December 2004 Intelligence Services in BiH From the establishment of OSA BiH, the Parliamentary Commission responsible for supervision over OSA work was given one report only until now. The report contained information on the organization of OSA till date. Armed Forces in BiH James Loher, the international co – chairman of the Commission for Defence Reform of BiH held his last conference where he handed over the responsibility to Rafi Gregorian. From next year the Commission will be placed under operative patronage NATO Staff in BiH. Next steps of the Commission will be in the implementation of Law on Defence of BiH and finding solutions for the state signs on uniforms of members of the BiH Armed Forces. Steven Shuck, Commandant of the NATO Headquarters in BiH, announced that Entity armies will cease to exist by the end of 2005. He stressed that around 200 American soldiers out of the total 400 personnel of the NATO Headquarters in BiH is stationed in the “Eagle” base near Tuzla. Representatives of the Ministries of Defence of Kuwait and BiH have meet and talked about the possibilities of establishing bilateral military co-operation of these two countries, especially in the area of military industry. Police in BiH Radomir Njegus, director of Police of RS has resigned. The resignation was given to members of the Independent Committee for the Election and Appointment of the Director of Police, after the Minister of Interiors of RS, Darko Matijasevic demanded that he resigned. The reason for the resignation is the lack of results in the apprehending of those accused of war crimes. Dragan Mektic, Deputy Minister of Security of BiH stated that intelligence agencies in BiH are following the movement of seven persons of Afro-Asian origin who can be linked to terrorism. In co-operation with the Secretariat General of Interpol from Lion, Interpol BiH has organised a seminar “European Commission – CARDS/Interpol, Project of Revitalisation of the National Central Bureau in the State”. It was emphasized at this meeting that Interpol BiH is one of the successful Interpol bureaus for the territory of South-East Europe. The first child kidnapping took place in Sarajevo where 1 million Euro were asked for the ransom. However, after 48 hours the child of the former BiH football representative was saved in the police action conducted by the special police unit of the Cantonal Ministry of Interiors. Police arrested two kidnappers while the third one committed suicide. The last meeting of the Commission for Reconstruction of Police Forces in BiH has begun in Sarajevo. The harmonization of reports on the future form of BiH police is expected at the meeting. The survey of the coalition “Together” in BiH showed that 20% of the youth in BiH tried narcotics while 34% relax by consuming alcohol. One thousand youths took part in the survey from 15 to 25 years of age and the survey included the larger towns in BiH. In two separate actions the Banja Luka police arrested 11 drug dealers last week among which was one police officers. It is believed that this group is responsible for distributing more than 60% of drugs on the Banja Luka drug market. During these actions around 2000 ecstasy tablets and 600 grams of heroin were confiscated. International Security Institutions Ambassador Robert Sery, assistant to NATO Secretary General for operations, stated that the priority of the NATO Headquarters to be opened in Sarajevo after the end of SFOR's mission will still be arrests of those indicted of war crimes. The NATO Headquarters will have around 150 officers and civilians. SFOR's mission in BiH was officially concluded at the ceremony in Butmir Camp where EU forces (EUFOR) and the permanent NATO Headquarters in BiH were inaugurated. NATO Secretary General assessed this event as a historic one that represents a proof of the co-operation between NATO and EU. The main prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal, Carla del Ponte, considers the NATO top responsible for not arresting the most wanted persons indicted of war crimes. Mladen Ivanic, Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH, participated in the work of the twelfth meeting of Ministers of OSCE member states in Budapest. The topic of this meeting was the fight against terrorism and security co-operation in Europe. EUFOR Commandant, David Licky, has sealed underground objects of the Army of RS in Crna Rijeka near Han Pijesak. According to EUFOR, those indicted for war crimes took refuge in the underground military bunkers which have around 3000 meters squared. Politics and Security The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, after the meeting of the Steering Board Peace Implementation Council in B&H announced, that police in BiH must have jurisdiction at the state level, be functional and be able to pass Entity boarders. The High Representative in BiH, Paddy Ashdown, announced the new package containing nine measures with the aim to solve the systematic weaknesses in security institutions and institutions for the implementation of law. The nine measures will take place in the following four months and are placed in two categories. The first is directed towards individuals who are believed to have helped those indicted for war crimes, while the other aims at removing systematic weaknesses of security institutions of RS. In addition, the USA has placed an embargo on the visa issuing to the entire administration of SDS and PDP. Within these measures EUFOR took on the task to investigate all military installations in BiH, especially underground tunnels in and around Han Pijesak, and to seal those installations that do not have a legitimate use. Certain police officials from RS have been dismissed, one from OSA, as well as Nade Radovic, member of SDS in the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. After the measures imposed against RS by the High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, and the American Ambassador in BiH, Douglas McClain, the following gave their resignations: Mladen Ivanic, Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH, Branko Dokic, Minister of Transport and Communications of BiH and Dragan Mikerevic, Prime Minister of RS government. The total taking out for the pay for budget users in FBiH was 1,2 billion KM this year. This is more than 30% of the entire consumption. In comparison to other countries (Croatia takes out 23% of entire consummation, the Czech Republic 15%, Bulgaria 14,6%), this is a very high percentage. Therefore, one of the actions possible is to decrease the number of employed in order for the percentage to decrease. One of the options is to demobilise additional 5000 soldiers, as well as 4500 police officers in the next 5 years. The House of Representative of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH has adopted the Suggestion of the Law on the Participation of Members of BiH Armed Forces, State Officials and Other Employees in Peace Operations and other activities abroad. Chief State Persecutor of Croatia, Mladen Bajic, become the special supervisor for processes of those indicted for war crimes who will be transferred from the Hague Tribunal to national courts on the territory of the former Yugoslavia. The House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH has adopted the Suggestion of the Law on Changes and Amendments of Law on Import and Export of Arms and Military Equipment which controls the goods with two fold use and which prevents its misuse for illicit military and terrorist purposes. November 2004 Armed Forces in BiH The intensive SFOR course on the destruction of explosive ordnances was completed by 16 members of the Army of FBiH and the Army of RS. The course lasted 10 days and it ensured the training of members of the armed forces in identifying specific characteristics of explosive ordnances and techniques for their destruction. Together with the Armed Forces of BiH, the Office of the SFOR Inspector General has organized a 5 day long course for professional training for inspector generals of the Armed Forces of BiH at the Butmir camp in Sarajevo. The aim of the course is to introduce the technique of supporting and leading an investigation to the 17 newly appointed inspector generals. The course instructors come from the school of American army. Nikola Radovanovic, Minister of Defence of BiH, has announced that the total planed budget for Entity and the Ministry of Defence of BiH sums up to around 350 millions KM. Mr. Radovanovic stressed that 26% of the entire budget was planed for the Ministry of defence of RS, 70% was planed for the Ministry of defence of the Federation and 4% was planed for the Ministry of Defence of BiH. He emphasized that the planed budget for 2005 is lesser for 20 to 30% in regards to 2002 when the budget was around 500 millions KM. The last tank from the 104 old tanks of the Army of RS went to be scrapped. With this action RS has fulfilled the largest part of the duties from the Regional Agreement on the Destruction of Surplus Arms. Tanks and other armoured weapons that had to be disposed of were sold to “Nova sirovina” from Banja Luka in the amount of 1.6 millions KM. After this reduction the Army of RS owns 26 tanks mostly of the T 84 type. The honorary unit of the Armed Forces of BiH has been presented to members of the Presidency of BiH, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH, the state Minister of Defence and the Commandant of the Joint Headquarters of BiH. The unit is composed of the flag follower, three platoons with 22 soldiers each, an orchestra and a commander. The soldiers in the unit will still wear uniforms of the Army of the Federation of BiH and the Army of RS with markings of the state and entity armies. Police in BiH After the shoot out in the city centre when a 41 year old was shot dead in front of passengers in a tram, the security situation in Sarajevo deteriorated. The majority of political parties, as well as citizens demand greater powers for police in order to efficiently resist armed clashes that have increased. Darko Matijasevic, Minister of Interior Affairs of RS, says that in the next few weeks RS must fulfil duties towards the Hague Tribunal. Mr. Matijasevic announces that arrests of the most search for perpetrators indicted of war crimes can be expected by the end of the year. “Karadzic and Mladic are two persons from the public indictment of the Hague Tribunal and are, besides others, the persons towards who we must undertake certain measures,” says Matijasevic. The members of the Special Police of the Ministry of Interiors of RS have arrested 8 persons suspected and indicted for war crimes. This was confirmed in the Cantonal Persecutor's Office in Sarajevo. The arrests were made on the basis of the wanted circular of this Office. At many locations in Lukavica, Koran, Pale and Foca the following were arrested: Jovan Skobo and Svetko Novakovic from Pale, Momir Glisic from Sokolac, Goran Vasic, Zeljko Mitrovic a.k.a Gilmar, Veselin Cancar, Dragoja Radanovic a.k.a Srce and Momir Skakavac, both from Foca. According to sources close to the Ministry of Interiors of RS, the “A” agreement for these arrests was given by the Hague Tribunal, that is to say that there are enough confirmations of the involvement of these persons in war crimes. In the Ministry’s statement for the public it states that this action was performed according to duties defined by Law on the Co-operation with the International Crime Court in the Hague and the resolution of the National Assembly of RS. OHR saluted the first action of this kind of the Ministry, but it also warned that the co-operation of the RS authorities will be assessed on the basis of arrests of those indicted by the Hague and not the arrests of the “small fish”. Nine police officers from BiH have departed for Haiti within the UN peace mission (MINUSTAH). Along with the three members of the BiH contingent already in Haiti, all of them will have the function of mentor supervision over the local police forces. The police officers are going with the full police equipment and arms that they will be obliged to wear during their one year long mandate. The members of the Commission for Police Reconstruction in BiH, chaired by Wilfred Martens, met in Brcko. This is the second phase of talks where the role of police commissars will be discussed. Also, the discussion on the future organization of the police forces will take place that was also the topic of the meeting in Brussels. The representatives from the Federation of BiH want joint police forces with the Ministry of Interiors at the state level as do international communities, while the representatives of RS are in favour of the Ministries of Interiors remaining at the Entity level. In a letter sent to the Chairman of the Council of Minister of BiH, Adnan Terzic, the High Representative of EU for Foreign Affairs, Chris Paten, emphasized that EU wants to ensure efficient partners for implementation of law at the state level in BiH which it can co-operate with and which would have almost the same competences as in other European countries. Mr. Paten emphasized that the joint police of BiH also means security for EU. The members of the Joint Commission of the BiH Parliament for Defence and Security Policy of BiH talked with the management of the State Boarder Service. Bosko Siljegovic, President of the Commission emphasized that 200 people will be employed by 1 December since SBS has a problem with lack of personnel. The anti-terrorist unit of the Federation Ministry of Interiors is investigating threats directed at the chief of the Special Department for Organized Crime and Corruption of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, John McNaire and his deputy Jonathan Smith. The threats regard a wider circle of judges and prosecutors. Special security measures will be taken for Mr. McNair and Mr. Smith and will last until all the information is investigated. Mr. Smith is outside BiH due to these threats. UNICEF BiH has stated that between 1999 and 2003, NGOs and IOM in BiH have identified between 110 and 160 children who were victims of trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. The authors of “The Investigation On Child Trafficking In BiH” of NGOs who conducted the research with the support of UNICEF and Save the Children from Norway, suppose that this number could be much higher. Intelligence Services in BiH The Intelligence and Security Agency of BiH has established a contact telephone line on the number 033/223-344 so it can have regular contact with the public. Also, a mail box for the comments of citizens was placed in the seat of the Agency. International Security Institutions At the plenary meeting of NATO in Venice, the inclusion of BiH into PfP was not discussed as a special topic. Momcilo Novakovic, chief of the delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH to the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO attended the meeting. The Dutch Minister of Defence, Hank Camp, announced that the European Union has decided to form 13 tactical groups for the fast reaction. These groups will be engaged in case crisis break out anywhere in the world. The fighting groups will be composed of 1500 soldiers and their arrangement will be possible in 15 days at the most. France, Italy, Spain and Great Britain will form one tactic group each. A ceremony was held at the Eagle base near Tuzla due to the end of the SFOR mission in BiH and the departure of American soldiers. It was said that the base will be transferred to the EU forces and that 250 American solders will remain in it but that they will have a special mission parallel to EUFOR and will be under NATO command. The arrests of those indicted of war crimes in BiH, Karadzic and Mladic, will remain their main task in BiH. The British General, David Licky, commandant of 7000 EUFOR soldiers, announced that organized crime represents the larges obstacle for establishing a true democracy in BiH. He said that EUFOR, after the mandate takeover, will increase its efforts in order to have this country free from corruption and tribal divisions. Politics and Security The High Representative in BiH, Paddy Ashdown is in the USA where he is conducting talks on the current status of BiH’s effort to ensure the entrance into PfP and begin the negotiations on the Agreement on Stabilisation and Association with EU. Among others, Mr. Ashdown talked with the Minister of Defence of USA, Donald Ramsfeld. The Presidency of BiH, as the civil commander, held a meeting with the Minister of Defence of BiH and Deputy Ministers, as well as the Entity Ministers of Defence and all the generals appointed in the Armed Forces of BiH. The concrete tasks and priorities were defined at the meeting for the work of all defence structures in the following period, as well as the support and help of the Presidency of BiH and other state bodies in implementing tasks at hand. The Joint Commission for Defence and Security Policy of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH has adopted a draft of the legal solution for regulating the sending of the BiH police officers, soldiers and state officials into peace missions in the world. In accordance with this draft, the Presidency of BiH decides on the sending of our nationals into peace missions and the Parliamentary Assembly adopts or rejects decisions 60 days from the day when the decision was made by the state top. Deputies of the Chairman of the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples of BiH, Nikola Spiric and Velimir Jukic, have participated in the work of a two day long conference of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly for European Security and Defence that took place in Paris. The main topic at the conference was European security policy 50 years after signing the modified Brussels Agreement. Also, the further parliamentary work and public opinion on the European Constitution was discussed. October 2004 Armed Forces in BiH At the polygon Manjaca near Banja Luka, destruction of the heavy weapons of the RS Army has commenced. This includes tanks and artillery as well. In the next 40 to 60 days, around 1000 peaces of equipment will be destroyed including: 120 tanks, 150 armored personnel carriers, 166 mortars and 80 artillery weapons. The RS Army will withdraw from half the current military locations (military barracks, warehouses and other military buildings). According to Nevenko Okilj, chief of the Department for Real Estate of the RS Ministry of Defense, the army will decrease the existing 83 military locations onto 42. The implementation of the pilot project for destruction of surplus small arms and light weapons began with the destruction of 2000 submachine guns and ammunition of the BiH armed forces at the BH Steel factory in Zenica. This pilot project will last until 13 October 2004, with the destruction of 10 000 pieces of small arms and light weapons. The rest of the surplus will be destroyed by the middle of 2005. The exercise of the officers from 9 countries “Inspections – Escorts according to Article 4 of the Sub regional Arms Control”, signed by BiH, Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia, FBiH and RS was concluded in Zenica. The aim of the exercise was to increase security and strengthening trust in Southeast Europe. Twenty officers from Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia, BiH, USA, Italy, Bulgaria, Albania and Slovenia took part in the exercise organized by the Regional Arms Control Verification and Implantation Assistance Centre (RACVIAC). A honorary unit of BiH should be formed by the end of 1 December. The following day it should participated in the ceremony of the transfer of SFOR mandate to EUFOR. The honorary unit will compose of three platoons, two from FBiH and one from RS. Police in BiH Certificates have been handed out to 40 participants of the Regional Seminar on the Basics of drug fighting at the Police Academy in Sarajevo. The fifteen day long seminar was organized by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and was intended for members of all police structures in BiH, as well as members of Ministries of Internal Affairs of Croatia and Slovenia. Darko Matijasevic, minister of internal affairs of RS, has appointed Nijaz Smajlovic as the chief of Police Administration. Mr. Smajlovic was the deputy commander of the police until now. This is the highest function to be performed by a non-Serb in the RS Police till date. In the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Una-Sana Canton, a special office has been equipped for interviewing potential victims of trafficking and sexual abuse. This is the result of the agreement between the state co-ordinator for the fight against human trafficking and illegal immigration at the Council of Ministers of BiH and the EU Police Mission in BiH. The government of Great Britain donated the equipment for the office in Bihac. The BiH Interpol is the host of this year's meeting of the Interpol Multidiscipline Group for the Fight Against Terrorism. This group was formed three years ago and the yearly meetings take place in different member countries. Director of the BiH Interpol, Brane Pecanac, announced at the meeting that the BiH government does not know how big and are there at all terrorist threats to our country. The meeting of the Commission of the Reconstruction of Police in BiH is taking place in Brussels (27.10). The members of the Commission were given a suggestion on the future police organization by EU for adoption during this meeting. If the suggestion is adopted then BiH police should be unified and organized in five regions: Banja Luka, Tuzla, Mostar, Zenica and Sarajevo while the existing Entity and Cantonal ministries would be abolished. The Commission for the Reconstruction of Police in BiH has adopted the declaration suggesting the unified structure of police in BiH under an all-inclusive political observation of a minister or ministers in the Council of Ministers of BiH. The declaration was adopted after the meeting in Brussels. The following sixth meeting of the Commission will take place on 17 and 18 November in Brcko. Intelligence Services in BiH Almir Dzuvo, OSA BiH director general, appointed Milos Savija as a president of the Commission for OSA Personnel Check up. There are currently around 1000 informers working in OSA BiH and after the check up 700 informers will remain. International Security Institutions During the meeting with the members of the Presidency of BiH, Peter Faith, representative of the High Commissioner of EU for Foreign Policy and Security and Robert Seri, representative of the NATO secretary general, emphasized the problem of the inadequate cooperation with the Hague Tribunal. After the meeting with representatives of EU and NATO, Sulejman Tihic, member of the Presidency of BiH has confirmed that the ceremony of the mandate transfer from NATO to the armed forces of EU will take place on 2 December in Sarajevo. Until then, the UN Security Council will bring a suitable resolution. The officials of the BiH Council of Ministers and EU have signed the Agreement on Security Procedures for the Exchange of Confidential Information. Adnan Terzic, state prime minister stressed that with the signing of this document, the BiH authorities will be able to obtain confidential data from EU which is a confirmation of good partner relations as well as the trust of EU in judiciary institutions. NATO forces have been placed in BiH and Kosovo in order to participate in the operative exercise which will ensure that the NATO soldiers and the Headquarters of Reserve Forces will be ready to answer crisis in the Balkans. The exercise named “Decisive obligation 2004” will take place from 11 October to 6 November 2004. American authorities have published a “black list” of 27 Muslim humanitarian organizations that are believed to be linked with the financing of terrorist operation through out the world. Among these 27 organizations, five are from BiH. According to American authorities terrorism is being financed through the following BiH organizations: Bosnian Ideal Future, AL Harmain Foundation, Taibah International, Al Harmania and Al Masjed Al Akse four foundations and Al Furkan. A round table “Security of BiH – BiH in the NATO membership” took place in Sarajevo. The round table was organized by the Alliance for Security of BiH and the guest speaker was Stefan Elgersma from the Political Department of NATO responsible for the political aspect of the relation BiH – NATO. Politics and Security The Joint Commission of the two Houses of the BiH Parliament for Defense and Security Policy has accepted amendments on the Suggestion of the Law on the Participation of Members of BiH Armed Forces in Peace Missions in the World. These amendments define the authorities of the Parliament and the BiH Presidency. Thus, the Parliament will be authorized for decision making on participation and the BiH Presidency for decision making on sending and withdrawing units from peace missions. Several media houses have published that there are FBI investigators on the territory of BiH researching possible existence of the Al-Kaida network in this country. After these media texts minister of Foreign affairs, Mladen Ivanic, has announced that he does not have any information on this. Mr. Ivanic added that the emergence of texts regarding Al-Kaida and terrorism is a problem for the general image of BiH. The Centre for Security Studies has organized a two day visit of members of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH to the NATO HQ in Brussels. During their stay in Brussels the delegation had an official meeting with the NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, as well as with several officials from the NATO HQ and the supreme command in Mons. This was a terrific opportunity for the members of the Parliamentary Assembly to try and explain the advantages of the BiH membership into the Partnership for Peace at the following Ministry meeting of NATO member states. September 2004 Politics and Security The Joint Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH for the defense and security policy and supervision of the work of the defense and security sector at the BiH level, has expressed dissatisfaction regarding the pace of the fulfillment of work positions in the state Ministry of Defense. The Commission directed a request to the Ministry of Defense to accelerate the activities in order to finish this process by the end of September. NATO Parliamentary Commission for Security and Defence Capacities has concluded that the complicated BiH Constitution could present a problem for BiH's entrance into the NATO program Partnership for Peace. This has been announced by Bosko Siljegovic, chairmen of the Commission for Defence and Security of the BiH Parliament, after the meeting with a NATO delegation. The High Representative for BiH, Paddy Ashdown, informed the RS government that three months remain in order for them to prove they are cooperating with the Hague Tribunal. This was emphasized after the meeting with the newly appointed Minister of Internal Affairs of RS, Darko Matijasevic. International Security Institutions The German Admiral, Rainer Fest, chief of Headquarters of the EU troops, which are to take over the peacekeeping in BiH from SFOR, spoke to the members of Sub-Committee fro Defense and Security of the European Parliament in Brussels. As it was announced, 7000 EU soldiers should take over the SFOR mandate at the end of this year. Commandant of these troops will be the British Admiral, A.D. Licky, who is currently employed in the UK Ministry of Defense. From the next year, he will lead the mission that will cost 72 million Euros. Soldiers' pay will be covered by each participating state, among which are Romania and Bulgaria, candidate countries for EU membership, Norway and Iceland, as well as Canada. The United Nations Developing Program has presented a study on small arms and light weapons in BiH. According to this document the civil possession of 353 000 weapons are registered in BiH out of which 200 000 are registered in RS, 144 500 in FBiH and 8500 in Brcko. The Council of General and Foreign Affairs of the European Commission allowed the concept of the EU military operation in BiH. Christina Galjak, spokesperson of Xavier Solana, said that this is a skeleton plan of activates which shows the continuation of preparations for the take over of the military mission from NATO. The peacekeeping mission in BiH will be called ALTHEA. With the support of RS army and police, the embers of SFOR's Multinational fighting group Banja Luka have discovered a large underground weapon warehouse at the hard to reach part of the mountain Prosara, not far from the village Jablanica. The following were found in this warehouse: 28 semi-automatic and automatic rifles, seven missile launchers, 14 anti-tank rocket launchers, 21 mortars of 82 mm, three mortars of 120 mm, one brauning of 50 MM, few anti-personnel mines, and smaller amount of explosives and hang grenades. American general, Steven Shock, took over the command of SFOR. Until July he was the Chief of Headquarters of KFOR in Kosovo. He will be the last SFOR commandant since EUFOR will take over the mandate at the end of the year. Intelligence Services in BiH Almir Dzuvo and Risto Zaric, the chief people of OSA BiH, visited the Hague tribunal. They met with the Tribunal representatives several times during their stay. Concrete measures on the arrest of suspects and obligations that need to realized in the next few months were agreed on. Police in BiH After frequent reports of certain media from Europe on the existence of terrorist groups in BiH, especially on the territory of District Brcko, Milenko Milicevic, chief of police of District Brcko, gave a statement that camps for terrorist training do not exist on the territory of District Brcko. He also stated that nobody from BiH has anything to do with terrorism. Also, Dragan Lukic, director of SIPA, stressed that the Agency does not have any information about terrorist activities in Brcko. The second meeting of the Commission for Police Reconstruction took place in Banja Luka. The Report on Functional Checks of Police Forces in BiH, presented in Sarajevo on 16 July, was analyzed. The Report states that according to European standards BiH has 3000 surplus police officers and that current police structure is not good. The most acceptable European model of the organization of police forces that could be applied in BiH was discussed at the meeting. The investigation of the Prosecutor's Office on those suspected of issuing CIPS false personal ID cards and driving licenses, established that these people belong to a good organized group that belongs to a web of organized crime. This group also enabled issuance of several hundreds false BiH passports. The State Court has arrested four Ministry of Internal Affairs of RS personnel, suspected of participating in the mentioned illegal acts. The RS authorities have formed a special operative police unit for arresting those indicted of war crimes by the Hague tribunal who are still at large. The RS government confirmed that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is ready for arresting war crime suspects. The Council of Ministers of BiH, Entity, Cantonal and District Brcko governments will have to harmonize laws and regulations regarding police service with Laws on Police Officers adopted this year. According to Dragan Kapetina, advisor for military questions of the member of teh Presidency of BiH, Borislav Paravac, only persons owning a certificate will be able to operate in police structures. The forces of IPTF issued the certificated until now, and issuing of new certificates will be worked on within the reform of police forces. Prime Minister of RS, Dragan Mikerevic, appointed Darko Matijasevic as the new Minister of Interior. Darko Matijaševiæ was born in Croatia in 1968. He completed the Military Accademy in Zagreb in 1991 and during his career he served with the JNA and later in the Army of RS. Mr. Matijasevic was the chief of the Office of the Minister of Defense of RS six years ago. He holds the rank of a Colonel. Prime Minister Mikerevic stated “This is my choice and my risk”, representing the new minister who was given his first task – cooperating with the Hague Tribunal. The new minister is the current military attaché in the Mission of BiH to the NATO Council in Brussels. He is 36 years old and has a rich military career. Mr. Matijasevic will replace Zoran Djeric who was discharged by the High Representative along with 58 officials and directors of public companies in RS. This discharge occurred on 30 June 2004. The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown announced that there is not a more important task in Bosnia and Herzegovina than the full establishment of the Security Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) and its fight against all forms of crime rooted in the BiH society. The state minister of security, Barisa Colak, reminded that the activities regarding employment vacancies in SIPA are nearing the end. Mr. Colak stressed that the Agency will be considerably fuller in 14 days time and that it will number 950 employees until the end of the year. He added that SIPA should number around 700 employees in a month. The Minister of Internal Affairs of RS, Darko Matijasevic, announced that the cooperation with the Hague Tribunal will be all inclusive and two way on the key issue of arresting and delivering those indicted of war crimes and that there will not be any calculations. In accordance, minister Matijasevic issued a direct order to the Special Unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of RS to transit from preparatory state into a phase of operative command and total readiness for action in the field. The Report on the Fight Against Terrorism submitted to the UN Committee for Anti-terrorism writes that the government of BiH froze the assets of eight humanitarian organizations in the last year due to a suspicion that the organizations were financing terrorist activities. Armed Forces in BiH Nikola Radovanovic, Minister of Defense of BiH, met with Henk Kamp, the Dutch Minister of Defense in the Hague. They talked about the role and the importance of SFOR forces transition into EU forces. They also talked about possibilities of material and expert support to defense reforms in BiH. In accordance with the agreement on bilateral cooperation in the defence fields, delegation of the Joint Headquarters of Armed Forces of BiH headed by Lieutenant General Sifet Podzic, chief of Headquarters, departed for Washington. The delegation was invited by the Armed Forces of USA to visit this country. During their visit the delegation will meet with the officials of the State Department and US army. British ambassador in BiH, H.E. Ian Cliff, marked the end of construction works in the Centre for Training in Peace Missions for the Armed Forces of BiH at camp Butmir near Sarajevo. The Centre will officially be opened in December. James Locher, co-chairman of the Commission for the Defense Reform, announced that the military intelligence reform will take place next year, and that operative centre will be formed at the state level. Mr. Locher expressed his pleasure that BiH has fulfilled 13 conditions regarding defense reform. He emphasized that 11 preconditions have been fulfilled in full and that work on the budget is nearing the end. However, Mr. Locher did criticize the slowness of personnel fulfillment. Generals of the Armed Forces of BiH returned from their seven day trip to the USA, where they familiarized themselves with the organization of the Joint Headquarters of US Armed Forces. The document on removing from force the Agreement on Measures of Trust and Security Building in BiH, initiated according to the Dayton Peace Agreement, was signed at the meeting of the Joint Consultative Commission. Tasks that came from this Agreement (mainly the control of arms in military barracks) will be regulated with the Law on Defense of BiH. August 2004 Police in BiH On 10 August 2004, chiefs of police of Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and UNMIK have adopted a joint statement on the future co-operation on fighting terrorism and organized crime in Podgorica. Mr Mico Orlandic, assistant to the Minsiter of Police of Montenegro, told the press that the statement represents the first step for a faster and more efficient information exchange between police in the region in the fight against terrorism and all forms of organized crime. At the informal meeting of the ministers of defence of Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, Bulgaria and Romania support was extended to SCG for joining Euro-Atlantic integrational processes. Within these is joining NATO programme Partnership for Peace. Dragan Lukac, deputy director of SIPA, announced yesterday that on 1 October 2004, the Security and Investigation Protection Agency (SIPA) should commence investigations and arrests of those suspected of organized crime and war crimes. Politics and Security USA State Secretary, Colin Powel paid a one-day visit to BiH. During his visit, he strongly expressed his wish to see BiH in the PfP. The Office of the High Representative supports the initiative of Adnan Terzic, chair of the BiH Council of Ministers, of forming a joint BiH and SCG police team that would exclusively work on finding and arresting persons indicted of war crimes. After series of demands for re-examining the decision of the BiH Presidency to send a BiH de-mining unit to Iraq, the Presidency of BiH stated that it is not changing the decisions on sending 36 de-miners into the peace mission. International Security Institutions Stabilization forces have arrested Mile Pejicic in Brcko yesterday. Mr. Pejicic is a former Chief of Centre of Public Security Bijeljina. He was transferred to a safe place. Mr. Pejicic was arrested due to the suspicion that he is involved in the anti-Dayton Agreement activities. Commandant of the SFOR base Eagle in Tuzla, General John Right has announced yesterday the hand over of the former SFOR’s base buildings near Brcko to government bodies of the Brcko District. The news agency FENA has announced that general major Virgil Packet, an SFOR commandant, saluted members of Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Entity armed forces and Ministries of Defence at the International Course for Inspector Generals that is taking place at Butmir. The course was organized in order to provide information on the system functioning of inspector generals in the USA army, to help State and Entity forces in setting up their own system. Janez Potocnik, the European representative from Slovenia, assessed in London’s “Financial Times” that the European Union should make agreements on joining (SSP) BiH, SCG and Albania within two years. Prijedor police received anonymous tip due to which SFOR members found a larger amount of illegal weapons in a hole in the ground in Omarska. The illegal weapons contained a mortar 82 mm, six boxes of grenades, one box of hand grenades and protection masks. The results of the questionnaire on understanding EU which was conducted by the European Commission in BiH in June showed that the majority of examinees think that crime and corruption are the biggest obstacles for BiH integration into EU. The next biggest obstacle is not-punishing those indicted of war crimes. Intelligence Services in BiH Adnan Terzic, Chairman of the Council of Ministers BiH, believes that it would be good if BiH and SCG achieve some arrangement on forming some kind of a joint team of intelligence and security services with the aim of arresting war criminals. July 2004 Armed Forces in BiH Nikola Radovanovic, Minister of Defence of BiH, emphasised that even though BiH was not accepted in PfP, it was allowed access to some additional programs of this project. These are the further training of our soldiers and participation in certain activities within the Adriatic Decree – the program composed of Croatia, Albania and Macedonia. The Presidency of BiH decided to appoint Brigadiers Rizvo Pleh and Sakib Foric and Colonels Miladin Milojcic and Marko Tepsic as Generals in the Ministry of Defence of BiH. Brigadier Rizvo Pleh was appointed as General Inspector, and brigadier Sakib Foric as Deputy Commandant of BiH Operative Commands for resources. Colonel Miladin Milojcic was appointed as Deputy Chief for Resources of the Joint Headquarters of BiH, and colonel Mirko Tepasic as Deputy Commandant for the Operations of BiH Operative Command. Miroslav Nikolic, Federal Minister of Defence, posponed the military service of the July Class indefinetly. The problem in the Army of FBiH is not only food supply for many months now, but also quartermaster equipment. Due to this critical situation, Mr. Nikolic postponed the military service until the final decision of the Presidency of BiH. The Presidency of BiH has decided to appoint brigadier Sifet Podzic as chief of the Joint Headquarters of BiH, brigadier Slavko Puljic as deputy chief of Joint Headquarters for Operations and brigadier Vlado Dzoic as commandant of the Operative Command of BiH. Nikola Radovanoviæ, Ministar of Defence, has signed the Instruction on Establishing and Respecting Deadlines on the Traffic Ban of Small and Light Weapons of the BiH Armed Forces. The final deadline for Entity governments for signing the agreement on import-export of small and light weapons is 31 July. Furthermore, the agreements must be realized by the end of the year. Amount of small and light weapons which exceeds legitimate needs of defence forces of BiH will be pronounced as surplus from 1 January 2005. While certifying the list of new generals on the state and Entity levels of military structures in BiH, the Presidency of BiH decided upon 13 persons who will be promoted to Generals and who will perform the most important tasks in defence forces of BiH. The Constitutional Commission of the BiH Parliament did not support the Suggestion of the Law on the Participation of members of Armed Forces, Police Personnel and members of Civilian Protection Outside BiH. Even though the official order of Nikola Radovanovic, minister of defence, was not received, the preparation of de-miners travelling to Iraq is in its final stage. 36 de-miners are to depart, 24 from the Army of FBiH and 12 de-miners from RS. After decisions of the Presidency of BiH, state minister of defence, Nikola Radovanoviæ has officially named 13 new officers. Whit this action all General positions have been filled in the Armed Forces of BiH. Among these are the following persons: Podzic, Dzoic, Puljic, Milojcic, Tepsic, Foric, Pleho, Grabovica, Djukic, Brdar, Novakovic, Jelec i Gutic. The RS Army begun the first phase of the pilot project of destruction of small and light weapons. Destruction of 2500 pieces of these weapons took place in Banja Luka, in the factory 'Jelisingrad'. Police in BiH The newly formed Commission for Reconstruction of Police Forces in BiH was represented to the public in Sarajevo. The goal of this Commission, chaired by the Belgian Wilfred Martens, will help to reform police and establish efficient police forces that will be organized according to European standards. Wilfred Martens is a former Belgian premier, and besides him, the Commission will number 12 members – three foreigners among which is the EUPM Commissar and nine local officials. The Commissions will hold its first meeting on 22 July. Members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Zenica-Doboj Canton found and confiscated around two kilograms of heroin. This took place on two locations in the Municipality of Tesanj. Two male nationals of BiH were arrested due to justified suspicion that they smuggled and reselling of narcotics. On the BiH drug market, confiscated heroin is worth around 200.000 KM. Delagation of the Ministry of Internal Affaris of the Republic of Germany, led by Ud Burkolder, payed a visit to the State Boarder Service of BiH. During this occasion, SBS was presented with a donation by the German government. This donation is a part of the program of help for equipment and training of the Boarder Police withing the framework of the Packt of Stability for South-East Europe. The German donation containd information and communication equipment, and eight BMW motorbikes. Victim abuse in human trafficking has decreased in BiH. However, women from BiH are being taken into other countries. Children trafficking for sexual exploitation and begging is also present, says Medalin Rease, chief of the High Commissariat for Human Rights to UN. During the presentation of the second UN Report on Human Trafficking in BiH, Ms. Rease warned that police completely ignores cases of children trafficking. Formal marking of the beginning of the work of SIPA took place in the premises of factory “Zrak” in Sarajevo. Besides SIPA officials, chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers, Adnan Terzic, EUPM Commissar, Kevin Karty, the High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, and BiH Minister of Security, Barisa Calak attended the opening. SIPA became operative with this event. The Centre of Public Security Banja Luka confirmed that the Centre members had arrested 4 persons on the suspicion they committed an organized crime, misusing their positions and co-perpetrating. The Court of BiH ordered the arrest. Persons arrested are being charged for issuing false documents, that is, forged personal identification documents and driver licences from the CIPS project. A functional check up of police forces in BiH has established that BiH has 3000 surplus police officers in comparison to European standards. The European standard is one police officer on 300 citizens. Bernard Prestel, senior advisor in the Commission for Police Reconstruction, concluded that police forces in BiH are professional. However, they need central elements in their organization in order to fight against organized crime. Radomir Njegus, director of RS police has announced that RS police searched several objects on the territory of Bileca and Gacka, but it did not find anyone suspected of war crimes. The action took place after receiving information from SIPA that Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic are on the localities of these two municipalities. During his speech to members of the Commission for Restructuring of Police Force in BiH, Chris Patten, the EU Commissioner for External, said that reorganization of police forces in BiH is a sensitive task at the first meeting of the Commission. Zlatko Miletic, director of the Police Administration of the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs, said that the opening ceremony of the old bridge in Mostar went by without an incident. Intelligence Services in BiH An unidentified official close to SFOR announced that security agencies in BiH have 741 persons on their list that thy can link to terrorist activities. The Federal Intelligence Service created the list two years ago. Discharging personnel of the Intelligence and Information Agency of BiH (OSA) who have more than 20 years of work experience should take place soon. OSA has a list of around 130 persons who have more than 20 years of work experience and are generally of Bosniak nationality. On the list are people who worked for the former Services, which practically mean the beginning of lustration. On 27 July, the bomb planted in the car of Nebojsa Skrba, member of the Intelligence and Security Agency BiH, was activated. Mr. Skrba announced that he did not receive any threats nor that he knows the reason why the bomb was planted. Barisa Colak, Minister of Security BiH, has announced that the Ministry of Security has no information on the 100 CIA informers in BiH gathering information on the Islamic terrorism. The announcement came after allegations this was taking place. Mr. Colak also said that the Law on Intelligence and Security Agency regulates ways of co-operation with foreign intelligence services. International Security Institutions SFOR members continued with their routine boarder checks on boarder crossings with Serbia and Montenegro on the territory of Municipalities of Zvornik and Bratunac. SFOR members conducted vehicle and passenger checks at the boarder crossings Kakanj, Skelani and the pedestrian boarder crossing in Zvornik. SFOR members conducted an action of searching several objects in Han Pijesak. One of the objects was the military complex where the military administration of RS was located during the war, headed by Ratko Mladic, indicted of war crimes by the Hague Tribunal. International organization Amnesty International (AI) has warned EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs that the military mission of the Union (EUFOR) should not repeat SFOR's mistakes, but draw lessons from them in order to perform their tasks more efficiently. In the warning directed to the Ministers, AI stresses that SFOR made mistakes mostly in the implementation of international standards in the respect of human rights. USA is seriously considering of keeping a key base in BiH after NATO withdraws from the peace mission. This is a part of the new American project that should help in the fight against terrorism. This would mean that around 150 American soldiers would remain in the Eagle base near Tuzla, who would have helicopters at their disposal. Havier Solana, the High Representative of EU for the Joint Foreign and Security Policy, and Jap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO Secretary General, paid a joint visit to BiH. During this occasion Mr. Solana announced that he is very pleased with the meeting he had with members of the Presidency of BiH. He announced that the EU will continue work in all areas where it was engaged in till date, as well as on aims and duties of EUFOR. NATO Secretary General said that NATO will not leave BiH. SFOR's exercise, in which the Over the Horizon Forces (OTHF) will participate, is to take place from 19 to 28 June. During this exercise NATO will use a certain number of military planes on the territory of Mostar in the daily exercises and introducing the crew with the area. On 23 July 2004, in Bijeljina, SFOR members arrested the retired non-commissioned officer of the RS Army, Rajko Banduka. During the war Mr. Banduka was secretary of the former Commandant for the RS Army and indicted for war crimes, Ratko Mladic. SFOR members searched the premises of the Persian-Bosnian College in Ljesevo. No one out of the SFOR members wanted to comment this activity. Reporters were given written explanations stating that this was a routine operation. Barisa Colak, minister of security of BiH, and Moises Venancio, residential representative of UNDP, have signed the Project Document on Removal of Small and Light Weapons in BiH. The budget totalling 910 000 USD has been foreseen for this project, and UNDP has already invested more that one quarter of million dollars in it. Politics and Security Due to obstructions and criminal activities that resulted with the negative answer for BiH at the NATO Summit in Istanbul, the High Representative Paddy Ashdown decided to dismiss 59 persons from public and party institutions in RS. Some of them are discharged indefinitely, while those from the “dismissed with conditions” list will be able to return to the public life when Radovan Karadzic, indicted fro war crimes, is arrested. President of National Assembly of RS, Dragan Kalinic and Minister of Internal Affairs, Zoran Deric are to be found on the list among others. Admiral Gregory Johnson, commandant of the NATO South Wing announced at the reception for the highest BiH officials that NATO member countries are ready to help BiH in its joining to Euro-Atlantic integrations. He also stressed that the precondition for joining PfP is the arrest of those indicted for war crimes in BiH. At a joint press conference in Brussels, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO Secretary General, and Xavier Solana, the High Representative of EU for the Joint Foreign and Security Policy said that all important missions of SFOR in BiH are ready for military forces of the EU. They said that their visit to BiH last week was a strong political message of support for BiH governments and inhabitants to continue with the reforms that lead into Euro-Atlantic integrations. BiH Ministry of Security assessed that BiH will not be the target of revenge of terrorists if it sends its troops into the humanitarian mission to Iraq. Dragan Mekiæ, deputy state minister of security, on the basis of an all-inclusive analysis, announced this. According to the decision of the BiH Presidency, the Council of Ministers and competent Ministries undertook activities on the realisation of conditions for sending 36 members of the BiH de-mining contingent to Iraq. The BiH Ministry Defence will have the most complex role in this. It is tasked with establishing means of the first active and reserve contingent, appointing the Commander, coordinating foreign help, providing equipment and training the unit. The Report on the Security Situation in BiH states that the security situation in BiH is satisfactory. However, the level of crime has risen in almost all areas. The Report was produced by the Ministry of Security BiH. “Rise of crime has been noted due to the implementation of the new Criminal Law, and new methodology of statistic information up date,” said Barisa Colak, Minister of Security BiH. June 2004 Politics and Security Government of FBiH pointed out the difficult situation regarding to the logistic supplying the Army of FBiH, especially in educational centres. This is a consequence of the slowed soldier demobilization that is not unfolding according to plan. It was concluded that that the superfluous soldiers will have the right to pay for the next 9 months. After that they will become unemployed. With this, the money meant for severance pay will be directed towards salaries. Dragan Vrankic, Deputy Premier of the Government of FBiH, said that the FBiH government, together with OHR, started the initiative for changes and additions of the Law on Financial Police. Representatives from the Prosecution, OHR and the Ministries of Finance and Justice formed a group that will create a new regulation. The members of all parliamentary commissions for defense and security in BiH visited the Ministry of Defense of RS and General Headquarters RS in Banja Luka. Joint assessment of the participants from the meeting is that the defense reform is heading in a good direction and that the defense system will be much better than it was until now in the Entities and at the level of BiH. The Presidency of BiH has decided that BiH military attaches engaged in the military mission in NATO in Brussels and the military attaché engaged at the Embassy in Washington remain on duty at least a year in order to fit into the reforms in BiH. This was decided at the regular meeting in Sarajevo. Replacement of SFOR by the EU troops that will happen at the end of the year was the main topic at the Sarajevo meeting of Ministers of Defence of BiH, Nikola Radovanovic, and the British Minister of Armed Forces, Adam Ingram. During the meeting, Mr. Radovanovic emphasised that the transfer of authority onto the EU forces will not cause a security vacuum. With the decision of the member states of NATO pact at the Istanbul Summit, the mandate of SFOR in BiH was ended. Secretary General of the NATO pact, Jap de Hoop Schaffer said that he believes that the SFOR mission in BiH was totally successful. SFOR will leave BiH at the end of this year with the EU forces taking over. As it was expected, BiH was not invited into PfP due to non-cooperation of RS with the Hague Tribunal. Armed Forces in BiH An exercise “Protection and Rescue from Natural Disasters” took place at the polygon at the Centre for Professional Development of the Army of FBiH in Pazaric. The exercise gathered the members of the Army of FBiH, Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Sarajevo Canton and Professional Firefighter Brigade of the Sarajevo Canton. The RS Army passed onto a new organizational and formational structure harmonized with the Army of FBiH due to the decision of the Presidency and average NATO standards. This was done within the implementation of the reform of the defense system in BiH. Structure of the RS Army consists of General HQ with the commanding battalion, Logistic Base, Centre for Education of Officers, 15th mechanic brigade and First Air force Wing and anti-aircraft defense, and instead of corpuses that existed until now, two divisions have been formed. Chairman of the Office for Information of the Joint Command of the Army of FBiH announced that the food supply of recruits is highly problematic. This situation can lead to radical measures. Unless a solution is achieved the Joint Command will be forced to send 4500 recruits home until further notice. A three day seminar on the role of noncommissioned officers in training took place in Sarajevo. The seminar was organized by the Joint Contact Teams Programme from the Ministry of Defence of USA and the European Command of American armed forces. 36 members of armed forces of BiH were introduced to standards, defence doctrine, organizing structure and mission of the armed forces of USA at the Seminar. State Minister of Defence, Nikola Radovanovic, and General Edward Laufontaine signed an agreement on procurement and the mutual provision of services worth 14.9 millions of dollars in the name of the Ministry of Defence of BiH and the USA. The realization of means for help for defence forces will be possible with this money in 2004. Reorganization of the Army of FBiH according to the reform requests and NATO standards resulted in certain changes in the Joint Command of the Army of FBiH where administrations to date transformed into suitable departments. Brigadier Hamza Visica, had of the Department for Information of the Joint Command of the Army of FBiH said that the new concept means the abolishment of the Department for Communication, Legal Department as well as Department for Inspection and Supervision, until 25 June. Due to the difficult material situation the Army of FBiH is in, Federal Minister of Defense will send a suggestion to the officials to stop the process of recruiting into the federation Army until all conditions for military service are created. The decision on stopping the recruiting can only be brought by the state Minister of Defense and Bosniacs and Croat member of the Presidency of BiH as civil commanders. The Army of FBiH completely concluded the process of decreasing the number of members of the professional composition. Thus, 8000 soldiers remained in the Army. 1669 soldiers realized the pensioning according to favorable conditions. 711 persons left the Army with the severance pay of 6000 KM in addition to their May pay. 2491 soldiers used the legal right to stop the military service due to inability or not wanting to use these rights. The Presidency of BiH has decided that brigadier Hajrudin Grabovica be appointed as the Commandant of the Joint Command of the Army of FBiH, and colonel Jugoslav Brdar as his deputy. Also, it was confirmed that brigadier Mirsad Gutic be appointed as the Commandant of the First Armored Mechanized Brigade of the Army of FBiH, and colonel Anto Jelic as the Commandant of the Second Armored Mechanized Brigade of the Army of FBiH. The Presidency recommended that general major Novak Djukic be appointed as the Head of the General Headquarters RS and general major Stamentko Novakovic as the Commandant of the 15th Mechanized Brigade of the Army of RS. OSCE has announced that some security measures brought in due to strengthening the trust in BiH have become an excess. Thus, with the decision by general Claudio Zappulla, the Personal Representative of the Presiding officer of OSCE for paragraph II and IV of the Annex 1-B DMS, informing measure and military inspection between the two Entities has been abolished. Police in BiH Members of SBS BiH in Orasje arrested 63 persons last year that had either state or international wanted circular. SBS Orasje periodically takes stronger measures due to the possibility of illegal money transfer. In several such cases considerable foreign monies have been confiscated. Kevin Carty, EUPM Commissar, has repeated during his stay in Bihac that there are too many police officers in BiH, and that BiH police force is not organized very well, and this burdens the fight against organized crime. The Third Regional Conference of the Units for Internal Control took place in Sarajevo. It was organized by Police Administration of the Federal Ministry of Interior and the International program of help with the training from the area of criminal investigations (ICITAP) of the USA Ministry of Justice. The goal of the conference was advancement of work of these units, as well as experience exchange in this are. State Boarder Service BiH marked the fourth anniversary of its existence and successful work. During this occasion it was concluded that SBS BiH is surely one of the most successful BiH institutions. In last 4 years, SBS prevented the entrance of more than 38 000 foreign citizens who tried to illegally cross the BiH boarder. SBS confiscated 1050 motor vehicles due to the suspicion that they have been stolen, and it discovered 1289 forged documents. Also, SBS BiH arrested 522 persons who had wanted circulars by Interpol, authorized courts and Ministries of Interiors. Wilfred Martens, former Belgian premier, could be appointed as Chairman of the Commission for the Reform of Police Forces in BiH. Adnan Terzic, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH, expects that the forming of the Commission will be concluded by the end of June, and that first results will be presented after the three months from formation. During the 20 days of the Campaign for Safety of Traffic Participants, conducted by the Ministry of Interiors of the Zenica-Doboj Canton, more than 15 000 vehicles have been controlled. More than 1800 traffic violations reports were submitted, 230 drunk drivers were registered, and around 40 drivers did not have a driving license. Bosnia and Herzegovina will soon get a state agency for the fight against illegal trafficking of narcotics, said Dragan Miketic, Deputy Minister of Security of BiH. Agency's task is to conduct a state strategy of the fight against illegal trafficking of narcotics and cutting off of the import and sale of intoxicating drugs. The agency will not perform police duties because those duties are preformed by Entity and Cantonal units for the fight against illegal trafficking of drugs. On 23 July 1200 police officers will be in charge of the security at the opening ceremony of the Old Bridge in Mostar. This was announced after the meeting of representatives of the State Investigation and Protection Agency, the Intelligence and Security Agency of BiH, Ministry of Interior of the Federation of BiH and the police of Hercegovina-Neretva Canton. In the first five months of this year, the Ministry of Internal Affairs RS submitted to 48 reports against 110 persons suspected of criminal actions from the area of economy criminality to authorized prosecution office. Police says that the cases are heavy and characteristic as are money laundering, tax evasion, and misuse of official position. All of this caused damage to the RS budget in the amount of more than 49 millions KM. For firms and other legal persons this damage totals more than 5 million KM. Sredoje Novic, director of the State Information and Protection Agency, said in Banja Luka that speculations of SIPA replacing Entity Ministries of Internal Affairs are without foundation. After the meeting with the administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs RS, Mr. Novic said that they discussed the way of future co-operation, considering that SIPA has already entered operative activities in collecting and analysis of certain security issues. In a co-coordinated action, members of the Police Station Foca, the Police Station for Traffic Security and the Unit for Support have arrested 11 Albanians who illegally crossed the BiH state boarder with Serbia and Montenegro along with 2 of their helpers. Expert teams of the State Boarder Service of Germany have completed the training of the first two groups of 15 management SBS BiH representatives each. The goal of this training was the improvement of the administration system in supervision and control of the crossing of state boarder and bringing BiH closer to European standards. With the adoption of the Law on the State Investigation and Protection Agency, this first police institution at the level of BiH has definitely began with its work. SIPA director Sredoje Novic said that one part of the Agency is currently operating with 150 employed, which is around 35% of working places. Also, work is being done on forming an elite unit which will arrest those accused of war crimes and criminals. The complex of buildings of the Police Academy was officially opened in Banja Luka. The European Commission financed the construction of the complex with around 5 million Euro. The entire area of the complex measures 12 800 meters squared. Intelligence Services in BiH From June 1, Entity Intelligence and Security Services, that is, FOSS and OBS RS official do not exist anymore. This has been foreseen by the state Law on Intelligence and Security Agency. With this the employment of staff at FOSS and OBS RS ends and they should be automatically transferred to work positions at OSA. Deadline for unifying the Services is 90 days, and the number of over employed who could be dismissed is anticipated at 300. Ivan Cosis, General Secretary of the BiH Council of Ministers, passed the check up by OHR and received a green light for performing the duties of the chief inspector of the Intelligence and Security Agency of BiH. This completes the procedure of appointing first three main leaders of OSA. International Security Institutions Number of SFOR soldiers has been decreased to 7000, and the brigades were renamed into Operative Groups. The Groups will still have their commanding places in Tuzla, Banja Luka and Mostar, and every one will have 1800 members. Teams for connection and supervision, named LOT Teams, have been introduced. They will have 12 soldiers and will be situated in houses with the local population. They will exchange information with the local government on a daily basis. 50 SFOR members of the Multinational Division South West have found a larger amount of illegal weapons in Prijedor surroundings. Weapons were hidden in village Lomovita, on premises of Red Cross and Health Centre. May 2004 Police in BiH Organized by the Ministry of Security of BiH and embassy of the Republic of France in BiH, a seminar on the topic of “Maintaining public rules and regulations and civil crisis management ” took place in Sarajevo. The seminar was dedicated to the adoption of European standards in the field of the use of police forces and it was made possible by the financial help from the French government on the basis of an agreement on technical co-operation signed earlier. Dragan Meketic, Deputy Minister of Security of BiH, confirmed that the Council of Ministers of BiH started the preparations for the formation of a joint police in BiH. He said that the complicated and impartial police apparatus does not ensure the efficiency in the fight against crime. Activities for finding the best model for organization of police in BiH that definitely must be more compatible and more efficient have already begun. The number of general crime in the first three months of this year has increased for 51%, while the efficiency of the police in discovering criminals has at the same time largely decreased on the territory of Republic of Srpska. The beginning of realization of the project worth 450 000 Euros, related to the supervision of crime investigations and the control of boarder crossings has been announced in the State Boarder Service of BiH. In addition to this, SBS units received two vehicles specially equipped and worth 316 000 Euros. European Union ensured 200 000 Euro for paying the services of the Polish expert who will, in the next year, help the Ministry of Security of BiH to establish an efficient sector for the fight against organized crime. This sector for the fight against organized crime should be up and running by the end of this year. Members of the SBS unit Trebinje, in co-operation with the Trebinje custom house officers, confiscated 48 kilograms of marihuana. As it was announced by the SBS, narcotics were taken on the boarder crossing Klobuk during the search of a freight vehicle FAP driven by a SCG national. It was confirmed with a check up that the Interpol was also in search of the vehicle. Council of Ministers of BiH will form an expert commission during the next month that will prepare laws for the police reform in BiH by the end of this year. Barisa Colak, Minister of Security of BiH, said that the present number of police officers in BiH today, 18 000, should be decreased to 15 000, while the number of administrative personnel, which is 5000, should be decreased to 3000. The Commission for the Police Reform will be made up of local and international experts. Head and Deputy head of the Special Police Serivice, Dragan Lukac and Dragan Ribic repctfully, submitted their resignations due to the tragic events in the Ministry of Internal Affars actions in Visegrad. They submitted their resignations after several days of refusing, because they did not want to, as they say, have all the blame tranfered onto their unit as was the intention of those authorized. The newly appointed Head and Deputy Head are Ranko Vukovic and Dragan Dukic, respectivelly. Certificates to the first 120 police officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the FBiH and the Sarajevo Canton, who have completed a 7 day long training have been presented at the Police Academy in Sarajevo. The goal of the training was gaining of knowledge and skills from the filed of police activities, improvement of physical condition and motivation of the police officers to learn independently and regularly maintaining their physical condition. BiH takes the first place in Europe in the number of car accidents. For 100 000 inhabitants, 65 car accidents take place in our country, while in Europe that average number is around 35. Ministry of Security of BiH assessed the security situation in the country as satisfactory, even though the crime rate in the FBiH had risen for 7,8% last year, and in RS for 23%. Sredoje Novic, Director of SIPA, confirmed that the State Agency for Investigation and Protection, SIPA, will be able to arrest those accused of war crimes at the end of this year. He said that the Agency is still not in the operative function and that in order to be such, the changed Law on SIPA must be placed in effect first. Afterwards, a department for war crimes and a special unit that would offer support to this department must be formed. Armed Forces in BiH A warning came from the Centre for Security Studies that conducting the reform process necessary for BiH’s entrance into PfP is noticeably slow. Denis Hadzovic, General Secretary of CSS, had announced that the reform had stopped in the Federation of BiH. This is due to late provisions regarding Law on Defense of FBiH, and Law on the Service in the Army and Ministry of Defense of FBiH. Miroslav Nikolic, the Federal minister of Defense, had signed decisions for 556 members of the Army of FBiH who have left the service on the basis of Regulation on Pension Under Favorable Conditions. James Locher III assessed that the 13 conditions related to the reform of the army will be fulfilled by the time Istanbul Summit takes place, while the 14th co-operations with the Hague Tribunal might represent a problem for BiH's entrance into PfP. Nikola Radovanovic, Minister of Defence of BiH, spoke with Jap de Hoop Scheffer, the General Secretary of NATO, in Brussels regarding defense reforms and fulfilling the conditions for BiH's entrance into PfP. During the conversation, Scheffer praised results regarding the BiH defense reform to date. 23 representatives of the Ministry of Defense of BiH and of the Armed forces of both Entities participated at a seminar on the Relation between media and army. The Institute of International Legal Studies, within the Ministry of Defense of USA, sponsored the seminar. BiH House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of the FBiH adopted the Law on Defense and Service in the Army of the FBiH. Also, FBiH House of Representatives adopted the same Law a day before, but in the changed text. That is way the Law will be placed in force after the Commission of both Houses harmonizes it. Basis of this Law are that the military service is 4 months long, the civil alternative is 6 months long, while Article that assumes the two-component shape of the AFBiH has remained in force. Virgil Packet, SFOR Commandant, has approved the appointment of the General-Major Novak Dukic as Head of the Main Headquarters of the ARS, after the completed check, while the second candidate was not approved. Discharge of the excess AFBiH members has begun after a few months of delay. Miroslav Nikolic, Minister of Defense of the FBiH, has signed a “formation book”, with which timetable of all positions within the AFBiH are defined. Among 5200 soldiers who will be discharged, 1600 are retiring, while the rest will receive leave pays of 6000 KM. Intelligence Services in BiH Paddy Ashdown, the High Representative, had decided to prolong the establishement of Intelligence and Security Agency until 1 June 2004. The High Representative undertook this measure upon the request of Ambassador Calman Kochish, Chairman of the OHRs Commission on Intelligence Reform, in order to aivod the creation of vacuum regarding the peservation of adequate control over intelligence and security sector. Almir Dzuvo and Risto Zaric had passed the OHR check and received a green light for the appointment as Director and Deputy Director of the Intelligence and Security Agency of BiH. Mladen Alpeza, the candidate from the Croat people for the position of the Chief Inspector was rejected. International Security Institutions Police of RS had reported to the German-Italian SFOR group that it had found a large amount of weapons on the territory of Miljevina, near Foca. Howitzer of 76 mm caliber with ammunition numbering 120 grenades and a machine-gun with ammunition was found among the weapons in a forest near Miljevina. General Richard Meyers, Chief of main Headquarters of American armed forces, has visited American soldiers in the Base “Eagle” near Tuzla. He met with Brigadier Commander Timothy Rice, commander of the “North” Multinational Brigade and Virgil Packet, SFOR commandant. General Meyers said that American soldiers will stay present in BiH within NATO Mission, and that they will be engaged for capturing those accused of war crimes and for the fight against terrorism. Around 500 soldiers have collected 10 anti-aircraft missiles, hundreds of grenades, hand bombs, rifle grenades and ammunition over the last two weeks in the area of Prnjavor. With the help of locals, SFOR soldiers have discovered 40 boxes of ammunition in just one stable that was stored there for the last 7 years. Police of the Una-Sana Cnaton, with the support of SFOR, found a weapon warehouse for parts of ammunition and arms at a fabric for wire cables in Cazin. The factory has been out of use since the end of the war. More than ten thousand cocoons for the mortar granades, around three thousand shields fro hand granades and a large number of powder charge for the ammunition of hunting weapons have been found in the first hall. Phillip Spendiorr, SFOR major from the MNB Northwest, said that this was the biggest amount of wepons and military equipment found in the Una-Sana Canton. Jap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO General Secretary, has announced that the “events development” does not mean that decisions will be made on the acceptance of new members for PfP at the NATO Summit in June. From 1 June, SFOR's multinational brigades will be re-named into Multinational Operative Groups that will number 1800 members each. This represents a concrete decrease of the SFOR members. Number of SFOR members will be 7000 soldiers. Chances for BiH to be invited at the upcoming NATO Summit for a membership in PfP are almost equal to zero. The main obstacle for this is the non-co-operation of the RS government with the Hague Tribunal, and failure of arresting those accused of war crimes. Jap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO General Secretary, has announced this during his stay in Sarajevo. He also added that “If next 5 week are used to the maximum, it is possible to change the situation and for BiH to be accepted in PfP”. Politics and Security According to the annual report of the State Department, government commitment to fight against organized terrorism had slowed down at the end of 2002, when nationalistic parties came into power in BiH. Adnan Terzic, chairmen of BiH Council of Ministers, said after this report that due to non-existence of agencies for the fight against terrorism at the state level, BiH government cannot be held responsible for this. Nikola Radovanovic, Minister of Defense of BiH, had met with the Croatian Minister of Defense, Berislav Roncevic, and the Serbian Minister of Defense, Prvoslav Davinic in Zagreb. This is the first official meeting of Defense Ministers of these three countries. Ministers talked about experiences in the field of security to date, and further co-operation in preparations for the entrance into the Euro-Atlantic integrations. April 2004 Police in BiH Via the free telephone line, “Krimolovci”, that started to work a month ago, 900 calls were registered. In 590 cases, citizens were given advice whom to contact regarding various problems, while the other 345 calls registered information that were forwarded it the police and EUMP. Information that was obtained relates to almost every possible kind of criminal act. The calls regarding drugs, in total 95 calls, were the most numerous. At the round table “Current issues in the fight against crime and corruption” that was held in Banja Luka, the RS Minister of Internal Affairs, Zoran Djeric, called on the judges and prosecutors to take over the “large cases” from 3 to 4 years ago. He said that the Ministry got 6 reports from the main inspector of RS that relate to larger banks and firms in this Entity. Dragan Vikic, Commander of the Special Unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, announced that the federal special officers are ready for the fight against terrorists and organised mafia in Sarajevo and other places in the Federation of BiH. 29.410.740 KM of the Federal budget for 2004 has been planed for the needs of the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs, that is, the Police Administration and the Administrative Office that work within this Ministry. In the Police Administration of FMUP, 998 persons are employed. In the Administrative Office, 224, and in the Ministry 65 persons. Martin Raguz, the Chairman of the BiH House of Representatives, answered that there is no money for a further increase of the SIPA budget after SIPA officials objected to SIPA’s budget, saying that it is too small for the beginning of its activities in June. The state Parliament planned 6.6 million KM for SIPA for this year, while, according to SIPA officials, 50 to 60 million is needed. Kevin Bartholomew Carty, Commissar of EUPM in BiH, had announced that the security problems of BiH are not much different from any other European country. Nonetheless, Commissar Carty believes that current police structure in BiH is good for the existence of strong police forces and he believes that this system must be changed. He stressed that it is necessary to establish a greater centralization of police structures in BiH. Out of 40 BiH budget beneficieries, State Boarder Service was the one who received the most money for this year – 49.330.000 KM. RS Police Director had suspended the deputy of the chief of Special Police Service who led the police action in Visegrad. Two special police officers were also suspended who opened fire upon Novica Lukic, who was killed in this action. The action took place upon the order of the District Court in Srpsko Sarajevo with an aim of arresting Milan and his cousin Sredoje Lukic, who are accused of war crimes. In front of the Ministry of Internal Affairs building of Livno Canton in Livno, Protest Committee of the Syndicates of the Cantonal Ministry of interior had organized a two hour long warning protest. The warning protest took place because the collective agreement was not signed and because of illegal pay given to unauthorized personnel of the Ministry. Armed Forces in BiH During 2003, on the territory of the Federation, 16 548 persons have been recorded into the military files. Out of these 16 548 persons, 14 430 were born in 1986. 2118 were born earlier. During the last year, 11 070 persons entered the Army as conscripts, while the Commission for Civil Service of the Military Service approved the status of 710 persons subjected to civil service. With the signing of the activity plan in Sarajevo for 2004, the training program of the AFBiH personnel will continue in the military schools of Republic of Turkey. BiH Presidency issued a decision on the participation of part of the BiH Armed Forces in the first joint military exercise “Search and Rescue 2004”. This military exercise should take place between 27 and 29 April of this year. This is the first decision that the Presidency issued as the Civil Commander, in accordance to the new Law on Defence. James Locher, the presiding chairman of the Commission for the Reform of Defence in BiH, had said that BiH will be ready to undertake all steps in the defence reform process that were given by NATO as preconditions for the entrance into PfP. The funds from the Federal budget for 2004 total 229.014.00 KM for defense. 200.898.860 KM is intended for the Army, while 28.115.140 KM is intended for the FBiH Ministry of Defense. Within this budget there are budget items for taking care of the “over-numbered” members of the Army of FBiH, totalling 30.439.000 KM, as well as 2.661.000 KM for taking care of “excess personnel” within the Federal Ministry of Defense. Milovan Stankovic, RS Minister of Defense, does not accept the possibility that he could be the last Entity Minister of Defense, and he believes that the reform processes will not head in that direction. He also said that in the Army of RS and the RS Ministry of Defense, around 1300 severance pays have been distributed out of the total 2200, that need to be distributed to the demobilized soldiers and the personnel of his Ministry. The RS Army and SFOR destroyed around 500 pieces of infantry-accompanying weapons and around 30 pieces of anti-tank weapons in the “Kozara” military barracks. These pieces were collected in the action “Harvest” a while ago. An agreement between the Federal Ministry of Defense and legal persons where the civil alternative to the military service will be served has been signed. With this action the project of the civil alternative of the military service has officially been promoted. On the basis of the signed agreements, request applicants will be able to use the right to conscientious objection as of 10 May. These persons will be able to serve their civil alternative in one of 52 legal subjects or the five units of the Army of FBiH. German delegation, headed by Walter Kolobav, State Secretary of German Ministry of Defense, had visited Ministry of Defense of BiH. Talks were held on co-operation regarding defense and security, as well as the participation of German military units in international peace missions. Ten out of eighteen candidates for thirteen General positions in the Joint Headquarters, the Operative Command and the Ministry of Defense of BiH did not pass the security check of SFOR. The check was conducted by SFOR, as well as other organizations among which the Hague Tribunal was emphasized as the most important by Nikola Radovanovic, the Minister of Defense of BiH. Army of RS had compleated the techincal part of the reform of defence system. This means that it had established new organizational and formational strucutres of the Army. In accordance with the new organization, 3891 members of the Army of RS will be placed into two divisions, one mechanized brigade, an air force wing and anti-aircraft battalion, logistical base, and the Centre for education of officers and a commanding battalion. A new rank, Brigadier General, will exist in the future in the Army. General Major and Lieutenant Colonel ranks will be above the position of Brigadier General. The Army will have only 2 Generals in the future. Nikola Radovanovic, state minister of defence, had announced that the security check of future military commanders by SFOR, and the selection of only 8 out of 19, enables undisturbed continuation of reforms and fulfilling of conditions in the anticipated due date for the entrance into PfP. He said that the Ministry of Defense of FBiH needs to suggest new candidates in order for fulfilling other positions in defense state institutions. The first joint terrain exercise of the military units and units of Civil Protection of RS and FBiH took place on the territory of Doboj, Tesanj, Maglaj, Petrov and Racanica. It was funded by OSCE. After teh action named “Help to 2004” General Major Claudio Zappula stated that the OSCE investment had compleatly been worth it. International Security Institutions Dave Sullivan, SFOR spokesperson, confirmed that SFOR had conducted an action at Pale on 1 April in which priest Jeremija Starovlah and his son Aleksandar were hurt. Radovan Karadzic, accused of war crimes, was not arrested during this action. At a briefing for journalists at NATO HQ in Brussels, NATO officials announced that NGOs, which are linked with fundamentalism and terrorist organisations, work on the entire Balkan territory. Also, there are individuals who are linked to the terrorist organisations. SFOR soldiers from the “North” Multinational Brigade had discovered an illegal ammunition warehouse in an action that took place on a very distant and hardly accessible terrain on the territory outside Srebrenica. 2 hand ground-to-air missile, 2 anti-tank missiles and 18 kg of explosive have been confiscated in the action. Ten anti-air missiles ground-to-air have been handed over to the local police and SFOR soldiers from the “South-West” Multinational Brigade during the operation “Harvest” on the territory of Prnjavor. Weapons were in an excellent condition and in the original packaging. Study on the Effects of Mines in BiH, that was conducted from December 2002 to December 2003 had confirmed that 95% of area in BiH, that is, 1366 inhabited places are completely filled with mines or unexploded ordinance. The study was conducted by a Humanitarian organization Handicap International in co-ordination with the Commission for de-mining and the Centre for Removal of Mines in BiH. In the last two years 129 mine victims were registered out of which 67 survived. SFOR's forces will close their work in BiH at the end of this year. Management of military operations will be conducted by EUFOR. This was discussed in Brussels by Ministers of Foreign affairs of EU member states who praised the preparation for taking over of this mission. Namely, it is expected that NATO will decide this at the Istanbul Summit. EUFOR troops in BiH will have a task of arresting those accused of war crimes. EUFOR will share this responsibility with the NATO Mission in BiH. This differs from previous plans, writes Financial Times. The most numerous contingent within 7000 EUFOR soldiers will be German forces with 1200 members, followed by France and Great Britain. Politics and Security European Commission High Representative emphasised that if the transfer of duties between SFOR and EU troops takes place, EUFOR mandate will be the same if not more robust that the SFOR’s. The British general that is to be the commander in chief would have around 7000 soldiers on his disposal. The House of Peoples of BiH Parliamentary Assembly brought a decision on the establishment of Joint Security and Intelligence Commission for supervision of Intelligence and Security Agency. The House of Representatives also brought this decision last week. There are 12 members in the Commission, 6 from hte House of Representatives and 6 from the House of Peoples. In the organisation of the BiH Alliance for Security, and in a co-operation with the BiH Ministry of Defense, a round table on ten “Security of BiH”, for the representatives of NATO and international institutions, took place in Sarajevo. Sejfudin Tokic, President of the Alliance, emphasized that the aim of this table is affirming the founding values of Euro-Atlantic institutions, and especially the aspect of BiH’s entrance into PfP and NATO. Nikola Radovanovic, the Minister of Defence of BiH, said that a clear political consensus of all political actors in BiH's entrance into NATO does not exist. He got this impression during the working of the Commission for the Defence Reform since he saw that there are differences in the opinions regarding the entrance into PfP, for which a clear consensus had existed and for NATO, which does not have this. Non-existence of a political consensus for the entrance into NATO, according to the Minister, come out of the still present fear in some parties regarding a common army. Also, there is an economic problem present and the fear of sending of our people into some war torn territories. The BiH Presidency brought a decision on the use of armed forces in BiH and it authorised the BiH Minister of Defense, Nikola Radovanovic, to allow the members of military forces to help the civil protection in the case of natural catastrophes. Paddy Ashdown, the High Representative, had discharged Cvjetko Savic, Chief of General staff of the Army of RS. Reason for this was the obstruction of RS government bodies, especially of General staff of the Army of RS, in relations towards the Commission for Research of events that happened in and around Srebrenica between 10 and 19 June 1995. Due to this reason, the High Representative discharged Dejan Miletic, Chief of Bureau of the RS Government for co-operation with the Hague Tribunal. Ilan Berman, from the American Council for External Policy, said that Balkan had become a route used by terrorists, and as such is on its way to become a heaven for terrorists. Balkan is all the more important since it represents a potentially fertile ground for terrorist activities. This is due to poor state institutions, numerous mistakes regarding intelligence services and similar. Intelligence Services in BiH The beginning of the work of the BiH Intelligence and Security Agency could be cancelled for the third time, because the Commission for joining of the two existing agencies cannot agree on the budget. The President of this Commission said that FOSS has a budget of around 16 million KM, and OBS RS has 5 million, and if these budgets are joined as one for OSSA, the agents of FOSS will have their pays reduced due to the balancing of the pay of both FOSS and OBS RS personnel. There are problems in agreeing on the national structure of the personnel, as well as the resistance of the agents directed at the candidates for the OSSA officials, stated Mr. Fersh. March 2004 Politics and Security The High Representative for BiH, Paddy Ashdown, met with the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, in Washington. During his meeting Mr. Ashdown informed Mr. Powell of the progress that BiH had made towards joining the NATO’s PfP program. The High Representative warned that BiH cannot fulfill the preconditions for its entrance into PfP in June this year with its current pace. The Chair of the BiH Presidency, Sulejman Tihic sent a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Malden Ivanic, asking for the entire BiH diplomacy engagement for actively lobbying for BiH’s acceptance into PfP in June at the NATO Istanbul Summit. The BiH House of Representatives appointed Nikola Radovanovic the first BiH State Defense Minister, and Enes Becirbasic and Marina Pendes as deputy state defense ministers. The newly appointed Minister of Defense said that priority tasks for him and his deputies are already known, fulfilling the preconditions for BiH’s entrance into PfP. A three-day Rose-Roth seminar took place in Sarajevo organized by the BiH and NATO Parliamentary Assemblies. Significance and fulfillment of 16 preconditions for the entry of our country into PfP in June at the NATO summit in Istanbul will be addressed at the seminar. International Security Institutions SFOR members and local police officers discovered two secret warehouses with a large amount of arms on the territory of Bosanska Dubica. 10 “surface-to-air” rockets, 348 mortar shells and 200 hand bombs have been found. After his visit to Sarajevo, Deputy Commander of NATO for Southern Europe, Admiral Rainer Feist expressed his wish that BiH will be invited to join the PfP Program in June this year. The newly appointed EUPM Commissioner is Kevin Bartholomew Carty. He said that transparency and mechanisms for just supervision of the police work are important for responsible and professional behavior of police. Mr. Carty said that EUPM, supported by OHR, will work on building and strengthening of state police agency SIPA. According to Dnevni Avaz, NATO will have a "resident role" in BiH after EUFOR replaces SFOR. NATO will keep “several hundreds” of people, mainly civilians engaged in the intelligence field and keeping watch on the possible activities of terrorist organizations. After SFOR members discovered a larger amount of weapons in the Bosanska Dubica region 10 days ago, international military forces found 22 cases of ammunition in a weapons cache buried in the ground. For the third time in the last few months, SFOR members searched for illegal weapons in Zenica and several neighboring settlements as part of action “Harvest”. This time Italian Carabinieris carried out the action, and they searched 7 houses and flats, 3 basements and conducted a detailed search of higher military barracks of FBiH Army. During their search, SFOR members had found two hand grenades and 5 bayonets in one flat that was searched. The Commander of NATO in Southern Europe, Admiral Gregory Johnson confirmed that BiH’s entrance into PfP does not depend on the entrance of Serbia and Montenegro into this military and political organization. Mr. Johnson and the Chair of the BiH Presidency, Sulejman Tihic, discussed the opening of NATO HQ in BiH. It was stressed that an American general will head the HQ and be responsible for the training of BiH armed forces. The HQ will also serve as the operative base for catching those accused of war crimes. A lecture titled “The future engagement of NATO in the Balkan” took place at the Faculty of Criminal Justice in Sarajevo. The lecture was organized by the Centre for Security Studies, and Jean-Arthur Cliff, a representative of NATO's Public Relations department, lectured on NATO's mission and chances of BiH's entrance into PfP. EU and NATO delegates met with BiH officials during their visit to Sarajevo. They again announced that no decision will be brought regarding the future of military peace mission in BiH without consultations with the authorities in this country. Intelligence Services in BiH Due to the Law on the Intelligence and Security Service BiH being adopted in two different texts by the two Houses of Parliamentary Assembly, a Commission for harmonization of the two different texts was established. Police in BiH EUPM in BiH in cooperation with BiH authorities started a project where citizens of BiH will help BiH police with anonymous and free of charge telephone calls. The project has been named 'Krimolovci' (Crime hunters) and it has been established with an aim of a more efficient fight against all kinds of crime. All who wish to report a person or a group of people, for whom there is a founded suspicion that they are involved in criminal action, they can do so by dialing 080/020-505. Ministry of Interiors RS announced that several police officers committed illegal acts at the end of February of this year. As an example of this the Ministry told of police officers in Foca who pilfered 3788 KM from issuing fines, and of a police officer from Banja Luka who transported 750 boxes of cigarettes without documentation on the origin of these cigarettes. Ministry of Interiors RS submitted 36 criminal reports against police personnel to jurisdiction authorities last year. Also, the Ministry brought 65 criminal charges against police officers of this Entity. BiH is becoming the main 'warehouse' for drugs on their way towards West Europe, states a report of the US State Department on crime in BiH. In the report BiH is rated as the regional centre for the transit of drugs. The US administration underlines that the drug market is small in BiH, but that it is spreading very fast. At the head of the drug trade are 'well-known persons with criminal past, as well as national extremists'. From March 15, SIPA is taking over the security of the members of presidency, Council of Ministers BiH, as well as the president of BiH Court, BiH Constitutional Court and the public prosecutor. 20 personnel from the VIP Section will be responsible for their security and will be on call 24 hours a day. Thanks to the joint action of the Ministries of Interiors of FBiH and RS, not while ago, according to Minister of Interiors, Zoran Deric, a terrorist attack has been prevented in the Ozren region. Minister Deric emphasizes the excellent cooperation of the Entities police forces and that he is on good terms with the Minister of Police FBiH, Mevludin Halilovic. The RS police conducted an action in the Bratunac region in an attempt to arrest Radovan Karadzic. Radovan Karadzic, accused of war crimes, was not arrested in the above mentioned action. The FMUP unit for internal police control conducted 160 internal investigation of the work of its personnel in the last year. 51 complains out of 160 have been justified. In the same period reports against 36 members of Ministry of Interiors due to different criminal acts and abuses have been submitted to the prosecutor's office of the RS police. Also, 57 demands for bringing criminal charges against 67 police officers have been submitted. Due to heightening of the aggression in Kosovo, BiH State Boarder Service intensified the control of vehicles and passengers crossing over boarders. Also, Entities Ministries of Interiors intensified the security measures of certain buildings in BiH. A presentation of a large and complex scientific research titled “White slavery for the purpose of sexual exploitation in BiH” took place at the Faculty of Criminal Justice in Sarajevo. Author of the project was professor Dr. Vladimir Obranovic with his colleagues Edin Vranj and Zlatko Dubican. Financial resources for the research were provided by Public Relations Office of the USA Embassy in BiH. Crime police of the Ministry of Interiors in the Zenica-Doboj Canton, in cooperation with the Special Support Unit conducted an action of fighting production and trafficking of narcotics. During the action 5 people suspected of involvement in these activities were taken into custody. Armed Forces in BiH 216 “surface-to-air” missiles have been destroyed at the Velika Ribnica military range near Banovici. They were the last ones out of 4749 contingents owned by entities military forces in BiH. Destruction of these missiles is a part of global program of the US State Department and the US Embassy to BiH in removing, reducing and destroying hand missiles and anti-aircraft systems. BiH Presidency had adopted the Report of the working group on suggestions of the participation of BiH military forces in international peace missions. 36 deminers will be sent to Iraq as of 1 September 2004. Their demining skills will be at the disposal of the coalition forces for the period of one year. The Chairman of the Defense Reform Commission, James Locher expressed his hope that BiH will become a member of PfP in June, even though reforms of the defense sector are dangerously late. The Federation Defense Minister, who said that 2,9 million KM will be transferred from the federal budget for financing state defense structures, attended the press conference held in Sarajevo. Minister of Defense FBiH, Miroslav Nikolic, said that the first group of Army BiH members could be discharged at the beginning of April. They will receive up to 6000 KM severance pay. This action is late by two months. Out of the total number of soldiers in FBiH Army (12.900), 4900 will be discharged. Out of those 4900 soldiers, 1600 fulfill conditions for retirement, while 3300 soldiers will receive the severance pay. The BiH Deputy Minister of Defense, Enes Becirbasic estimates that by June 65% of the entire ministry personnel will be employed in this institution, only if the new organizational structure of the Ministry, the Joint General Staff and the Operative Command is adopted. The final number of employed will be 160, and in the Joint General Staff and the Operative Command there will be 12 generals. February 2004 Politics and Security At the meeting held in Sarajevo, Clifford Bond, the US Ambassador to BiH advised Sulejman Tihic, BiH Presidency member and Mladen Ivanic, BiH Foreign Affairs Minister that a NATO office will open in Sarajevo this year. An American general will head the office. The office’s mandate will be to provide the support to BiH authorities in the defence system reform for the future, fully-fledged membership in NATO. Chair of British Parliamentary Committee for Defence and Security, Bruce George who is also President of OSCE’s Parliamentary Committee, announced in a conversation with representatives of Ministry of Defence and FBiH Army that BiH’s membership in NATO and EU is not only possible, but also unavoidable if there is a will in realising necessary conditions. Mr. George led the British parliamentary delegation while visiting BiH officials. Presidency of BiH accepted the information on the possibility of further presence of international troops in BiH. Presidency considers that the presence of international military troops is still necessary. The change of SFOR for the EU troops is acceptable for BiH with a mandate being defined by a UN Security Council resolution. It is also necessary within the mandate to find out ways of engaging the USA. Former American Ambassador to the UN and a creator of the Dayton agreement, Richard Hallbruck announced that the administration of President Bush should keep American soldiers in BiH until Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, indicted for war crimes, are arrested. Council of Ministers BiH adopted a law on SIPA, with which first state police agency is formed. Besides this, Council of Ministers adapted both the changes and the supplements of Law on criminal procedure, Law on state service, Law on Witness protection Program, and Law on Police Officials. With the Law on SIPA, this agency is given police powers. The agency will temporarily occupy the premises in the street Adema Buce 102, Sarajevo. BiH House of Representatives adopted a Law on the informative and intelligence security agency (OSA)BiH. OSA should start work on April 1, 2004. The entity intelligence services (FOSS and OBS RS) will become parts of OSA. International Security Institutions According to Peter Fait, Deputy of General Director for Political and Military Issues, the three prerequisites for BiH entering PfP are the appointment of the BiH Minister of Defence, the apprehension of persons indicted of war crimes, and the urgent problem-solving in order for BiH and SIPA to work undisturbed. This has been announced at the meeting of EU and NATO officials with members of Parliament of FBiH. SFOR members conducted Operation Harvest in Travnik, with the aim to collect arms, hand grenades, ammunition and other means remaining from the war. Inhabitants of Travnik were disturbed by the members’ action who entered their houses. However, according to a SFOR official, inhabitants cooperated with the SFOR members. NATO will continue the search for Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Maldic in BiH, NATO general secretary Jaap de Hoop Scheffer announced in conversation with the Italian newspaper “Corrriere della Sera”. At the meeting between the EU Ambassador with NATO General Secretary, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and NATO Ambassadors in Brussels, it was announced that the EU troops, which would replace SFOR in BiH, would be equally equipped, effective and determined to fulfil their task as would SFOR be. The main task would be further sustainment of the security situation in BiH. Several dozen SFOR vehicles occupied the road leading to Donja Bocinja. Then, Turkish SFOR Battalion members searched houses for illegally held weapons. During their “Operation Harvest” SFOR soldiers had full co-operation of the locals. Beside SFOR, members of the police station Maglaj and special squad officers from Ministry of Interiors of Zenica Canton attended the search. The fight against organized crime and political extremism could be one of the activities that the EU troops pay particular attention to. The EU troops will succeed SFOR in BiH at the end of this year or at the beginning of the next. At the suggestion of Javier Solana, High Representative of EU for Foreign Policy and Security, the EU Council named Bartholomew Kevin Karthy as the new EUPM commissary in BiH. He starts his post on March 1. Rich Morris, deputy spokesperson of SFOR’s North-West brigade, has said that in the zone which Multinational brigade North is responsible for, 3000 light rocket launchers are being destroyed. These launchers belonged to armed forces of that entity. Police in BiH 621 police officers in RS will be discharged by March 1, due to the new Rule Book and Systematisation of posts. To date, from this number, 60 personnel employed in the RS Ministry of Interior have registered for voluntary disengagement for which they will receive 6000 BAM compensation. In the area of Public Security Centre in Banja Luka during 2003, the rise of 29% of the number of criminal acts, in comparison to 2002, have been recorded. The most recorded criminal acts are those against private property, totalling 76,9%. In 2003, 2000 persons who consume illegal drugs have been distinguished in RS. According to WHO, the registered number of users of narcotics in a country is multiplied by 7, which means that there are at least 14 000 drug addicts in RS. With the aim to strengthen security of BiH citizens, a working group, led by Barisa Colak, drafted a set of laws by which a strong police body at the state level (SIPA) is being established. The above mentioned sets of laws include laws relating to the Information and Protection Agency, money laundering prevention, police officers, and witness protection programme. The Ministry of Interior of Herzegovian-Neretva Canton will discharge 173 employees by the middle of July of this year. This decision derived from Ministry's personnel needs based on the regulations set up by EUPM. Discharged persons will have the right to 10 000 KM compensation. Chief prosecutor of BiH, Marinko Jurcevic, announced that the possibility of Public Prosecutor's Office will be limited in successful solving of the most serious criminal acts without a strong police agency at the state level. He assessed that the establishment of SIPA will give the Office the needed mechanisms for a decisive fight against crime. RS Minister of Interiors, Zoran Deric, gave keys of 50 new cars to representatives of organizing units of this Ministry in Central Office of Special Police. The use of the cars will be given to Traffic Police Department and representatives of Directory of Crim. Police in RS. OHR and EUPM warned FBiH Minister of Interiors, Mevludin Halilovic, that he, with his work, is making difficult for firmer confrontation of police with organised crime and mafia, which has lately increased its activities. OHR warned Mr. Halilovic that he must not politically influence the operative work of police. Ministry of Interiors RS began with the action “Drugs outside school”. This action means that there will be police officers from a particular Centre for Public Security present in every secondary school. Ministry of Interiors RS established that the confiscation of drugs is on the rise, as well as the number of criminal and offence reports against persons that deal in illegal production and trafficking of drugs. Ministry of Interiors RS informed EUPM in BiH that Vojislav Pelkic, the Chief of the Prijedor Public Security Centre, had been removed from his post. In his place, previous superintendent of Police station 1, Zoran Indic has been appointed. In his report on the work of EUPM in BiH in the second half of 2003 for UN Security Council, High Representative of EU for Foreign Policy and Security, Javier Solana, announced that the police detected a link between organised crime, war crimes and the security of returnees. Mr. Solana reminds that during last six months EUPM noticed that local police forces are not in a condition to effectively and lucratively operate due to their size and structure. He also announced that he intends to work on that problem in 2004. Armed Forces in BiH The structure of future armed forces in BiH has been agreed at the Joined Military Commission meeting at the SFOR Camp Butmir. The future armed forces will have three brigades, two in the Army of FBiH and one in the Army of RS. The Army of FBiH will number 8000 soldiers, 5.576 Bosniaks and 2.424 Croats, and the Army of RS will number 4000. Defence Reform Commission held its first meeting for 2004. Chief of Commission, James Loher informed that Commission must deliver a report on the progress of defence reform to NATO General Secretary by the middle of March. The second due date, which Commission must respect, ends in the middle of May, when NATO's assessement of BiH for membership in PfP commences. The meeting has concluded that the minimum amount needed for new institutions is 4.9 million BAM, but in this year budget will total 2 million. General Virgil Packett, SFOR Commander, sent a letter to the Federal Minister of Defence, Miroslav Nikolic, in which he ordered the discharge of six high ranking officers of the Army of FBiH from the professional structure. These officers left the “regular” component of the Army of FBiH voluntarily in 2001, and joined the so-called “Croatian self-rule”. Colonel Radovan Smitran, chief of the Training and Education Administration at the Headquarters of the Army of RS, informed that the August class of RS Army soldiers will be trained according to the newly adopted joint standards. Military part will be decreased due to which the training will be narrower, while the education of profesional soldiers will be complete and will meet high standards. SFOR soldiers, accompanied by soldiers of FBiH and RS Armies, conducted an operation to provide medical examinations to local inhabitants in Papraca near Sekovici. This action was conducted within the Medical Assistance Program - MEDCAP. The Secretary General of the Standing Committee on Military Matters, Enes Becirbasic announced that it would be most realistic option for BiH to send a de-mining unit to Iraq. This was accepted by BiH Presidency a few days ago. This unit would primarily work on destroying the leftover mine and explosive devices. Three RS Army officers have left for a peace mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea. They will replace RS Army captains who spent a year in the peace mission. This is the fourth replacement of military observers from BiH. There are six military observers from BiH in this peace mission. Chief of Department for Information of Joint Command of Army of FBiH, Hamza Visica, confirmed that Army of FBiH will total 8000 soldiers by the end of March. He expressed his concern that Command of Army of FBiH is not met with the ways of taking care of the over numbered soldiers who will not use the possibility of retiring in favourable conditions. There are around 2000 such soldiers. During his visit to BiH, German Minister of Defence, Peter Struck, announced that NATO will be present in BiH with the stay of American troops after SFOR's mandate and the exchange for EU troops. High Parliamentary Delegation, Ministry of Defence and the armed forces of Romania visited SKVP where a conversation was conducted on the possibility of bilateral and regional co-operation. Also, talks on perspectives for the entrance of the two countries into Euro-Atlantic integrations took place. January 2004 Politics and Security The due date for appointment of the BiH Minister of Defence, the chief of common command, as well as the chief of operative command of armed forces is February 15. This was set up by the plan of activities that Presidency of BiH supported. Parliament of FBiH adopted the information about the condition of Federal Ministry of Defense and Army of FBiH with the conclusion that the Government of FBiH presents a report on the termination of parallelism by the first half of September. Also, the Government was given a due date of 60 days to inform the Parliament about a degree of carrying out this conclusion. In addition to this, the Government accepted the conclusion that all military buildings be declared property of FBiH. International Security Institutions The Government of the United States of America decided to decrease the American military presence in BiH due to the continuing success of SFOR. Therefore the mission of 1.500 soldiers from a few American states will be reduced to approximately 800 persons from the National guard of Indiana who will arrive in March and leave September 2004. One of three priorities of the Office of the High Representative BiH in 2004 will be reform of security in BiH. In line with this the High Representative for BiH will in the next few days launch a huge campaign relating to the reform of security.Mr. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer from the Netherlands has taken over the responsibility of the general secretary NATO, at a critical time for NATO whose credibility is constantly being questioned in their exercises in Afghanistan. The possibility of active military activities in Iraq was also announced. One of the key diplomatic challenges for the Netherlands is cooperation with the EU. Strong forces from the Canadian battalion of SFOR in cooperation with members of the police blocked all entries into the area of Vrhpolje alongside Sanski Most using 10 personnel carriers. This action was taken because of the discovery and dispossession of illegal weapons from residents. The same day this action was completed. An unnamed NATO official announced that around the 15th or 16th of January the new general secretary NATO Jaap de Hoop Scheffer may visit Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. Priority of the EU Police Mission (EUPM) in BiH during this year will be to continue to carefully supervise, help and provide advice to the police and other law upholding agencies with a special focus being placed on the supervision of the members of middle and higher levels of administration. According to Alan Roberts spokesperson for the EUPM will be involved in the continuation of the reform of the police force structure, in order to establish a professional, efficient and apolitical agency to uphold the law of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Over the weekend (10-11. 01) SFOR conducted an action with the aim of searching for those accused of war crimes and their associates at Pale. The action was not announced and the house of the accused for war crimes, Radovan Karadzic, was searched where documents that reveal certain connections of Radovan Karadzic and his associates have been gathered. American troops within SFOR in BiH will keep its previous commitment of around 15% of entire foreign armed forces in BiH. This means that 800 American soldiers will be staying in MNB "North". Swen Fredericksen, commissar of European Union Police Mission, died in Sarajevo from a heart attack. Fredericksen was a member of UNPROFOR Mission in Croatia. He worked for the UN Missions in Bosnia and Albania. Brigadier general Andre Maire will succeed Fredericksen. Police in BiH The Minister of Police Zoran Djeric stated that all state and entity police institutions need to establish a united plan in relation to the arresting of war criminals. Minister Djeric believes there is a real need for increased cooperation and exchange of data, a united police plan, intelligence services ,as well as cooperation of SFOR and EUPM with local police forces on the issue of the arrest of those who are accused of war crimes. Chairman of the Council of Ministers BiH, Adnan Terzic announced that members of the FBiH Army have moved out of the “Zrak” building in Sarajevo, so now the entry of SIPA is only a technical problem. Last month the Council of Ministers allocated this building to SIPA to be used in order for this body to begin operations. Chief of police in the Brcko District Milenko Milicevic awarded and praised 99 police department workers for the results achieved, their hard work and dedication in the past year. Three police officers were rewarded financially and 96 received letters of acknowledgement. The representatives of the Ministry of Interior of Canton Sarajevo and European Union Police Mission (EUPM) signed a protocol on cooperation in regards to the realisation of planned projects “Deliquency of uderaged”, Domestic violence, People trafficking-prostitution, as well as a project of "World Vision" within which visits of police officers to educational institutions as well as lectures on problems of crime are foreseen. 15 police officers from BiH are leaving for Liberia within the UN Peace Mission. With these 15 police officers, BiH will have one of the largest contingents in the Mission in Liberia. Jacques Pol Klein, the former deputy of High Representative, is the chief of UN Mission in Liberia. The members of Ministry of Interior’s Office for Fight Against Organised Crime (UPBOK) of Serbia shut down the smuggling channel through which illegal fire arms and explosives were shipped from RS into Serbia and Monte Negro. On that occasion two BiH citizens from RS and one citizen form SCG have been arrested. BiH signed a Protocol on the Fight Against Illegal Migration, which considers smuggling of people over boarders with the aim of financial gain as a criminal act, said Kemal Kurspahic, spokesperson for the UN Organisation for Fight Against Organised Crime and Narcotics. He also said that by ratifying this Protocol, BiH is obligated to incorporate Protocol regulations into legislation. Armed Forces in BiH The Minister of Defence FBiH announced that the Ministry has created a criterion for the dismissal of soldiers and they hope that the FBiH government will shortly discuss this issue. Minister Nikolic announced that for the 3.700 dismissed soldiers from the FBiH Army and the Ministry of Defence, 10.000 KM has been provided for their severance pay. In addition 1.200 will go into retirement. For the 2.200 persons dismissed from the RS Government 6.000 KM has been provided for their severance pay. The project for the destruction of objects and leftover equipment from the former Army technical institute in Livèa near Mostar has been completed. At the same time officials announced the completion of the decontamination of the area around the Institute, which is located at the military barracks named «Miralem Jugo» of the Army of FBiH. The whole project was made possible due to 1 million dollars being provided by the US government. RS Defence minister Milan Stankovic announced that a new territorial organization of the Army of RS will be established in the first quarter of 2004. He confirmed that the number of soldiers will decrease by 4000, and that the number of employees in the Ministry of Defence will total 479. Federal Ministry of Defence and Federal Government of BiH made a list of buildings that no longer represent real estate for the army needs. According to their analysis of 226 such buildings, 45 locations have been found expendable. The Airport Zeljava, the warehouse Zunovnica and the complex at Butmir are also on the list. From 10 December 2003 until 20 January 2004, SFOR forces destroyed 268 tones of unsafe weaponry and ammunition of the RS Army. With the destruction begun on November 7, destroyed ammunition totals 446 tones. Destruction was carried out at several locations in RS, with 138 tones destroyed on the polygon in Manjaca near Banja Luka. Miroslav Nikolic, Federal Minister of Defense and colonel Drivas Constatinos, military attaché of Republic of Greece signed a programme on co-operation this year. The Programme defines the cooperation it the field of defense, that is, mutual visits of members of armed forces, participation of the members of our armed forces in courses and seminars in Greece, and visits to Greek military installations and capacities for the purpose of education.   Branilaca Sarajeva 13/1, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Tel/Fax: +387 33 223 250 E-mail: info@css.ba