EU troops strive to pass Bosnia test

Date: 31/03/05

The events of 1995 marked one of the darkest hours of EU foreign policy. The tragedy occurred on the watch of Dutch UN peacekeepers and the peace accords that followed were drafted not in Brussels, but in Dayton, Ohio.

Ten years on the EU is being put to the test once again in Bosnia. Its peacekeeping force now operating in the country, EUFOR, is the biggest contingent ever deployed under an EU flag.

NATO handed over the peacekeeping mission to EUFOR on 2 December last year. Three months into the job, the prognosis is looking good.

US General Steve Schook, who commands the few hundred NATO troops left in Bosnia, praised the transition as seamless.

"There wasn't a beat missed," he said. "It has been more successful than any of us ever dreamed about."

Twenty-two member states are taking part in the force, with Denmark, Cyprus and Malta sitting out the operation. Troops from Chile, Morocco and New Zealand are lending a hand.

But although 80% of the force simply swapped their NATO badges for the EU insignia last December, EUFOR still has to work to win the confidence of the Bosnian Muslim, or 'Bosniak', population.

The legacy of Srebrenica has left the Bosniaks wary of Europe's role in the region. Many still trust the Americans and NATO as their most reliable protector.

Washington has also struggled with its own lingering doubts over losing influence in the region if NATO is sidelined.

"We are aware that this is a test for the EU," said a senior European official based in Sarajevo.

"For Bosnia Herzegovina it is absolutely crucial, if we are saying Bosnia has a future in Europe, but it is based on mistrust, then that is a huge problem," he said.

The task of reassuring both the Americans and the Bosniaks has fallen to a British general, David Leakey, seen as a good candidate because of his record with the NATO force.

Leakey said one of the most important jobs of the peacekeepers was to be a reassuring presence for the population.

While there is no appetite for conflict, fear remains that if the troops left, violence could erupt again, he said.

"There are volatile, explosive ingredients. The question is, is there a fuse that makes it go off?"

Crucial to the reassurance role are the Liaison Observation Teams. Planted strategically in towns and villages, groups of 10-12 troops live with the local community for six months at a time. They act as a 'thermometer', to pick up signals of any brewing conflicts. In practice, this means playing football with local teenagers, or sipping coffee in the village café.

As well as keeping the peace, EUFOR, together with EU Special Representative Paddy Ashdown, have the wider aim to propel Bosnia towards EU membership as soon as possible.

Bosnia is suffering from donor fatigue and it still remains unattractive to investors because its EU prospects are not yet within grasp. "Bosnia has come from Dayton and now it needs to be on the road to Brussels," said General Leakey.

Bosnian Defence Minister Nikola Radovanovich said the government's stated aim is to enter the EU by 2009. Few believe this date to be plausible. But it is seen as an important catalyst to restore the rule of law. "It sets the standards for real deep change," said Radovanovich. European diplomats in Sarajevo say that the EU has raised its game to resolve the region's problems.

"There is a more integrated EU structure than ever before. In a quiet way this is demonstrating that Europe is taking its responsibility seriously," said one official.

As well as assisting NATO in tracking down Bosnia's indicted war criminals, EUFOR and its sister EU police mission, EUPM, have turned their attention to rooting out the cancer of organised crime that is crippling the country's economy.

Fuel smuggling alone deprives government of millions of euros a year. Road blocks and sting operations by EU forces are helping to cut the illegal trafficking.

Paddy Ashdown, as special representative for both the EU and UN, is pushing through reform in government institutions, where endemic corruption and vested political interests are still a major block to progress.

Around 65% of taxes are eaten up by a bloated government bureaucracy that maintains around 400 ministers while official unemployment is soaring at 45%.

For the Bosnian government, the carrot of EU membership is a powerful factor to spur it into action. For Radovanovic, the goal is to survive without foreign troops by 2007. "We can't be a credible EU candidate and have an EU military presence at the same time," he said.

• Nicola Smith is a freelance journalist based in Brussels.

Analysis feature on the EUFOR peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which NATO had handed over to EU troops on 2 December 2004, and the perspective of the country on future EU membership.