SARAJEVO, July 16 (Hina) - The request of NATO's top officials that Bosnia-Herzegovina should as soon as possible establish a single army and ministries of defence and internal affair at the state level provoked an avalanche of
negative reactions among Bosnian Serbs, while Bosniak (Muslim) and Croat officials greeted the idea with cautious optimism. NATO Secretary-General George Robertson, during his visit to Sarajevo last week, urged members of the Bosnian Presidency to take concrete steps so that the country could soon have ministries of defence and internal affairs on the state level as well as a single army. Robertson's request came after the state leadership formally confirmed to a high NATO delegation its intention to apply for the country's admission into Partnership for Peace. The strengthening of the central bodies of authority remains a general precondition for any further rapprochement with the Europe
SARAJEVO, July 16 (Hina) - The request of NATO's top officials that
Bosnia-Herzegovina should as soon as possible establish a single
army and ministries of defence and internal affair at the state
level provoked an avalanche of negative reactions among Bosnian
Serbs, while Bosniak (Muslim) and Croat officials greeted the idea
with cautious optimism.
NATO Secretary-General George Robertson, during his visit to
Sarajevo last week, urged members of the Bosnian Presidency to take
concrete steps so that the country could soon have ministries of
defence and internal affairs on the state level as well as a single
army.
Robertson's request came after the state leadership formally
confirmed to a high NATO delegation its intention to apply for the
country's admission into Partnership for Peace.
The strengthening of the central bodies of authority remains a
general precondition for any further rapprochement with the
European Union and NATO, Robertson said adding that a single army
and the said ministries at the state level were a condition for
Sarajevo's accession into the Partnership for Peace.
A newspaper "Glas Srpski", controlled by the Mladen Ivanic cabinet
in the Bosnian Serb entity on Monday, claimed that NATO Secretary
General had made Bosnia's entry to the Alliance conditional on the
dismantling of the Republic of Srpska.
Serb member in the three-man Bosnian Presidency, Zivko Radisic,
said Bosnia's admission into the Partnership for Peace could be
brought into question now.
"Setting such conditions for the accession could slow down the
process," Radisic said adding it would further impose the
centralisation of the country.
An assistant to Bosnian Serb Defence Minister, Mikajlo Mitrovic,
said the Partnership for Peace could be accepted only "with the
respect for Bosnia's specific features which implies the respect
for the existence of the two entities and two armies."
"With the establishment of the joint army there would no more be the
Republic of Srpska and it is clear to us," Mitrovic was quoted by
another paper "Nezavisne Novine" as saying.
Officials of the Croat-Muslim Federation's defence ministry have a
quite different opinion.
"This ministry and Minister Mijo Anic give full support to ideas
expressed by Lord Robertson, and we shall do our best to materialise
it very soon," the federal defence ministry's spokesman, Antun
Mrkonjic, said.
Bosnia's Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija, who is likely to take
over soon the chairmanship of Bosnia's Council of Ministers (i.e.
the post of Premier), was a little cautious commenting on NATO's new
conditions for Bosnia.
"Th Council of Ministers has very limited powers and the fields of
defence and interior affairs are under the entities' jurisdiction,
according to the constitution. We shall definitely do what we can
and what we are asked to do," Lagumdzija said.
(hina) sb ms