December 2003 International Security Institutions Ministry of Defence of NATO decided that because of the good development in the army of BiH the number of SFOR soldiers will be reduced from 12 000 to 7 000, while at Kosovo KFOR soldiers remain at their current level of 17 000 soldiers. The good development in BiH is due to the adoption of the law on defence and the unification of the Commanding of the armed forces in BiH. Atlantic alliance showed the desire that by May 2004 BiH becomes a member of the Partnership for peace. The process of reduction will be carried out step by step and should be completed by June next year. Likewise SFOR will no longer have in BiH have stations for heavy fighting equipment. Members of the SFOR Multinational Brigade «Northwest» destroyed in the past 7 days 18 tonnes of ammunition of the Army of RS , the total amount of ammunition destroyed to date is 163 tonnes. SFOR estimates that the Army of RS still has 1000 tonnes of excess ammunition. Members of SFOR carried out a search of 4 houses in the country town of Serici near Zenica. Spokesman for the Police Department in the Zenicko-Dobojski Canton announced that the search carried out by the SFOR soldiers was done in houses of citizens from Arab countries. The UN Security Council Committee announced a list of 90 countries, on which BiH appeared who have not submitted their 3 month report on anti-terrorism activities and in that way have infringed Resolution 1455. The UN Office Against Drugs and Crime announced that the protocol on the trade of people that is part of the International Convention on the fight against organised crime was brought into effect. This protocol is important as it establishes united legal standards in sanctioning and relations with criminals as well as victims. Police in BiH The Council of Ministers BiH stated that SIPA will temporarily be located in the building of the “Zrak” company in Buca potok, Sarajevo. Without delay the Council of Ministers BiH will start the process of making a comprehensive financial, operative and structural analysis of three possible permanent locations for SIPA. (Buca potok, Nedzarici, Srpsko Sarajevo). Politics and Security In Rakitje (Croatia) a seminar was held on the democratic control of armed forces and the criteria which allows for the success of that process. The BiH delegation consisted of 6 parlamentarians from BiH (3 from the House of Representatives and 3 from the House of People). The House of Representatives from the Parliamentary assembly of BiH adopted the law of defence BiH. With this legislation the defence forces of BiH are formed and will be composed of both the Army of the FBiH and RS. Along with the law on defence the accompanying laws- on the alteration and supplementary law of the Council of Ministers and the law on the Ministry of BiH to whom it is enabled to form a Ministry of Defence and the naming of Ministers, were also adopted. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of NATO at a meeting in Brussels recognised the efforts of BiH and SCG in order to enter the Partnership for Peace. They invited these two countries to the NATO Summit in Istanbul to complete the «unsatisfied conditions» for entry into the NATO programme, for example the arresting of persons who are accused by the Hague Tribunal. BiH is for the first time invited to attend the meeting of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs NATO. Minister of Security BiH Barisa Colak stated that a search will begin in relation to the question of the persons who are behind the terrorist attacks that took place in Istanbul and statements that they are traind in BiH. The Minister of Foreign Affairs BiH Mladen Ivaniæ warned of the lack of economic developement in the region because of its «bad image». He attended the International Conference named «Regional Cooperation in the Fight Against Organised Crime» which was organised by the Balkan Political Club in Beograd. The Peoples Assembly RS adopted the law of alteration and supplementation of the law on defence RS as well as the law of alteration and supplementation of the law on RS Army. The law on the alteration and supplementation of the law on defence stated that RS has its own army, which is a part of the armed forces of BiH and it is organised in harmony with the laws of BiH and RS. It is forseen that with the law the Army of RS will consist of a professionals and reserves. The concept of performing Army obligations is replaced with the concept of the obligation to fill reserve compositions and serving the miltary term obligatory training. With this law the Army of RS falls within the framework of the armed forces of BiH, which defends the territorial integrity and constitutional order of BiH and RS. Mr. Branko Krsmanoviæ, Minister of Finance RS stated that funds recieved from the succession of the Former SFRJ will next year be used to pay out demobilised soldiers and persons from other services where reform is taking place. BiH i Albania demonstrated their readiness for joint action in the fight against criminals, corruption and human trafficking. This was concluded during the meeting between the parliamentary delegations of Albania and BiH. Armed Forces in BiH The working group of the Federal Ministry of Defence established a criteria for the upcomming dismissal of excess members of the Army of the Federation of BiH. In the future Army of the Federation of BiH there will remain approximately 8000 professional members, but in order to get to that level there needs to be over 4000 dismissals. Members of the Standing Committee on Military Matters BiH, Entity Ministry of Defence and their deputies, Army officers with the rank of colonel-brigadier and higher will from now on need to inform the Ministry of Defence or the Standing Committee Secretariat of any work related travel which is outside of BiH. Section for defence technology from College of engineering from Sarajevo and the Ministry of Defence FBiH organised military training for 70 officers and 20 non-commissioned officers from the area of: basics of weapons and ammunition, storage of ammunition, maintaining and transporting ammunition and army standards for handling explosives. Dismissals in the Army of the FBiH may begin at the end of February 2004. It is currently unknown the exact number of soldiers who will be dismissed but it is estimated to be around 4-5 thousand. Without a decision being made by the Presidency of BiH in relation to the reduction of the armed forces in BiH, one cannot approach the dismissal of 4-5 thousand soldiers of the Army of the FBiH, stated the Head and Deputy Head from the Office for Information JCAFBiH Hamza Visca i Zoran Duspara. JCAFBIH represents the point of view that the Army needs to maintain soldiers who are capable to fulfil certain professional criteria. JCAFBIH established a criteria for demobilisation which was given to the Federal Ministry of Defence. The result of the agreement of the working group for a joint army doctrine and standard training, held in Banja Luca is a document with which establishes that all BiH soldiers will in the future, dress in the same way. This document establishes the standards for training that equalizes training for both entity armies in line with NATO standards and with this opening the path for BiH to become a member of the Partnershiop for peace. November 2003 Politics and Security Member of the Presidency of BiH Mr. Sulejman Tihiæ announced that the collective heads of the state will send a letter to the American President George Bush in which it will highlight the readiness of the military unit BiH to participate in the area of military stabilisation forces in Iraq. The Presidency has reached the unanimous consensus of the intention of the collective heads of the state for the US to build their own military bases in BiH. The Presidency of BiH adopted the document “Military Doctrine in BiH”. The Presidency brought the decision in relation to work related travel overseas and reporting on these, for officials and representatives from the Ministry of Defence as well as the Standing Committee on Military Matters. They also adopted the proposal on the participation of BiH soldiers entering the Peace Mission in Congo. On his one day visit to BiH the General Secretary of NATO George Robertson stated that the arrest of Radovan Karadzic and others who are charged with war crimes is an important precondition for the entry of BiH into the Partnership for Peace. This is the last visit to BiH for Mr. Robertson in his position as General Secretary of NATO. On the 26 - 27 November a seminar on the Draft law on Intelligence and Security Agency BiH was held in Sarajevo. It was organised by the Centre for Security Studies (CSS) and the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, Switzerland. Along with ambassador Kalman Kocis, Chairman of the Commission on Intelligence Reform BiH, other speakers also included high-ranking officials from Pentagon, Mr. George B. Lotz II Assistant to the Secretary of Defence USA and Mr. Barry Wickersham, from the Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defence (Intelligence Oversight) USA. Participants at the seminar included eminent experts such as: professor Andreja Saviæ from the University of Belgrade who is the former director of the Security Information Agency, professor Vlatko Cvrtila, Chairman of the Council for Oversight of Intelligence and Security Services, Croatia along with other domestic experts and high-ranking officials from the legislative and executive branches of BiH. The goal of the seminar was to discuss the draft law on the Intelligence and Security Agency of BiH, which was created by the Commission for reform of the Security Sector of BiH. The seminar provided the opportunity for differing opinions and suggestions on the draft law to be voiced in order to overcome any eventual misunderstandings in relation to, jurisdiction, method of operation and oversight of the Intelligence and security agency. International Security Institutions Members of the group SFOR in cooperation with Ministry of Interior in the Unsko-Sanski kanton in the Bihac region Klokot, undertook the action of collecting illegal weapons “Harvest”. In the area around Tarcin, on the training site located at Lapov do, a unit of SFOR destroyed 5 anti-air rocket launchers of the Army of FBiH and RS. The destruction of the launchers was attended by: Lincoln Blumfield, Assistant to the State Secretary USA for political Advice, Enes Becirbasic, General Secretary of the Standing Committee for Miliatry Matters and the Federal Minister for Defence Miroslav Nikolic. The American Ambassador in NATO Nikolas Barns, stated that one cannot discuss the withdrawal of NATO from the Balkans and focus on Iraq and other regions. He stated that 12.000 NATO soldiers in BiH, 17.000 soldiers in KFOR and 7.000 soldiers from the EU in Macedonia will stay while these countries are still in the transition process. Representatives of SFOR announced that the inspection of the warehouse for weapons and ammunition under the 5th unit of the Army of the Federation of BiH was completed with successful results in 9 projects. This led to recognition being given to the members of the 5th Unit. Opening ceremony was held for the Centre for training of peaceful operations in camp SFOR at Butmir. This Centre was established as a result of the international iniciative funded by the Governments of Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Holland, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Great Britain, and USA. Spokesperson for the Multinational Brigade «Northwest» Ron Karson announced that in the last 7 days 69 tonnes of obsolete ammunition was destroyed which was in the arms of the Army of RS. In the upcomming period there will be further destruction of 73 tonnes of that type of ammunition. The main Assembly of Austria adopted the decision of again initiating Austrian police officers into the peace mission in BiH. In the EUPM Framework in BiH, Austria will now have up to 5 police officers. EUPM received certain information of the eventual threats of Islamic terrorists in BiH. As stated by the Banja Luka spokesperson for the EUPM Alun Roberts, it is necessary to pay more attention to Security. In the area of the Bosanska Gradiška Municipality a three-week project named “Intern Harvest” is in progress. 744 guns were found, 172.645 ammunition, 1420 hand grenades, 23 heavy weapons, 3 rockets “maljutka” and 1 anti aircraft weapon “strijela”. Members of the multinational brigade of SFOR Northwest, which contains British, Canadian and Netherland soldiers near their own camp in the town of Ramici, near Banja Luka carried out an exercise whose aim was to check the competence and the readiness of the soldiers in critical situations. Police in BiH After yet again receiving threatening letters to the member of Presidency BiH Sulejman Tihiæ from the organisation «Gavrilo Grahovac» from Chicago, spokesperson for the EUPM Jon Oskar Solns said that this event again demonstrates how this country needs SIPA, the Agency for Information and Protection. Commissioner of the EUPM Sven Frederiksen gave a deadline of one month to the Ministry of interior affairs FBiH Mevludin Haliloviæ and the director of the Police Department FBiH Zlatko Miletiæ to «tighten» relations in the Federal Ministry of interior affairs and by that means improve their relations, which would relieve them of a number of problems that exist in this institution. The Ministry of Interior of the Posavski Canton organised, around the old production factory “Peradarstvo” in Orajem, a joint exercise of mass control. Members of the Department for Support in the Ministry of Interior Tuzla Canton, the police department from the Brèko district and the Ministry of Interior of Posavski Canton participated in this exercise. Near Zenice there has begun a comprehensive action which is aimed at minimising the problem with the chain of automobile thefts that have been occuring. Up until now 15 cars have been impounded and 10 persons taken into custody. Spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior RS Zoran Glusac stated that the Ministry of Interior RS in light of the recent Terrorist attacks throughout Europe and the world, strengthened their security methods in RS especially in localities where there could be attacks. According to him, these included buildings of the Institutions of RS, as well as buildings that house representatives from international organisations. Germany donated to the State Border Service (SBS) of BiH, 8 field «mitsubishi» automobiles. The total amount of the donation is 526 000 KM. Armed Forces in BiH Following the decision that BiH by years end must demobilise 7 500 soldiers, the OSCE mission in BiH and the IOM have organised an international donators Conference to help demobilised soldiers. For the 7 500 demobilised soldiers the international community has promised donations of 5 million dollars. In total there is a need for 16 million dollars for the next three years over which the demobilisation of BiH soldiers should continue. The government of the FBiH stated that the Ministry of Defence FBiH and the Army of the FBiH in this year alone fall short 5 million KM. Due to unpaid salaries and unpaid employee benefits there are 3 500 law suits against the Ministry of Defence and the Army of the FBiH. Along with these law suits for past debts the total complaint demands without interest and court costs come to approximately 65 million KM. The General Secretary of the Standing Committee for military matters BiH Enes Becirbasic announced the formation of a group of experts from the Council of Ministers who will in a timelimit of 30 days offer a solution for the departure of BiH army units to the Peace Mission in Iraq. This expert group will create certain legal regulations that until now have not existed for the provision of any possible injuries and death that may occur in regards to BiH soldiers in Iraq. Three members from the Army of RS in the Logistics base posted in Bijeljina were suspected of tampering with the budget of the Army of RS for the amount of 140 197 KM. The police of Banja Luka laid charges for suspicion of abusing their official position. October 2003 Intelligence Services in BiH Ambassador Kalman Kocsis warned the BiH government that they are running late with the acceptance of the draft legislation for Intelligence services and that they did not make the best possible use of the 40 days which they had had until now on offer. He reminded that on 1st of January 2004 begins with work new Intelligence and Security Agency BiH and stop work two existing Intelligence services, but he is afraid that that deadline may be broken. Politics and Security The Council of Ministers BiH adopted the proposed laws for defence in BiH. In accordance with the suggestions of the Commission for reform of defence, which the states Presidency accepted at the last meeting. According to the words of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers BiH Adnan Terzic, that means that the proposed laws on defence go through a shortened process in the Parliamentary procedure. Terzic anticipates that the laws will be adopted in a months time, in any case before the 15th December when NATO’s General Assembly meeting has been scheduled. The Government of RS accepted the report of the Commission for Reform of Defence in BiH and in relation to that supported the suggestion for the methods of altering the Constitution of RS. President RS, Dragan Caviæ stated that it is logical that 8 years after the end of the war that the alterations and the reorganisation of armed forces be undertaken. Chairman of the Council of Ministers BiH Adnan Terzic and the special coordinator of the stability Pact for SEE Erhard Busek opened, in the building of the joint institution in Sarajevo, the regional secretariat of the Stability Pact initiative for the fight against Corruption – SPAI Secretariate. The Council of Ministers BiH adopted the National Action plan for the fight against organised crime. Deputy Minister for Security Dragan Mektic announced the adoption of the new legislation of the State Information and Protection Agency (SIPA), by which this agency would be transformed into an agency for investigation and protection of BiH and to get police authority. The plan foresees the bringing in of state legislation preventing money laundering which would establish a Financial Intelligence department in SIPA. International Security Institutions In the event of any misunderstandings or pretence outside towards BiH, when BiH becomes a member of the Partnership for Peace, towards the words of Colonel Tia Johnson International member of the Commission for reform of the defence sector BiH, NATO will be responsible for resolving everything by peaceful means, even if there exists very little possibility for that to occur. Ministry of defence EU came to agreement at the meeting in Rome, that the Union must takeover the peace Mission in BiH in 2004, while London offered to takeover command over this area. Peace forces of the EU in BiH should include about 6 000 soldiers. SFOR announced that after being informed by local police that they confiscated 98 rocket launchers, leftover from the 1992.-95 war close to Bosanska Gradiške. Carabinieri from the SFOR contingent undertook control of the Sarajevo Headquaters BH – Telecom located at Dolac-Malta. In the words of a portparoler from SFOR Jeremy Todd, it was a regular inspection which occurs periodically over the whole of BiH, at places and times that SFOR chooses. NATO opened the path for the EU to take over the operations in BiH in the next 12 to 18 months, while officials in Washington do not show such enthusiasm for these ambtions. General secretary NATO George Robertson announced that the Ministers of defence of 19 members of NATO who gathered at an informal meeting in Colorado Springs, USA, who are trying to find a way of taking over tasks which up until now in BiH were carried out by SFOR. Members of the stabilisation forces searched the central office of the Ministry of Interior and the Federal Intelligence-security service in Sarajevo. It was a planned search. More precisely, members of SFOR were searching for something which is found in parts of the building used by the Federal Ministry of Interior, from where they took with them «something» in boxes. Centre for SEE for the training of dogs to detect mines was opened in Konjic. In the Centre there will be training of dogs for uncovering explosives, narkotics, as used for the purposes of security services, searches and recovery. Members of SFOR at 11 locations in Republika Srpska completed an unannounced search of a Department of the Intelligence-security service of this entity. SFOR officials explained that the actions taken by the prosecutor in the Hague Court, that members of the Stabilization forces extend their support to the prosecutors of the tribunal for war criminals. The main reason for the SFOR searches of the building in which the Federal Ministry of Interior and Federal Intelligence and Security Agency are located was because of searches for equipment used for phone tapping purposes for the possible uncovering of illegal eavesdropping on representatives of the International Community in BiH. Members of SFOR in the Collective Refugee Centre in Nezuci near Višegrada completed an action for the collection of weapons, ammunition and Unexploded Ordinances. Searches were carried out in houses around the Centre, and in attendance at the collection were also members of the police Department, Srpsko Sarajevo. Ministry of defence from countries Central European Initiative for Military Cooperation (CENCOOP) agreed at Grac that shortly there will be the formation of a special unit for the needs of the peace mission in BiH. The number of soldiers in this unit is yet to be decided but it is expected that it will be between 120 - 800 armed persons. Police in BiH The UN Convention against organised crime came into effect in BiH and it will have to be placed into the national legislation of this country. This Convention sets out four catergories of criminal acts in relation to organised crime; these include participation within an organised criminal group, money laundring and interfering with justice. In the zone of responsibility the Police Department Doboj closed all night clubs and will takeover activities on fighting against the human trafficking, it was confirmed by the Chief of the Department for foreigners in this centre Vitomir Bradascevic. In the past three years the prosecution has laid charges in 42 cases, against persons who are involved in the trafficking of people. Ministry of Interior in the Zenicko-Dobojski Canton received 19 new cars from the production programme “Wolkswagon”. This is the result of the decision made by the Government of the ZE-DO Canton at the beginning of summer. Three underage citizens of Prijedor on the 20th of October of this year anonymously and falsely informed the police of a Bomb placed in the building elementary school “Dositej Obradoviæ” in Prijedor. The call was made from a public telephone box. This is one anonymous phone call of many which have been occuring lately in this part of BiH. Employees from the State Border Service BiH from the field office «NorthEast» in Bijeljina in the area of Velika Brusnica in the Municipality Bosanski Brod arrested 9 Turkish citizens when they tried to illegally cross the border. Two BiH taxi drivers tried to smuggle them over the border. A three day conference was held named «Legal reforms in the area of border security» in which representatives from the border services of the EU and countries of SEE discussed their experiences. The Conference was organised by DCAF - Geneva, and the information given to the representatives of the EU by the border services in the region regarding their experiences will be helpful when undertaking the requested tasks. The Committee on the fight against Organised Crime Association, Chief of police from SEE countries (SEPCA) held in Sarajevo its first working conference. The Chief of police discussed behind closed doors the priority of the district of the joint fight against organised crime and the possible methods for leading this process. In Eastern Herzegovina the first coordinated operation was undertaken agencys for the implementation of legislation and SFOR in the fight against cross border criminals. The operation covered a wide area of eastern Herzegovina with 356 persons being checked, of which 6 were held in custody for the illegal posession of weapons. September 2003 Intelligence Services in BiH Chairmen of the Commission for Reform of Intelligence Services, Kalman Kocis, handed in the draft law on Intelligence-Security Agencies in BiH to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Adnan Terzic. This indicated the beginning of the formation of the Intelligence-Security Service. As Ambassador Kocis emphasised, this act meant an end to the functioning of the entity intelligence services. Armed Forces in BiH Radmila Zakrovic, co-ordinator at the Federation Ministry of Defence, stated that civilian service in place of military service would most probably begin at the beginning of October this year. So far 98 institutions, hospitals, surgeries, humanitarian organisations exist as locations where it would be possible to serve in civilian service. In the FBiH 492 applications was accepted for civilian service. After a month long investigation into the military industries ‘Vitezit’ from Vitez and 'Bratstvo' from Novi Travnik, inter-ministries group of the government of the FBiH found proof of a violation of the UN embargo on the export of arms to Iraq. This report was neither confirmed nor denied by the Minister of Defence. Slovenia will no longer conduct compulsory military service recruitment, and by the beginning of next year it will move to a system of a professional army. A voluntary three months training period will come into force from October, when recruitment will be stopped. The Defence Reform Commission in BiH completed the Draft Law on Defence of BiH. The Law foresees a formation of a State Ministry of Defence in BiH. The Presidency of BiH will have control over all armed forces in BiH, and the state parliament will, for the first time since Dayton, have the right to proclaim a state of war or state of emergency. State military general staff with a chief of staff will be established, and a military-intelligence service will be under the control of the Ministry of Defence. The draft Law on Defence of BiH, which was completed by Defence Reform Commission in BiH was not accepted by the SDA Party, and a member of the Presidency of BiH, Mr. Sulejman Tihic. Mr. Tihic requested the formation of a unified army of BiH, which the draft Law on Defence does not foresee. The Draft Law on Defence foresees three armies that will have the same BiH flag insignia, as well as symbols of entities or communities. For Tihic, it is an unacceptable solution that the Minister of Defence of BiH will have two deputies, which according to him is an issue of involving parallelism once again into defence structures. The delegation of the Army of FBiH was on a three-day visit to the barracks of the Army of RS, 'Zarko Zgonjanjin' in Prijedor, in the framework of realisation of the Agreement of Building Peace and Trust in BiH, for improving military co-operation. The Centre for Security Studies - BH and Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), organised a two-day seminar entitled 'Parliamentary Oversight of the Security Sector' that took place in Sarajevo. The aim of the seminar was to pass on the experiences to BiH parliamentarians in performing democratic, civilian oversight of the army. The seminar also promoted of the handbook entitled 'Parliamentary Oversight of the Security Sector', published by DCAF and the Inter Parliamentary Union. The Defence Reform Commission in BiH presented, to the political director of the Peace Implementation Council, the report and suggestions for the reform of the defence sector in BiH. International, as well as national officials once again announced their acceptance of the report of the Commission, whose suggestions should make a base for the future Draft Law on Defence of BiH. The compromise of national politicians regarding this issue was reached after few days of negotiations. Politics and Security The Minister of Foreign Affairs for BiH, Mladen Ivanic, is participating at the international scientific seminar "NATO and South-East Europe", on the Croatian island Sipan. At this symposium, which is organised by the Atlantic Council of Croatia and NATO Media Office, Mr. Ivanic will give a presentation on "NATO and BiH". A member of the BiH Presidency, Sulejman Tihic, welcomed in Sarajevo, James Locher III, Chairman of the Defence Reform Commission for BiH. At the time Tihic pointed out the deficiency of the solutions offered regarding the authority of the entity armed forces. The President of the RS, Dragan Cavic, and the Chairman of the Defence Reform Commission in BiH, James Locher III, met in Banja Luka, where they discussed the first version of the report regarding the work of the Commission as well as the preliminary draft of the document on defence reform. The final report of the Defence Reform Commission will be reviewed at the meeting of the Council for Implementation of Peace, at political director level, at the end of September, in Sarajevo. The round table entitled "BiH towards PfP - progress and obstruction" took place in Sarajevo, organised by the Alliance for Security BiH, with the aim to point out the cessation of serious activities that BiH has to implement in order to enter PfP. During a round table entitled 'The Importance of Military Reforms for Peace and Security in BiH and the Region', organised by Congress Council of Bosniac Intellectuals, Serb Civil Council of BiH - Movement for Equality and Croatian National Council, it was emphasised that BiH needs a clear concept of structuring the armed forces, which will be based on constitutional solutions and democratic standards in that field. The Delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, composed of the Chairman of the House of Representatives, Nikola Spiric, and the Chairman of the House of Peoples, Velimir Jukic, as well as the Deputy Chairman Sefik Dzaferovic participated in a two-day workshop entitled 'How to make intelligence service responsible' which took place in Oslo, organised by the Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of the Armed Forces. The purpose of the workshop was to initiate an informative debate on the oversight of the intelligence service. Police in BiH Due to the possession of forged diplomas of completed higher education, a crime report was submitted to the authorised Municipal Prosecutor against 45 police officers from Livanjski Canton, who were subsequently dismissed. Working groups for the implementation of laws met at the EUPM headquarters where they started to work on improving professionalism of the BiH police. Those working groups have to formulate particular steps for implementation of seven EUPM foundation programmes, which will improve capabilities of the BiH police force. Those programs are as follows: criminal police, criminal judiciary, internal affairs, police administration, public order and security, SBS BiH and SIPA. RS police searched the residence of the Orthodox Bishop, Vasilije Kacavenda, from Bijeljina, in consultation with the BiH State Prosecutor, due to information that Radovan Karadzic, the most wanted war crimes suspect was hiding there. Even if this was false information, it was significant, because this was the first action the RS police had taken in attempting to arrest Radovan Karadzic. For the first seven months of this year 17,892 criminal acts were committed in BiH, as stated by the EUPM spokesperson John Oscar Solnes, marking the situation in BiH stable. In comparison to the same period last year, the number of committed crimes has risen by 377 cases, or 2.15%, but according to Solnes that number is marginal and insignificant. Sven Federiksen, EUPM Commissioner, stated that the security situation in BiH is very good. He emphasised that in some parts of the country incidents and attacks on returnees occur, but they are reduced in comparison to previous years. He also stated that in BiH 209 women work in the sex industry, which is not even close to the number of 15,000 prostitutes stated in the report of University of Lozana, regarding prostitution in BiH. In Sarajevo, a three day seminar of regional working network PACO (Programme Against Corruption and Organised Crime in South-East Europe) was held. It was focused on witness protection and the fight against organised crime. The seminar was organised by the Council of Europe, in co-operation with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of BiH. International Security Institutions The High Representative for BiH, Paddy Ashdown, and the EUPM Commissioner, Sven Frederiksen, presented a new poster that presents the beginning of a new campaign of the EUPM in BiH. The aim of the campaign is to explain the steps EUPM undertakes in regards to helping the BiH police in reaching European operative and ethical standards. The Head of the US Army decided to send a section of the National Guards from the US State of Vermont to BiH as a replacement for their fellow-countrymen from Kansas, who are departing. Twenty members of SFOR's First Battalion Scottish Unit and a part of the British fighting group, searched two companies in Prijedor; "Prijedorka", s brick-making company; and "Mozaik", a tile company, as a part of the operation: "Dynamic answer". During this operation nothing was found, while at the Meduvode housing estate in Drijedor they discovered three M-42 76mm anti-tank cannons. The US Military Attaché, Lieutenant Colonel Fred N. Shau, accompanied by representatives from the SCMM Secretariat and the US Company MPRI, visited the headquarters of the Third Logistic Base of Command of Logistics of the Army of FBiH. The NATO operational exercise "Dynamic Answer 2003" took place near the Dubrava airport in Tuzla, where approximately one hundred Italian, American, German and Hungarian soldiers were involved. The purpose of this exercise was to show NATO’s quick response capability with an additional number of soldiers for urgent situations in BiH and Kosovo. The European Community should replace NATO in BiH at the end of 2004 or the beginning of 2005, despite US opposition to this idea, due to the belief that necessary conditions for that still do not exist, the Austrian Minister of Defence Guenter Platter stated to the daily newspaper "Financial Time Deutschland". Soldiers from the "Alfa" troop, the United Kingdom fighting troops, Multinational Brigade North-West, discovered and removed large amounts of ammunition from cellars of houses in the area north-east of Prijedor. They found 49,994 pieces of ammunition, 248 mortar shells, 22 anti-tank mines, 60 rockets, 41 racket launcher model M-79, 11 machine-guns and 4 full mortar systems sets. The NATO Commander for South Europe, US General Gregory Johnson, visited NATO Headquarters in BiH. Johnson arrived for a regular visit of NATO peacekeeping of which he is in charge, in order to be directly informed about the situation. The regional headquarters of the allied forces for South Europe is situated in Naples, Italy, and is in charge of all NATO operations in the Balkans, including SFOR. Members of SFOR's German-Italian fighting group found a considerable amount of illegal weapons and other dangerous materials in the village Kadino, Municipality Pale. Two machine guns, 17 rifles, rocket launcher, a pistol, 4000 calibre 12,7 mm bullets were discovered. The Commander of SFOR's Multinational Brigade North-West, Ben Berry, emphasised that the presence of a well equipped and quick response NATO force in BiH, part of the training programme 'Dynamic respond 2003', is a guarantee for BiH peace and stability. EUPM spokesperson Jon Oscar Solnes stated that the EUPM has established units for collecting data of intelligence service on organised crime in the whole of BiH, in accordance with European standards, in fighting this kind of criminal activity. As a result of this and other kind of measures, so far 29 persons have been charged with illegal human trafficking and 165 police operations for the control of bars and other buildings took place. SFOR found ten tonnes of artillery ammunition, mostly mortar shells, most probably left over from the war in the village of Strigova, near Kosajnica. As a part of the same action, SFOR found two calibre 122mm cannons in the village of Mirkovici, near Knezica, after information was received from local police. EUPM spokesperson for Herzegovina, Kirsten Haupt, stated that in the next year it is planned to discharge a large number of police officers in the FBiH and in the RS. She did not want to state the exact number of excess police officers, but unofficial sources stated that the present number of 17,000 should be reduced to 12,000. Canadian General Brigadier Stewart A. Beer took over the command of the Multinational Brigade North-West, camp Ramici, near Banja Luka. He replaced General-Brigadier Ben Berry, who returned to the UK. The present NATO Secretary General, Lord George Robertson, whose four year mandate expires in December of this year, welcomed all decisions made by country members of the Alliance to name the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, as the next NATO Secretary General. General-Major Virgil L. Pecett, will take over the duty of SFOR Commander in BiH. He will replace the present commander, General William Ward. Peckett will come to this position from Naples, where he was serving as assistant to NATO Chief of Staff for Sector South. August 2003 Politics and Security Member of the Presidency of BiH, Sulejman Tihic, welcomed in Sarajevo the NATO Deputy Chief Commander, Admiral Raynor Faist. At the time, Admiral Faist put forward the possibility to reduce the number of SFOR soldiers after completion of the reform of the defence system in BiH. The House of Representative of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH accepted the document "BiH Security Policy" with the conclusion that it was requested from the Council of Ministers of BiH and the Presidency of BiH to include, in the next 90 days, reform solutions for security policy in this document, and to submit this document to the Parliamentary Assembly for adoption. Due to the increasing eroding security situation in Sarajevo, politicians of BiH reacted personally and in written form. The Chairman of the House of Representatives of the Parliament Assembly of BiH, Nikola Spiric, with his deputies, evaluated that bomb attacks in Sarajevo disturbed the security situation in the country and they pointed out the need for creation of security system in BiH. At the same time, the President of the FBiH, Niko Lozancic, requested from the Minister of Interior BiH, Mevludin Halilovic, to take active measures in order to stop further destabilisation of the security sector, and the Premiere of Canton Sarajevo, Denis Zvizdic, sent a letter of support to the Minister of Interior of Canton Sarajevo, Sulejman Bajric. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH, Mladen Ivanic, stated that BiH is considering sending peace keeping troops to Iraq. Ha also added that the Presidency needs to make a decision regarding this issue by the end of this year. Ivanic emphasised that BiH already has a military transport unit, where 30 soldiers from both entities are involved. International Security Institutions At a press conference in Sarajevo, SFOR placed an emphasis on the danger of improperly stored ammunition in BiH. As SFOR's expert, Canadian Captain Julian Gumley, stated, in BiH there were previously 500 places where ammunition was stored, currently there are 160, and the aim is to reduce this number to less than 10. A German-Italian fighting group destructed, at the firing range in Kalnovik, large amounts of arms and ammunition collected during different operations. The Allied Commander for Europe, James Jones, stated that 2004 might be too early for the EU to take over the peace mission in BiH. According to him, the EU needs to concentrate more on modifying its police forces in BiH. In Manjaca, near Banja Luka, as part of the 'Harvest' action, 42 hand launchers with no powder charge were found. The weapons were hidden in a concrete water tank and the joint action was undertaken by SFOR, the Ministry of Interior of the RS and the Army of the RS working together. In Zenica's steel-plant "BH Steelwork", 743 rifles were smelted, which were handed in by citizens as well as a number of weapons confiscated during searches of companies in BiH. Canada should consider the termination of its peace keeping mission in BiH, the commander of Canadian Army General-Colonel Richard Hiller, declared. He stated that the deployment of Canadian soldiers to peace keeping missions reduced the capacity of Canadian terrestrial forces. SFOR soldiers found 81 rifles, 5 machine-guns, 5,000 bullets and 250 hand grenades in Pale and Sokolac area. The EUPM Deputy Chief of Mission in BiH, General Andre Maire, visited the Ministry of Interior for Canton Sarajevo, where he met with the Chief of the Sector for Uniformed Police, Elmedin Omerovic, who is temporarily replacing the Police Commissioner who is leading investigations into the explosions that took place in Sarajevo over the past few days. EUPM officials stated that for the investigation more time will be needed, because it will be comprehensive and intensive forensic tests will be necessary. SFOR's Multinational Brigade North-West helped the First Corp of the Army of RS to safely collect two tonnes of illegal weapons and ammunition in the operation that was carried out in the surrounding areas of Gradiska as a part of the operation "Harvest". In the operation 6 82mm calibre non-recoil cannons, 28 heavy machine-guns, 13 mortars of different calibre and 5 racket launchers were collected. The joint training of Italian, German and Dutch SFOR units took place on an artillery range in Zagorje, near Kalnovik. The aim of this training, in which infantry troops and armoured personnel carriers were involved, with the support of artillery weapons, was to demonstrate the multi operational sides of SFOR units. The concrete task was the destroying of paramilitary groups which could attack civilians, as well as the protection of SFOR soldiers in this type of situation. Soldiers from the Multinational Brigade North-West assisted the Army of RS in the destruction of 7,000 tonnes of reduced military equipment from an artillery range in Manjaca. 2,757 anti-tank mortars and 116 anti-tank mines were securely destroyed. The spokesperson of the Multinational Brigade North-West, Major Sarto Leblanc, confirmed that in Banja Luka the first group of American soldiers, approximately 100 US Fighting Group soldiers, will arrive, and that in total 300 will arrive in Banja Luka. On 9 September 2003 they will be moved to Mrkonjic Grad, where they will remain until the end of their mandate. Intelligence Services in BiH The Chairman of the Expert Committee for Reform of the Intelligence Service, Kalman Kocsis, submitted to the High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, the Draft Law on the Intelligence-Security Agencies. Mr. Ashdown emphasised that the aim is to unify the intelligence service, which will be more affective and apolitical. Police in BiH A special team of police, composed of Federal and Cantonal police officers, identified several suspicious persons for activating four explosive devices over the past few days in Sarajevo. The explosive devices were placed under a vehicle that belongs to the meat industry "Stanic", Stup, in front of the house of Himzo Selimovic, the director of "Sarajevska pivara" brewery, as well an explosion in Mala Berkusa street, while police managed to deactivate a bomb in the patisserie "Palma" on the Grbavica housing estate. The EUPM confirmed that Commissioner Sven Frederiksen sent a letter to the Minister of Interior of FBiH, Mevludin Halilovic, where he asked some questions regarding the improvement of administrative issues in order to achieve higher levels of professionalism in the police of FBiH. After a several months of searching for a location for the offices of SIPA, the Government of FBiH made a decision that offices of this agency will be in the Police Academy of FBiH, until this problem is resolved permanently. The State co-ordinator for fighting female trafficking, Almir Dzuvo, alleged that 95% of women found in possible human trafficking cases are the real victims. He believes that the problem would be most effectively solved by a state team for fighting human trafficking, and its establishment depends on Council of Ministers of BiH. EUPM Spokesperson Ian Oscar Solens announced that the interviewing of the first 200 applicants for SIPA is going according to the plan. Solens reminded that the second group of employees will be chosen in the next few months, in order to fill the assigned total number of 574 employees. The Council of Ministers of BiH formed the Shock Fighting Group which will fight human trafficking and illegal immigration. In its work, the representatives from the Ministry of Security of BiH, entity Ministries of Interior, security services, prosecutions and taxation offices will be involved. Most of the highly ranked police officials in BiH are presently attending a seminar on top-level management at the Police Academy in Copenhagen. The participants are police commissioners from all cantons, centres for public security, District Brcko as well as chiefs and directors of police from FBiH and RS. The Parliamentary State Secretary of FR Germany, Fritz Rudolf Kerper, in the name of his Government, at the Sarajevo Airport, handed a donation to SBS, which is worth 1,300,000KM. The donation consisted of modern digital equipment for deactivating mine devices, vehicle for anti-diversion protection and a container for transport of unknown mine-explosive devices. Armed Forces in BiH At a meeting in Banja Luka, between the President of the RS Dragan Cavic, and the Chairman of the Committee for Defence Reform in BiH, James Locher III, Mr. Locher stated that the Committee reached an agreement regarding the main issues, while additional details are still to be discussed. He announced that in October or November it would be possible to discuss further about the reform. For the past month a large number of buildings in the possession of the Army of the FBiH and the Ministry of Defence of FBiH are working without electricity, water and telephone. The officials from the Army of FBiH do not know for how much longer this will continue. The Army of RS decided that an auction sale will collect significant amount of its arms until the end of the year, especially tanks, small arms and ammunition that exceeds its needs, and the auction sale will be supervised by SFOR. The Army of RS wants to sell 105 tanks, more then 42,000 pieces of infantry arms, 98 pieces of artillery, as well as some other kind of weapons. The Government of FBiH brought a decision to reduce the length of military service, where new recruits, who will serve from April next year, will serve 30 days less in comparison to the present service length. With this decision, military service in FBiH will last 4 months, which will save the Army of FBiH 550,000 KM. Or request of the Hercegovacko-neretvanjski Canton, a unit for natural disasters was sent for help and rotation of people who work on distinguishing fires. In this unit, 350 members of the Federation Reaction Forces, First Corp, Air forces, Logistics command, Battalion for support of joint command as well as members of other units and five helicopters were involved. The delegation of the Joint Command of the Army of FBiH, Army of RS and SFOR command held a regular meeting in Bihac, where they examined the activities of reform of armed forces in BiH. According to Simon Yong, it was agreed that the Army of FBiH has 8,000 solders and the Army of RS 4,000. At the meeting it was also discussed about the reduction of number of arms warehouses in barracks in FBiH and RS. After it was agreed that the number of soldiers in the Army of RS should be 4,000, and the Army of FBiH 8,000, the Chief of General Staff of the Army of RS, Cvjetko Savic, stated that the length of military service in RS will be reduced from six to four months. The Chief of General Staff suggested to the President of RS that as part of the reorganisation of the Army, the number of locations where soldiers are accommodated is to be reduced by 32, and that the number of warehouses for arms and ammunition from the present level 19 is to be reduced to 8.   Branilaca Sarajeva 13/1, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Tel/Fax: +387 33 223 250 E-mail: info@css.ba