FEDERATION MEETING
Decisions
On 6 June, President Izetbegovic, President Zubak, President Soljic and Prime Minister Bicakcic met in Sarajevo with the leadership of the Herzegovina -Neretva Canton and of the City of Mostar to discuss the establishment of the integrated Canton police as well as the amendments to the Constitution of the Hercegovina-Neretva Canton regarding Mostar. The meeting was chaired by the Principal Deputy High Representative, Ambassador Michael Steiner. Foreign Minister Granic of the Republic of Croatia also attended. The Commander of SFOR, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the UN, the Deputy Police Commissioner and the Head of OHR South were also participating.The participants took the following decisions:
- Effective as of 16 June, the establishment of the integrated cantonal police of the Hercegovina-Neretva Canton will start in accordance with written instructions of UN IPTF and be completed by 5 July. UN IPTF will certify the fulfilment.
- As soon as UN IPTF certifies that the new integrated cantonal police of the Hercegovina-Neretva Canton has been fully established, OHR, UN IPTF, and SFOR will regard this police in its new uniforms as the only legal force to exercise police and law enforcement functions throughout the whole Hercegovina-Neretva Canton. After this UN IPTF certification, any other police force including police force in old uniform will be regarded as illegal.
- The headquarters of the cantonal police of the Hercegovina-Neretva Canton will be temporarily in the former Unified Police Force (UPFM) building in the Central Zone of Mostar. The Minister of Interior of the Hercegovina-Neretva Canton, his Deputy, Chief of the uniformed police, and appropriate headquarters staff will move their offices to this building.
Until the Assembly of the Hercegovina-Neretva Canton adopts the cantonal symbols, the following arrangements concerning the uniform and the cap shall be applied:
The only identifying insignia will be the IPTF Identification Card to be displayed on the left breast pocket of the outer garment and a metal plate bearing the words:
“Federation of BiH” (first line), “Hercegovina-Neretva Canton” (second line) and “Police” (third line) on the right breast pocket. - By 14 June, the Constitution of the Sarajevo Canton and the Constitution of the Hercegovina-Neretva Canton will be amended in parallel by the Assemblies of the two Cantons as agreed. The text for the amendments of the constitution of the Sarajevo Canton is as agreed in the Sarajevo Agreement of 27 March; the text for the amendments of the constitution of the Hercegovina-Neretva Canton is attached.