The United Nations Security Council has renewed for an additional year the mandate of the European peacekeeping force in Bosnia.
Renewal through November 20th, 2006, came in a resolution adopted unanimously by the 15-nation council on the 10th anniversary of the Dayton accords ending the war in Bosnia.
Nearly 7,000 European Union troops took over peacekeeping duties in Bosnia from a Nato-led force last December.
The resolution aims to ensure the continuity of the peace process and of "the generally positive developments" in the region, said Russian ambassador Andrei Denisov, the council president for November.
The 1992-1995 war in Bosnia killed as many as 200,000 Muslims, Serbs and Croats and gave rise to the term "ethnic cleansing."
EU ministers have hailed progress made by Bosnia since the end of the war and said that progress on boosting its EU ties would depend on the speed of reforms and efforts to hand over key war crimes suspects Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic.
The resolution reaffirmed the council's commitment to the terms of the Dayton accords and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries in the region.
It also reaffirmed the council's readiness to consider imposing measures such as sanctions "if any party fails significantly to meet its obligations under the peace agreement".