Successful implementation of Article II Agreement in Bosnia and Herzegovina

VIENNA, 22 February 2001 - Since the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords five years ago, the Confidence- and Security Building Measures (CSBMs) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) are continuing to be successfully implemented. This was one of the main conclusions drawn at the end of the "Third Review Conference on the Implementation of the Article II Agreement", which took place from 19 to 21 February in Vienna.

"The success of both this Review Conference and the Article II implementation is due to the engagement of the Parties to the Agreement - to their goodwill and their conviction that the implementation process of the CSBMs will constitute the basis to build stability in the country", said General Carlo Jean, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office.

The Joint Consultative Commission that manages the Agreement succeeded in overcoming some political turbulence in BiH and in the region. "Its members deserve all our consideration for their dedication and professionalism", he added.

The Parties to the Agreement are Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the two "Entities", the BiH Federation and Republika Srpska. To put the Article II provisions into practice on the ground, General Jean has initiated educational courses and training programmes on subjects such as Democratic Control of Armed Forces, Code of Conduct and auditing Defence Budgets.

The Article II Agreement, also known as the Vienna Agreement, was signed in the Austrian capital on 26 January 1996, under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Its main purpose is to create confidence and co-operation between its signatories. The Agreement provides for a comprehensive set of measures to enhance mutual confidence and reduce the risk of conflict. One of its components is the exchange of military information and follow-on notifications of any change. The OSCE provides experts who assist the Parties with their inspections within the regime.

"We have developed some sort of co-operative security measures - for example in the field of natural disaster, military doctrine, and medical co-operation between the Entities' forces' medical services. We have also developed a network of security studies in the BiH universities", General Jean said.

The Parties to the Agreement have adopted two protocols, an 'Aerial Observation Protocol' and a 'Visits to Weapons Manufacturing Facilities Protocol. The latter, which was approved during the Third Review Conference, is aimed at increasing transparency between the Parties.

"The CSBMs are an open-ended process", General Jean concluded. "It has the support of a number of other international organizations operating in BiH, in particular the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe, and has the potential to mobilize BiH to try to overcome the results of a terrible war and to try to rebuild co-operation and co-existence of the different peoples living in the country".