ASHDOWN REITERATES BOSNIAN ENTITY DEFENCE MINISTRIES FACE ABOLITION - PAPER
BBC Monitoring International Reports - January 15, 2005

Excerpt from report by Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA

Sarajevo, 15 January: High Representative of the International Community in Bosnia-Hercegovina Paddy Ashdown has reiterated that according to his decisions the entities' interior ministries and the (Bosnian) Serb Republic (RS) and Bosnian Federation armies do not have to be abolished.

"Once the parliaments approved for the army to come within the competence of the state, the entity ministries then became redundant. Moreover, the existence of entity defence ministries confuses the lines of command," Ashdown said in an interview for today's edition of Sarajevo-based (daily) Oslobodjenje.

He added that the "confused lines of command" will be eliminated with the abolishment of the entity defence ministries, in response to "the unconstitutional behaviour of the RS Army which allowed (Hague fugitive) Ratko Mladic to stay in Han Pijesak".

Ashdown said that the entities' defence ministries have at any rate to be abolished by the second phase of the reforms, prior to full NATO membership. (Passage omitted)

He added that the defence reform commission could decide immediately to abolish the entity armies, but that he was not requesting this.

In reply to questions about the idea of demilitarizing Bosnia-Hercegovina, Ashdown reiterated that this was something for the representatives of the three (constituent) peoples to reach agreement on, adding that demilitarization was not a condition for Partnership for Peace and NATO entry.

Discussing police reforms, Ashdown underlined that the entity interior ministries do not have to be abolished, although the police forces have to be put under state control.

"If they want, the entities could retain the interior ministries in order to organize the firefighting service or civil defence, but they cannot control the police," Ashdown explained. (Passage omitted)

Commenting on the appointment of Pero Bukejlovic as RS prime minister designate, Ashdown said that this was done by the local authorities without his interference, and that it was not important whether he approved of the government or not, but whether it was prepared to continue the reform process. (Passage omitted)

Source: SRNA news agency, Bijeljina, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 1021 gmt 15 Jan 05

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