The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, met with theUnited Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, in London today.
The High Representative briefed the Foreign Minister on the progress that Bosnia and Herzegovina has made in fulfilling the sixteen requirements of the European Commission’s Feasibility Study. Noting that the EC Commissioner for Enlargement had written today to BiH Prime Minister Adnan Terzic outlining the areas that still require substantial achievements, the HR said that police reform remains one of the remaining key reforms required by the EU for BiH to begin negotiations on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement.
The High Representative noted that Commissioner Rehn clearly states in his letter that before the Consultative Task Force meeting in May, BiH State and Entity Parliaments “should have reached consensus and agreed a clear plan for the implementation of police reform in line with the Police Restructuring Commission’s basic principals.” The High Representative said he expects BiH’s political parties to complete formal negotiations on the text of a Parliamentary agreement by the end of April.
Noting the transfer to the Hague of seven indicted war criminals during the past three months the High Representative said, “the nine year old policy of obstruction in the RS is giving way to a constructive engagement with the ICTY”. The High Representative welcomed this as a step forward in a process which must result in every person indicted for war crimes by the ICTY being extradited to the Hague . “This process can not be complete until Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic are in The Hague ,” the High Representative said adding that “for Ratko Mladic this ought to become an issue of honour; his subordinates are prepared to answer for their actions before the Courts, yet he continues to evade justice”.
The High Representative pointed out that in the year that marks the tenth anniversary of the Srebrenica Massacre and the Dayton Peace Agreement”the pressure for the extradition of these two individuals will only continue to grow with each passing day that they remain at large”.