BH STATE BORDER SERVICE STARTS OPERATING

SARAJEVO, June 6 (Hina) - A group of 85 members of the Bosnia- Herzegovina State Border Service (DGS) on Tuesday took over supervision over the Sarajevo airport and its border crossing, thus officially inaugurating DGS' work. The inauguration at the airport was attended by senior BH officials and members of the diplomatic corps, while the start of functioning of this uniform state border control system was marked by the head of the United Nations Mission to BH, Jacques Klein. Today BH has taken resolute steps which will contribute to fortifying its state identity, and help in fighting crime and corruption and its approaching the European family of peoples, the UN official said. He pointed out DGS would function as a genuine multiethnic service whose ultimate goal is that its national composition corresponds to the 1991 BH population structure. Once DGS is fully established, the service will number 3,000 members supervising more than 240 border crossings, said Klein. According to estimates of the UN Mission and the International Police Task Force, there are 432 locations along BH's 1,655km-long border where it is possible to cross the border either legally or illegally. Only 39 border crossings are marked with the first or second category, meaning that they have permanent police and customs control. (hina) ha mm