Brussels, 28/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - At Istanbul Summit NATO officially confirms its decision to hand over the international military intervention in Bosnia-Herzegovina to the European Union at the end of the year. Heads of State and governments from the Alliance were able to read in a press statement that they had decided to end NATO operations that had been carried out successfully by SFOR in Bosnia Herzegovina. NATO was pleased to note that the European Union was ready to deploy a new, distinct and robust mission, in virtue of a United Nations mandate and on the basis of the Berlin+ arrangements between the two organisations. The Alliance was pleased with these prospects for continuing further close co-operation.
NATO has been in Bosnia Herzegovina since the end of the war in 1995. Its stabilisation force (SFOR) had a peace keeping mission. Heads of State and government declared at the end of their meeting on Monday morning that the decision to end this mission marked the success it had achieved by stopping the war and maintaining the peace. The force gradually decreased from 65,000 to a little more than 7,000.
European Union High Representative for CFSP Javier Solana, confirmed on Monday afternoon, at his meeting with the Secretary General of NATO Jaap de Hoop Scheffer that the European Union was ready to take on this mission. Sources close to Javier Solana said that the European Union had already taken the political decision of making a commitment in Bosnia-Herzegovina and would now be beginning preparations for operational planning. Next week, the European Union is expected by written procedure to decide how it is going to appoint the operational commander who will be Deputy SACEUR, as well as the field commander, who is expected to be British. The EU has to at the same time define how it intends using NATO means in the context of the so-called "Berlin+" arrangements on co-operation between the two organisations.
In the press statement concluding the NATO Council meeting on Monday morning, Heads of State and Governments from the Alliance reaffirmed their political long term commitment to Bosnia Herzegovina and confirmed that the Alliance would keep a "residual" president together with a Head Quarters in the country. Military forces would have an important part of their mission, the continuation of the task of SFOR, which it has not yet successfully completed the hunt for the main war criminals sought by the International Criminal Court for the Former Yugoslavia (ICCFY), such as the former Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and the former military chief, Radko Mladic. As expected, NATO is not yet offering Bosnia-Herzegovina the chance to join its Partnership for Peace, the main reason being, "the concern that Bosnia-Herzegovina, particularly obstructionist elements from the Sprska Republic, were not fulfilling their obligation to fully cooperate with the ICCFY". NATO welcomed the important progress achieved by Bosnia-Herzegovina in the area of defence reform and is calling on the Bosnia authorities to "continue to move towards the implementation of a single military force".