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Top envoy urges Bosnians to adopt police reform

03 August 2007, 13:28 CET

(BANJA LUKA) - The international community's top envoy to Bosnia urged local leaders on Thursday to reach an agreement on police reform, a key condition set by the EU, by September.

"There will always be different opinions which are in the area of politics... but we should reach an agreement by the end of September in any case," Miroslav Lajcak told Nezavisne Novine daily in an interview.

The reunification of Bosnia's ethnically divided police forces is the main reform required by Brussels to sign the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), the first step towards integration into the European Union.

"We should have a unified chain of command, a state-level budget and a police which would not be influenced by politics," Lajcak added.

The Balkan country completed a final round of SAA talks in December last year, but was asked by Brussels to finalise the police reforms before being allowed to sign it.

Serb leaders who generally oppose strengthening of central institutions insist on retaining control of police in Republika Srpska, which along with the Muslim-Croat Federation makes up Bosnia after the 1992-95 war.

At the same time, Croat and Muslim leaders want the forces to be unified and put under the authority of the state.


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