’s FTV broadcaster.

The U.S. diplomat said that his country would defend the Dayton Peace Agreement and the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is a single, sovereign state, consisting of two entities, three constituent peoples and others. “Republika Srpska is an entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it has no right, or rather, the Constitution does not envisage its secession," Murphy said.

According to the ambassador, the U.S. insists on the responsibility of political leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina for their anti-Dayton rhetoric, which is why the U.S. imposed sanctions against some Bosnian officials. In a comment on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s stance that the Russian view on the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina fully coincided with that of the Republika Srpska leadership, Murphy said that the U.S. had always been Bosnia’s strongest partner and friend, and that statements by local political leaders or the Russian president would not change that.