EUFOR TO STAY IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 29,2008) - The German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung said in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo yesterday that the EU's peacekeeping mission in Bosnia (EUFOR) should remain in place.

"There is a link between the OHR (the Office of the International Community's High Representative in Bosnia) and EUFOR," Jung told reporters.

"One cannot say that the task of EUFOR is achieved until the one of OHR is completed," he said after meeting with members of the Bosnian State Presidency.

Earlier this month EU defence ministers backed a plan to phase out the bloc's peacekeeping operation in Bosnia but set no date for doing so. EUFOR currently has 2,100 troops deployed in the country.

The High Representative is supervising civil aspects of the 1995 peace agreement that ended the 1992-1995 Serbian,Montenegrin and Croatian aggressions against Bosnia.

The post was due to be phased out in 2007 and replaced with an EU representative.

However, the mandate was extended for an unspecified period because of political instability and the failure of politicians in Bosnia to pass reforms required by Brussels.
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