MOSTAR, Nov 16 (Hina) - The Supreme Defence Council of Republika Srpska, the highest advisory body for military matters, on Saturday opposed the establishment of a single command structure and defence ministry in Bosnia-Herzegovina
despite the fact that a recent scandal with the sale of arms to Iraq has proven the poor organisation of the country's military system.
MOSTAR, Nov 16 (Hina) - The Supreme Defence Council of Republika
Srpska, the highest advisory body for military matters, on Saturday
opposed the establishment of a single command structure and defence
ministry in Bosnia-Herzegovina despite the fact that a recent
scandal with the sale of arms to Iraq has proven the poor
organisation of the country's military system. #L#
NATO Secretary-General George Robertson last week repeated that
Bosnia would not be able to join NATO and its Partnership for Peace
programme without a joint army and a defence ministry on the state
level.
"The scandal with the air force institute "Orao" cannot be the
reason for such important and unforeseeable decisions which change
the constitutional structure of Bosnia-Herzegovina," reads a
statement the Supreme Defence Council issued after a session.
Civil control and management of entity armies is possible only
through the country's Permanent Committee for Military Affairs,
the statement said.
The Council admitted that some officers from the Bosnian Serb
entity's army main staff "have acted on their own in direct
transactions with a client from Iraq".
The first results of a probe into the "Orao" scandal will be
presented by the end of next week, the statement said.
(hina) rml