SARAJEVO, April 10 (Hina) - By the end of this year, Bosnia will have a single civilian command over the armed forces and a defence ministry on the state level, thus meeting the basic preconditions for the country's joining NATO's
Partnership for Peace programme, a member of the Bosnian Presidency, Dragan Covic, said Thursday.
SARAJEVO, April 10 (Hina) - By the end of this year, Bosnia will have
a single civilian command over the armed forces and a defence
ministry on the state level, thus meeting the basic preconditions
for the country's joining NATO's Partnership for Peace programme, a
member of the Bosnian Presidency, Dragan Covic, said Thursday. #L#
"We have realised that our time to mull Bosnia's future has expired.
We now face quick reforms in the defence and armed forces," said
Covic after a meeting between Bosnian top officials and a NATO
delegation headed by Secretary-General George Robertson.
Ambassadors of all member-countries of the North Atlantic Council
(NAC) accompanied Robertson on his visit to Sarajevo.
Robertson said there was not one NATO member-country which did not
want to see Bosnia join Partnership for Peace as soon as possible.
But conditions set long ago have to be met before this can happen, he
added.
The Briton reiterated that a condition was the establishment of
efficient civilian supervision over the armed forces and a unified
command.
Covic explained that the civilian command over the army would be
transferred to the three-member country's Presidency by the end of
the year.
The Croat and Muslim members of the Presidency have had command over
the Bosnian Federation's army so far as well, but in the case of the
Republika Srpska army, the entity's president was supreme
commander.
(hina) lml ms