Top Irish garda to head EU police mission in Bosnia

ASSISTANT Garda Commissioner Kevin Carty has been appointed to head up the EU’s police mission in Bosnia following the unanimous agreement of the member states in Brussels yesterday.

The Bosnia mission remains one of the most sensitive of the EU’s activities in its growing role of bringing peace and stability to war-torn areas of Europe.

The Sligo-born garda was congratulated by Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Cowen on his appointment. He replaces Swede Sven Frederiksen, who died suddenly at the end of January after just a year in the job.

Well known internationally, most recently for the role he played in investigating the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad, Mr Carty will head up a force of some 470 police from more than 30 countries, including three from Ireland.

The EU Police Mission (EUPM) was launched on January 1, 2003, taking over from the UN International Police Task Force (UNIPTF), and is scheduled to run until the end of 2005. A much scaled-down version of the UN Force, the EU mission limits itself to training and maintaining an overview of local police authorities. The mission has no executive powers and the officers are unarmed.

Some of the main problems faced by the police in Bosnia is corruption and the continuing problems of trafficking of people, especially for sexual exploitation.

Mr Carty was awarded a Scott gold medal in 1974 for his part in arresting an armed man. He has been involved in a number of major investigations in Ireland, including the controversial garda corruption case in Donegal, which led to the Morris Tribunal.

An expert in terrorist activities in Ireland, he led the Omagh bombing investigation and was involved in an operation against the IRA in the 1980s.

He was in charge of the Garda National Drugs Unit for a number of years when gardaí carried out a sting operation involving the importation of €13 million worth of cannabis abandoned in County Kilkenny.