EU takes over Bosnia peacekeeping

The European Union begins its biggest-ever military operation today, when it formally takes over Nato’s peacekeeping mission in Bosnia with 7,000 troops.

The operation is a major step in the EU’s drive to develop a military arm, which was launched in the wake of the bloc’s failure to halt the war that tore Bosnia apart in the early 1990s.

The takeover ceremony will be attended by dignitaries including the Bosnian three-member presidency, Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and the Secretary General of the Council of the European Union, Javier Solana.

The security situation in Bosnia has improved over the years, allowing NATO to decrease the number of peacekeepers from more than 60,000 in late 1995 to the current 7,000.

Dubbed EUFOR, the EU peacekeeping force will continue to enforce the US-brokered peace agreement which ended the 1992-95 Bosnian war among the country’s Serbs, Muslims and Croats.

Some 260,000 people were killed and 1.8 million became refugees in the fighting.

As part of the transition, more than 1,000 US troops serving in the Balkan country will be replaced by EU personnel.