The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, issued the following statement today.
“Amid all the short-term manoeuvring and political gamesmanship of the last few days, the only fact which matters is being lost.
We are now just days away from the tenth anniversary year ofDayton and of Srebrenica. And yet still the chief architect of the murder of 8,000 men and boys is being protected by Belgrade and harboured by some in Banja Luka.
Until that changes, nothing changes.
As we approach the tenth year since Dayton , not a single one of those indicted by The Hague Tribunal for the worst crimes against humanity of recent years has been arrested by the RS authorities.
Until that is done, nothing can be done.
No future, no stable peace, no road to Europe, no path to NATO, no fulfilment of Dayton, no chance to put the past behind us.
And no amount of resignations, no political manoeuvres will alter this in any way.
The cause of the present situation is not the recent package of measures. It is Banja Luka ’s nine-year failure to conform to Dayton and their international obligations.
This is the task they must get on with – and Belgrade should be helping them – not, as at present, actively frustrating their efforts.
We are wasting time again. April and the next decisions of the EU and NATO are only 16 weeks away.”