Bosnia considers sending troops to Iraq

Bosnia aims to form a working group this week to look at Bosnian peacekeeping troops to Iraq, a top military official said.

Bosnia's tripartite presidency has offered to send a military unit to Iraq and to build military bases in the Balkan country to assure the US presence in the country still recovering from the 1992-5 war.

"The presidency wants to send positive signals to the Euro-Atlantic associations Bosnia wants to join and to fulfil a defence policy provision on deploying troops in peacekeeping missions," said Enes Becirbasic of the top state military body.

Some 12,000 Nato-led peacekeepers are stationed in the Balkan country, which aspires to join the Nato Partnership for Peace Programme next year.

Becirbasic told Reuters in an interview that Bosnia formed last year a transportation unit with some 60 soldiers trained to be deployed in peacekeeping missions but the unit should be accompanied with a combat unit for the Iraqi deployment.

Bosnia has three ethnic armies - with the Muslim and Croat ones nominally integrated - which should soon get a single state level command. It was not clear what would be an ethnic composition of a peacekeeping unit for Iraq.

The presidency has asked the Standing Committee for Military Matters (SCMM) to form an inter-disciplinary group comprising officials from the relevant ministries and regional armies to analyse obstacles, said Mr Becirbasic, the SCMM secretary general.

"I believe that a working group could be formed next week and start with activities fairly soon," Mr Becirbasic said at the weekend. "In this way we would have in one place all relevant representatives who can help create the most comprehensive proposal."

He said legal experts should state if the decision on the troops' deployment should be based on a law, which is lacking, and that a financial scheme should be worked out even though the US government has promised to cover most of costs.

The inter-ethnic presidency, which has authorised the deployment of Bosnian military observers in missions in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Congo, is the final authority to decide on the deployment of troops abroad.

But the announcement that Bosnian troops may be sent to Iraq where there are daily casualties, has faced strong criticism from opposition parties and analysts, who say it would be too dangerous and costly for the impoverished country.

"The situation with Iraq is different and that's why such a great interest of public," Mr Becirbasic said, adding that the previous decisions to send military officials to other countries had never been criticised.