Operation Althea, formally the European Union Force Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUFOR), is a military deployment in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

to oversee the military implementation of the

Dayton Agreement The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement or the Dayton Accords ( Croatian: ''Daytonski sporazum'', Serbian and Bosnian: ''Dejtonski mirovni sporazum'' / Дејтонски мир� ...

. It is the successor to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

SFOR The Stabilisation Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR) was a NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force deployed to Bosnia and Herzegovina after the Bosnian war. Although SFOR was led by NATO, several non-NATO countries contributed troops. It ...

and

IFOR The Implementation Force (IFOR) was a NATO-led multinational peace enforcement force in Bosnia and Herzegovina under a one-year mandate from 20 December 1995 to 20 December 1996 under the codename ''Operation Joint Endeavour''. Background NATO ...

. The transition from SFOR to EUFOR was largely a change of name and commanders: 80% of the troops remained in place. It replaced SFOR on 2 December 2004.

General aspects

Civilian implementation of the Dayton Agreement is enforced by the

Office of the High Representative The High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, were created in 1995 immediately after the signing of the Dayton Agreement which ended the 1992–1995 Bos ...

. In 2007, EUFOR had 600 troops from 21 countries, mostly from the member states of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

(EU). There are, however, additional troops from other non-EU member states such as

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. EUFOR's commander is

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Anton Wessely of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

(all of EUFOR's commanders since 2009 have been Austrians). For this mission, the

European Union Military Staff The Military Staff of the European Union (EUMS) is the directorate-general of the European Union's (EU) External Action Service (EEAS) that contributes to the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) by providing strategic advice to the H ...

is using NATO's

Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) is the military headquarters of the NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) that commands all NATO operations worldwide. ACO's and SHAPE's commander ...

(SHAPE) as the EU's Operational Headquarters (OHQ) and is working through the Deputy to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, a European officer. EUFOR assumed all the missions of SFOR, except for the hunt for individuals indicted by the war crimes tribunal, notably

Radovan Karadžić Radovan Karadžić ( sr-cyr, Радован Караџић, ; born 19 June 1945) is a Bosnian Serb politician, psychiatrist and poet. He was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by the International Criminal Tr ...

, former leader of

Republika Srpska Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, lit=Serb Republic, also known as Republic of Srpska, ) is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Feder ...

, and

Ratko Mladić Ratko Mladić ( sr-Cyrl, Ратко Младић, ; born 12 March 1942) is a Bosnian Serb convicted war criminal and colonel-general who led the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) during the Yugoslav Wars. In 2017, he was found guilty of committing ...

, their former military leader, which remained a mission for NATO through NATO Headquarters Sarajevo. EUFOR does have police duties against organised crime, which is believed to be linked to suspected war criminals. It worked with the

European Union Police Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina The European Union Police Mission (EUPM) was the European Union's mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina that aided the local police organizations, and was one of a number of European Union Police Missions worldwide. It was the first such mission unde ...

(EUPM) and with the

Bosnian Police Law enforcement in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the responsibility of an EU-sponsored Bosnia police force to which the role of maintaining security in the region was handed over from the United Nations's 1,800 strong International Police Task Force.BB ...

. The

European Union Special Representative The European Union Special Representatives (EUSR) are emissaries of the European Union with specific tasks abroad. While the EU's ambassadors are responsible for affairs with a single country, Special Representatives tackle specific issues, conf ...

in Bosnia and Herzegovina provides political guidance on military issues with a local political dimension to the EUFOR. , the total force of EUFOR is at 600 troops from 19 countries, including EU member states and non-EU "Troop Contributing Countries" (TCC) are present within EUFOR (Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Chile, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, North Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey). On 18th December 2020, the United Kingdom marked the end of its 16 year contribution to EUFOR, following Brexit. As of early 2021, EUFOR personnel bases include: * Multinational Battalion is EUFOR's military maneuver unit for BiH, located at Camp Butmir, Sarajevo and comprises troops from Austria, Hungary and Turkey; * 17 LOT Houses located throughout BiH to connect EUFOR to local communities and authorities. From north to south, west to east – Cazin, Banja Luka (Romania) and Banja Luka (Chile), Brcko, Doboj, Tuzla, Zavidovici, Travnik, Bratunac, Zenica, Sarajevo (headquarters), Livno, Jablanica, Visegrad, Foca, Mostar, and Trebinje.Accessed 29 April 2021 http://www.euforbih.org/index.php/eufor-elements/eufor-houses

Commanders

References

External links

Official EUFOR websiteThe Council of the European Union's page on EUFOR-Althea

The European Union Special Representative (EUSR) for Bosnia and Herzegovinathe European Commission's Delegation to Bosnia & Herzegovina
{{DEFAULTSORT:Althea International law enforcement organizations Law enforcement in Bosnia and Herzegovina Althea Bosnia and Herzegovina–European Union relations

General aspects

Commanders

See also

References

Further reading

External links