E.U. Takes Over for U.N. in Bosnia
January 3, 2003
Earlier this week, a policewoman hoisted the E.U. flag alongside those of Bosnia and the United Nations outside police headquarters in Bosnia, marking the start of an operation which is seen as a litmus test for the E.U.'s common defense and security policy.
About 512 police officers -- 422 from E.U. member states and 90 from other countries including Russia and Canada -- will be taking part in the E.U. police mission (EUPM), which is the first E.U. security operation in a foreign country. They replace the United Nations' blue helmut soldiers and will serve their mandate through 2005.
Speaking at the opening ceremony on Wednesday, Danish Commissioner Sven Fredriksen, who is leading the police mission, said, "This underlines how the rule of law is central to the E.U. There can be no mistake, only the rule of law will place Bosnia firmly on the road to Europe."
The U.N. hands over the reins
The E.U. is taking over the policing mission from the United Nations International Police Task Force, which has carried out several major policing reforms since it started its mission in Bosnia back in 1996.
The new force will oversee around 16,000 police officers in Bosnia's two autonomous regions -- the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Serb Republic -- plus the state border service and the newly created Security Ministry and Information Agency.
Like its U.N. predecessor, the EUPM will work alongside the NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR), which has around 15,000 troops in Bosnia.
The ghosts of Srebrenica
According to one EUPM official, "This is a big test case for the E.U.'s Security and Defense Policy and whether it can work or not."
"Their mission is to succeed and the Union cannot allow it to fail," he told Reuters. Pressure is high not least due to the shadow which still cast over the U.N. mission in Bosnia from the Srebenica killings (photo), which cost the lives of some 8,000 Bosnian Muslims. The U.N. security force failed to stop the massacre -- even as it occured under its watch.
Memories of the tragedy are still fresh as bodies of the victims are still being dug up to this day, many of which have not been identified. And the men suspected of orchestrating the killings, Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic, who evaded capture by the U.N. Tribunal in The Hague, are believed to be hiding in Bosnia.
Stability beyond the EU's borders
With the EUPM, the E.U. is taking on a far greater share of responsibility for a region which may not officially belong to Europe but is not less important for stability within European Union borders. In a country which is still struggling to rebuild itself after the wreckage and devastation of the 1992-95 war, one of the force's main tasks will be to combat organized crime and human trafficking.
"With the E.U.'s eastward enlargement, Bosnia and the Balkans will be the staging post where we want to fight crime and prevent it from spreading to the rest of Europe," an EUPM official told Reuters.