BOSNIA: The EU's first foreign police mission officially has begun operations, taking over on New Year's Day from the United Nations the task of training and supervising Bosnia's police.
The new EU police mission comprises 512 police officers, 422 provided by EU member-states and 90 from other countries, including Russia. They will be backed up by 50 civilian experts and 300 local staff.
The deployment is the first such mission under the EU's European Security and Defence Policy, agreed under the Nice Treaty. "It is a new dimension of the engagement that the European Union already has in Bosnia and Herzegovina," said Mr Sven Frederiksen, the mission's commissioner, at an inaugural ceremony in Sarajevo, where it will be based. "The rule of law is absolutely central to the EU . . . only the rule of law will place Bosnia-Herzegovina firmly on the road to Europe."
The EU's decision to take over the police mission in Bosnia was a signal "of the seriousness with which Brussels takes its responsibilities in Bosnia", an analyst said yesterday. It will operate until 2005 at a projected cost of €38 million a year. - (AFP)