NEW YORK, July 13 (Hina) - The UN Security Council on Friday extended the mandate of the UN Mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina (UNMBIH) until the end of this year.
NEW YORK, July 13 (Hina) - The UN Security Council on Friday
extended the mandate of the UN Mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina
(UNMBIH) until the end of this year. #L#
According to a previous political decision by the Peace
Implementation Council (PIC), after this deadline, the UNMBIH's
tasks will be taken over by a European Union mission.
The last important task of the UNMBIH regards an election to be held
in October. For the first times since the signing of the Dayton
peace agreement, members of the joint state presidency and the
state and entity parliaments will be elected for a period of four
years. The October elections are the first since the end of the war
to be fully organised by local bodies of authority, while
international representatives will monitor the process.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a report to the Security
Council that the international community had to remain involved in
the implementation of the Dayton agreement, otherwise internal and
regional consequences would very probably force the world to renew
its engagement at a higher cost.
The UN Mission to Bosnia was established in December 1995. It now
includes 1,536 members of the civil police (UNCIVPOL), three
liaison officers, and 330 international civil officers, including
some 40 US citizens.
Apart from the Mission, also active in the country are NATO-led
international stabilisation forces (SFOR), which operate in line
with a decision by the Security Council, but are not UN peace
forces. The SFOR numbers around 18,000 members, including more than
2,000 US troops.
(hina) rml