EUFOR

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EUFOR former Commander General David Leakey

Soldier of the EUFOR participating in operation Spring Lift, as part of Althea

EUFOR badge close up

The EUFOR or European Union Force is an international military force under the supervision of the European Council. It is best known for operation Althea; their current involvement in Bosnia and Herzegovina to oversee the military implementation of the Dayton Agreement. It replaced the NATO-led SFOR on the 2nd of December 2004. The EUFOR is led by the Political and Security Committee, and the civilian implementation of the agreement lies in the hands of the Office of High Representative. The efforts of both are coordinated by the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana.

EUFOR has around 7,000 personnel from 33 countries, mostly from the countries of European Union. There are additional troops from other European countries and also some from Canada and elsewhere. As of 2005, this is the biggest purely European military operation.

EUFOR's commander is currently Major General Gian Marco Chiarini, having taken over command from the British Major General David Leakey in a ceremony held in the Butmir Base on the 6th of December 2005, where David Leakey handed over the EU flag to Major General Gian Marco Chiarini in presence of key personalities of the European Union, such as Javier Solana and General Sir John Reith. The forces are subordinate to the EU via a strategic level headquarters established at NATO's Headquarters Allied Command Operations, under the deputy to the Supreme Allied Commander, British General Sir John Reith. Although both these officers were British, they operated in an international capacity on behalf of the EU.

Troops from different countries attended the handover ceremony

The EUFOR will assume all the missions of the SFOR, but the chase for war criminals, notably Radovan Karadžić, former leader of Republika Srpska, and Ratko Mladić, their former military leader, will be a mission for both the EU and NATO.

The EUFOR will also have police duties ([The Times]) against organised crime, which is believed to be linked to war criminals. The EUFOR will collaborate with the European Union Police Mission in Bosnia (EUPM) and with the Bosnian police.

In fiction

In the computergame Battlefield 2 (EA Games) an add-on (BF2 Euro Force) is available that enables players to play as EU Forces.

External links

Fiction

[EA Games: Battlefield 2 - Euro Force]

EUFOR pictures

[EUFOR picture pool at flickr.com]

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