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Secretary General visits
Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Kosovo
The new NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, traveled to
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo on 15 and 16 January to meet with NATO-led
peacekeepers and local officials.
This was the first foreign trip by the new Secretary General, two
weeks into his term of office. The NATO-led missions in Bosnia and
Kosovo are NATO’s two largest peacekeeping operations, and the
visit reflected the Alliance’s continuing commitment to the Balkans.
The visit began in Sarajevo, where Mr. de Hoop Scheffer met with the
commanders and troops of the NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR), the
High Representative of the international community and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s
defence authorities. The Secretary General also assisted in the destruction
of illegal arms and munitions confiscated by SFOR at the Zenica smelting
plant.
Mr. de Hoop Scheffer praised the country’s leadership for the
recent adoption of a law creating a unified army and defence ministry
for
the country. He said that the implementation of this law and the arrest
of indicted war criminals remained the two main preconditions for Bosnia
joining NATO’s partnership programme.
In light of the improving security situation in the country, NATO
will reduce the peacekeeping force in Bosnia to approximately 7,500
by June this year. The Alliance is also examining options for a possible
termination of the mission and handover to the EU by the end of this
year.
The Secretary General then traveled on to Pristina, for talks with
the commander and troops of the NATO-led Kosovo peacekeeping force
(KFOR) as well as the province’s leaders. Mr. de Hoop Scheffer
said that no considerable changes or downsizing of the peacekeeping
force
were planned.
The Secretary General subsequently met with the UN Special Representative,
Harri Holkeri, and his team.
He also visited the town of Obilic, where Serb
refugees have been able to return, but which saw the tragic shooting
of Serb teenagers last year. Speaking there, he called on the people
of Kosovo to work together to build democracy and to allow
refugees to return. Any discussion of Kosovo’s final status
depended on progress in the implementation of the standards set out by
the United Nations, he stressed.
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