General Sir Richard Shirreff, the operational commander for Althea EUFOR and the Deputy of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, will stay in BiH from 11-13 February.
On the eve of his arrival to our country, General Shirreff recalled the achievements in BiH from 2005 to this day when BiH politicians agreed to and adopted the Law on Defense of BiH. His remarks can be found on the EUFOR website and in various BiH media.
According to General Shirreff, since the adoption of the Law on Defense, BiH has made considerable strides in its efforts to implement reform in the defense sector.
“The Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina is today an excellent example of how a country can move from the end of conflict and strife to a situation where it possesses modern armed forces, under civilian control and oversight, which have the capacity and skill to deploy and positively contribute to international missions overseas. Such remarkable progress has turned Bosnia and Herzegovina from a security consumer to a security provider”, said Shirreff.
Despite the achievements, General Shirreff also spoke of problems that are hindering the full implementation of defense reform, and which prevent EUFOR from providing further assistance to the BiH Armed Forces. There is 17,000 tons of surplus ammunition in BiH. This means that a disproportionate amount of resources is needed to monitor the stockpiles. General Shirreff considers this a waste of skills and productivity.
Thus, he urges the international community to be prepared to provide assistance to BiH in its ongoing efforts to accelerate the rate of the disposal of surplus weapons.
He notes that one of the main reasons why he will visit BiH is to ‘’engage with national and international partners to form an alliance of stakeholders who are committed to increasing the rate of progress of weapons and ammunition disposal”. Further, he urges that progress is possible if there is close cooperation of local and international stakeholders and if an action plan is quickly agreed upon.
