EU takes over Bosnia peacekeeping
(CNN) -- The European Union has formally taken over peacekeeping duties in Bosnia and Herzegovina, replacing NATO's Stabilization Force.
A new force called EUFOR that numbers about 7,000 troops will enforce the Dayton peace agreement that ended the bloody Bosnian war in 1995.
The change from NATO to EU on Thursday begins nearly nine years after NATO deployed 60,000 forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in what was the alliance's first peacekeeping operation.
British Maj. Gen. David Leakey, the EUFOR commander, said the situation in Bosnia remained "volatile" despite the fact that the environment had stabilized and the number of peacekeepers in the area had declined greatly.
"There are the ingredients which could cause inter-ethnic tensions and so there needs to be a military force here to deter anybody from resurrecting the war," he said.
"My job here with EUFOR is to make sure that we never, never again have a war in Bosnia."
Leakey is taking over from U.S. Brig. Gen. Steven Schook, the last commander of the NATO-led mission, but the alliance will continue its presence in Bosnia through a NATO headquarters in Sarajevo.
The takeover ceremony in Sarajevo was 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.
During their time in Bosnia NATO peacekeepers seized 28 people indicted for war crimes by The Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
However, they failed to catch the most wanted war crimes suspects, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his army commander General Ratko Mladic.
NATO's failure to arrest the two was often strongly criticized by the ICTY.
About 150 NATO troops will stay to help EUFOR capture war-crimes suspects and help the government build its military force.
NATO leaders, meeting this summer in Istanbul, agreed to end the operation because of the "improved security situation in the country."
The U.N. Security Council has unanimously authorized the establishment of the force.
