FOLLOWING recent debate on the impact of IEBL technical problems affecting the BiH census, the Commanders of EUFOR ALTHEA and NATO Headquarters Sarajevo (NHQSa) wish to clarify the responsibilities of all Parties concerned with resolution of IEBL issues. The parties – namely the State of BiH, the Federation of BiH, and Republika Srpska – have specific roles and responsibilities as governed by UNSC Res 2074 (2012) and the terms of Annex 2 of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA).
Mutual consent of all the Parties should be the basis for all IEBL-related activities, and all such activities are to be conducted in strict compliance with the General Framework Agreement for Peace and the Brčko Final Award.
The Commanders note that DPA Annex 2 requires the Parties to form a joint commission to prepare an agreed technical document containing a precise description of the IEBL subject to the approval of EUFOR and NATO HQ Sarajevo. This has not yet been done.
Accordingly, the Commanders encourage and expect the Parties to meet their legal obligations under Annex 2, and to engage in a practical, direct and open dialogue in order to establish this commission and complete this task.
Hence EUFOR, while recognising there are valid administrative reasons for describing that line as precisely as possible, is not directly mandated or obliged to execute the delineation of the IEBL.
The role of COM EUFOR ALTHEA and COM NHQSa, as legal successors to IFOR/SFOR, is clear and that is to approve the conclusions of an appropriately constituted IEBL Joint Commission acting in accordance within the aforementioned mandates and legal obligations.
Chief Press Officer:
Lt Col Otmar Lindner
00387 (0)33 49 5214
00387 (0)61 131 579
Spokesperson:
Lt Cdr Gareth Jones RN
00387 (0)33 49 5216
00387 (0)61 177 943
