Bosnia and Herzegovina

EU expects "written commitment" from Bosnian leaders

BRUSSELS -- Political leaders and the government in Bosnia must make a written commitment to the reforms necessary to resolve a standstill "on the road to the EU."

This was announced on Monday at the end of a session of the Council of Ministers of the EU in Brussels....

Mladen Ivanic, Bakir Izetbegovic and Dragan Covic, the newly elected members of Bosnia's presidency, were sworn in on Monday and pledged to end years of political stalemate in the divided country.

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Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic on Monday criticised the temporary release of the war-crime suspect and Serbian ultranationalist Vojislav Seselj.

Pusic characterized Seselj as a "lunatic element in the region", adding that she would warn the European Union about his release from prison in The Hague.

Hague prosecution won't appeal Šešelj decision

BELGRADE -- Hague Tribunal (ICTY) Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz says his office will not appeal a decision to grant provisional release to Vojislav Šešelj.

Diplomats and experts believe Russia is trying out a new strategy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, after Russia's representative on the UN Security Council abstained from a vote to extend the mandate of the EU mission, EUFOR, in Bosnia on November 12.

State Secretary for European Affairs, George Ciamba will be attending in Brussels on Monday a meeting of the European Union's General Affairs Council (GAC), the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) reports in a release to AGERPRES.

BELGRADE - Members of 17 special police units from 12 South-East European countries staged a hostage rescue demonstration exercise within the international seminar on the fight against terrorism in 2014in Batajnica on the outskirts of Belgrade on Friday.

Nebojsa Radmanovic, Serbian member of Bosnia's Presidency, at his farewell press conference on November 13 savaged the work of the Office of High Representative, OHR, which is tasked with overseeing implementation of the 1995 Dayton accords.

Radmanovic said High Representative Valentin Inzko's regular reports to the UN were untrue and unfounded.

U.S. prosecutors sent to Balkans "to help fight terrorism"

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. is sending dozens of prosecutors to the Balkans, the Middle East, and northern Africa "to help track down jihadist fighters returning from Syria."

The Bosnia and Herzegovina Air Navigation Services Agency, BHANSA, took control of the Balkan country's airspace for the first time on November 13.

Flight controllers in Bosnia will from now on control all aircraft flying up to around 10 kilometres in height. The agency will asume control of the country's upper airspace some time next year.