Brussels, 06/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved the offer made by the European Union to replace the United Nations force in Bosnia-Herzegovina (IPTF) by a European police mission from 1 January 2003. The foreign ministers of the Fifteen had formally proposed this European mission on the occasion of the 18 February General Affairs Council (EUROPE of 18/19 February, p.4). The mission of some 470 European police officers and 70 experts, strengthened by recruits on the ground, is to help in the restructuring and training of the Bosnian police force. The European mission, entrusted with the "necessary authority to monitor, mentor and inspect, should achieve its goal by the end of 2005", said the European Union's High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana, who was speaking before the Security Council in New York on Tuesday. This mission, "supported by the European Community's institution building programmes, would thus contribute to overall peace implementation in Bosnia-Herzegovina", he added.
The United Nations Envoy to Bosnia, Jacques Klein, the current European Union High Representative for Bosnia, Wolfgang Petritsch (who will be replaced by the former leader of the British Liberal-Democrat Party, Paddy Ashdown) and Javier Solana, all three warned that strengthening the justice administration and the police force, and more specifically the arrest of Radovan Karadzic, leader of the Bosnian Serbs during the war and indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY), were absolutely essential for a lasting peace. "The painful chapter in Bosnia's history that began a decade ago will never be properly closed until justice is done, and seen to be done", declared Javier Solana, calling on "State and entity governments to co-operate fully, in deed as well as words", with the ICTY. The international community, with NATO forces (Sfor), must do all it can to arrest Radovan Karadzic, declared, for his part, Jacques Klein, for whom the fact that Karadzic is still at large "encourages" Serbs who have the hardest stances, and discourages the moderate Serbs from co-operating with the international community.