EUFOR or European Union Force is the current international military force in Bosnia and Herzegovina that oversees the implementation of the Dayton Agreement. It replaced the NATO-led SFOR on the 2nd of December 2004.
EUFOR has around 7,000 personnel from 33 countries. They mostly come from the countries of European Union, which is the main organizer and controls the whole operation (codenamed Althea). There are additional troops from other European countries and also some from Canada and elsewhere. This is the biggest purely European military operation to the day (2004).
EUFOR's commander is currently the British Major-General David Leakey. The forces are subordinate to the EU via a strategic level headquarters established at NATO's Headquarters Allied Command Operations, under the deputy to theSupreme Allied Commander, British General Sir John Reith . Although both of these officers are British, they operate in an international capacity on behalf of the EU.
The EUFOR will assume all the missions of the SFOR, but the chase for war criminals, notably Radovan Karadzic, former leader of the Bosnian Serbs, and Ratko Mladic, their former military leader, will be a mission for both the EU and NATO.
The EUFOR will also have police duties (The Times) against organised crime, which is believed to be linked to war criminals. The EUFOR will collaborate with the European Union Police Mission in Bosnia (EUPM) and with the Bosnian police.
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Last updated: 08-05-2005 17:43:57
