The Supervisor invited RS Prime Minister Klickovic to his office on December 16th to discuss the implementation of the three Supervisory Orders on Multi-ethnic Administration, Judiciary, and Police in the RS Municipality of Brcko. The Prime Minister informed the Supervisor that each of the orders would be implemented to meet the stipulated timelines.
The Prime Minister, however, said that the RS Government requested that the plan to bring 25 RS Border Police under the control of the Brcko local Police force be reviewed. The Prime Minister said that the Border Police traditionally reported directly through their own integral chain of command to the Ministry of the Interior in order to keep the borders under a single specified command.
It was agreed at that meeting that the police on the staff of the Public Security Centre would relocate from Brcko by December 31, 1997. The PSC Chief of Staff and two deputies (one Serb, one Bosniac), plus a small administrative staff, would remain in Brcko.
Two hours later, the Supervisor personally informed the Prime Minister that, upon further review, it would be acceptable if the Border Police unit in Brcko reported directly to the appropriate Ministry, rather than through the Brcko Police Chief. The Supervisor reiterated, however that the Border Police would fall under the 230-person limit for the Police force and would be multi-ethnicised. The Prime Minister accepted the Supervisor’s offer.
Late in the evening of December 16, the RS Chief of Police in Brcko, Teodor Gavric, and his two deputies, Mirsad Haseljic (Bosniac) and Pero Androsevic (Croat), agreed in the presence of UN/IPTF Commander Don Grady on a staffing plan for the Brcko Police Force. This agreement met the Supervisor’s extended deadline of 23.59p.m., December 16. The Supervisor, therefore, accepts the police staffing plan as agreed by all parties on December 16.
On December 17, Mr Slavko Paleksic sent a letter to the Supervisor and to UN/IPTF Commissioner Seitner in Sarajevo which called into question the criteria which had been mutually agreed upon by the Brcko police chief, his deputies and UN/IPTF officials for the selection of police personnel in the RS portion of the Brcko municipality.
The Supervisor notes that the police representatives of all three ethnic groups participated in the multi-ethnic police planning process for the past month. The criteria and methodology for the police selection process were formulated and agreed upon by all three parties.
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