Annan: U.N. Mission in Bosnia Hampered by Crime, Political Obstruction

AP via TBO ^ | 12/6/02 | Priscilla Cheung

[Jean S]

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Corruption, organized crime and political obstruction remain serious problems in Bosnia as the U.N. mission charged with reforming the country's police prepares to wrap up its work, a U.N. report released Friday said.

In a report to the Security Council, Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Bosnia to speed up "judicial and legal reform" and hand war crimes suspects over to the U.N. tribunal as the country continues to rebuild after the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.

"Key challenges lie ahead, most importantly the full establishment of the rule of law," Annan wrote. "Until local authorities hand over war crimes suspects ... and those local courts ... begin to arrest, indict and prosecute war crime suspects to the full extent of the law, reconciliation and stability cannot be achieved."

Two key wartime figures who have been indicted for war crimes, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military chief Ratko Mladic, remain at large.

The Security Council will meet Thursday to discuss Annan's report, his last before the mission wraps up its work Dec. 31.

The U.N. Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, or UNMIBH, which was responsible for turning the country's 44,000-strong wartime militia into a 16,000-strong professional, multiethnic police force, will hand over its work to the European Union Police Mission.

Annan said the mission has helped raised the professional skills of the police to internationally accepted standards.

"Bosnia and Herzegovina now has all the mechanisms and institutions to participate fully in the regional and international fight against organized crime and terrorism," he wrote.

A major accomplishment, Annan said, was the diversification of the police force.

"The presence of multiethnic police has underpinned and encouraged an increasing number of minority returnees," the report said.

The number and intensity of ethnically related incidents also has decreased.

Bosnia was divided into two mini-states - the Serb republic and the Muslim-Croat federation - at the end of the war.

Each mini-state has its own parliament and government, but they are linked through a set of joint and multiethnic institutions like presidency and parliament.

Annan warned that the government and international community must ensure enough funding for the postwar law enforcement institutions.

AP-ES-12-06-02 2130EST

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