Leavenworth Strategist

EU Alters Balkan Course With New Support Package

06.03.2008 (Deutsche Welle)

Bosnia Herzegovina has been under the guidance of the international community for over 12 years. Now it seems that the EU is setting a new course in its dealing with the divided country.

Brussels' new path is evident in two recent decisions. At the end of February, the European Union, the United States and Russia decided to leave their high representatives to Bosnia-Herzegovina in the country indefinitely. Originally, the plan had been to pull them out in 2008 and let the country become a sovereign state, but according to Brussels, it's much too early for that step.

The second path-setter, announced on Wednesday, March 5, came in the form of a catalogue of new initiatives intended to promote civil society and enhance economic and social development in all seven of the Balkan countries.

Bosnian envoy rejects Serb claim of right to secede

By Maja Zuvela

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Bosnia's international peace envoy on Wednesday dismissed a demand by Bosnian Serbs for the right to secede, on the grounds that if Kosovo can have independence so should they.

Milorad Dodik, Prime Minister of the autonomous Serb Republic, told reporters late on Tuesday that his region wanted to see "the right to self-determination and secession" incorporated into the Bosnian constitution, currently being debated by the country's ethnic Serbs, Croats and Muslims.

Miroslav Lajcak, the Slovak diplomat overseeing the implementation of the peace accords that ended the 1992-95 war between Bosnia's three main ethnic groups, immediately slammed the proposal.

(Bosnian) Security: Fears of a Kosovo effect

By Christian Jennings (Financial Times)

Published: December 11 2007

Hans-Jochen Witthauer, the German Rear-Admiral who until this month commanded the European Union’s peacekeeping mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina, does not share the view that violence will return to the country.

Such fears of renewed conflict, however ill-informed or unfounded, reached their highest intensity a few weeks ago.

The multinational force of 2,500 troops under EU command, known as EUFor, keeps watch over the ethnically-divided state from Camp Butmir. The base, on the outskirts of Sarajevo, straddles the boundary between the two entities recognised under the 1995 Dayton peace treaty.

The current force is the successor to some 60,000 Nato-led troops around the country immediately following the war. The sharp reduction in troop numbers is a sign of success in the 12 years of peace, Rear-Admiral Witthauer says.

The German naval officer is not alone in this confidence. Milorad Dodik, prime minister of the Serb-dominated entity, Republika Srpska, when asked whether there would be another war, says simply “no”.

Germany Hands Bosnian Peacekeeping Reins to Spain

05.12.2007 (Deutsche Welle)

Germany handed command of the EU peacekeeping mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina over to Spain. The EU will maintain its involvement in the region as long as necessary, said top officials.

In an official ceremony on Tuesday, Dec. 4, German Rear Admiral Hans-Jochen Witthauer, head of the EUFOR mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina since December 2006, passed the baton to Major General Ignacio Martin Villalain of Spain.

Back to the Brink In the Balkans

Washington Post
By Richard Holbrooke
Sunday, November 25, 2007; B07

At a most inopportune time, the Balkans are back. On Dec. 10, the U.S.-E.U.-Russian negotiating team tasked with getting the Serbs and Albanians to agree on Kosovo's future status will report to the United Nations that it has failed. A few weeks later Kosovo's government will proclaim that Kosovo is an independent nation -- a long overdue event.

The United States and most of the European Union (led by Britain, France and Germany) will recognize Kosovo quickly. Russia and its allies will not. Kosovo's eight-year run as the biggest-ever U.N. project will end with great tension and a threat of violence that could spread to Bosnia.

UN extends EUFOR

21 November 2007 – The Security Council today extended for another year the mandate of the European Union Stabilization Force (EUFOR) tasked with ensuring continued compliance with the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement ending the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The European Union has assumed responsibility for the peacekeeping operation since 2004 when it took over from the NATO-led stabilization force (SFOR).

As it unanimously adopted resolution 1785, the Council also authorized the continued presence of a NATO headquarters through which the bloc assists in the implementation of the Dayton Agreement in conjunction with EUFOR.

In addition, the 15-member body authorized Member States to take all measures to defend the EUFOR and NATO presence and to assist both organizations in carrying out their missions. It also recognized the right of both EUFOR and the NATO presence to defend themselves from attack or threat of attack.

Also by the text, the Council reiterated that “the primary responsibility for the further successful implementation of the Peace Agreement lies with the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina themselves,” and underlined the need for their full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), including the surrender for trial or apprehension of all persons indicted by the court.