Nearly ten years after its withdrawal from Bosnia, the German army will send new contingents to reinforce the European military security mission in this Balkan country, against a backdrop of Russian-Western tensions.
To discover
LIVE - Legislative 2022: follow the negotiations the day after the first round
Read alsoBosnia and Herzegovina torn apart by nationalist tensions
The German government announced on Wednesday June 15 the dispatch of a maximum of 50 soldiers until June 30, 2023 within the European force Eufor-Althea, which Berlin had left in 2012. This decision must still be approved by the parliamentarians of the Bundestag.
“
Given the internal political tensions in Bosnia-Herzegovina, a reinforced German commitment is a clear commitment in favor of a lasting stabilization
” of the country, affirmed the spokesman of the German government, Steffen Hebestreit.
The European Force in Bosnia (Eufor Althea) took over in 2004 from the NATO peacekeeping mission (SFOR), supposed to ensure the implementation of the peace resulting from the Dayton Accords of 1995. It has some 600 soldiers, who were reinforced in March by 500 soldiers, which provoked criticism from Russia, which takes a dim view of such maneuvers in this country of former Yugoslavia where general elections are scheduled for October.
The conflict in Ukraine has also had the effect of accentuating fears of new tensions in the Balkans, with the multiplication of separatist threats from the leaders of the Bosnian Serbs.
Bosnia and Serbia have joined the ranks of countries that have denounced the Russian invasion of
Read alsoBosnia and Herzegovina: the forbidden parade that fuels secessionist fantasies
Since the end of the inter-community war which killed 100,000 between 1992 and 1995, Bosnia has been divided into two entities, the RS and a Croat-Muslim federation, united by a weak central government.
Under the impetus of its political leader, Milorad Dodik, the RS launched in December a process of withdrawal from three crucial institutions of the central state - the army, the justice system and the tax authorities -, raising fears of a breakdown of the country, even a new conflict.