(ANSA-AFP) - SARAJEVO, MAR 12 - EU military reinforcements
started arriving in Bosnia on Tuesday, as concerns grew over
escalating defiance by the country's ethnic Serb statelet that
some feared could bring back inter-ethnic instability. The
European Union Force (EUFOR) said in a statement that troops
under its command were starting to arrive at Sarajevo airport
and by land. "Military personnel, vehicles and helicopters from
the Czech Republic, Italy and Romania will reinforce EUFOR
troops over the coming days," it said. Moves by the Republika
Srpska (RS) -- the ethnic Serb half of Bosnia -- to pass laws
forbidding access to its police and judiciary sent alarm bells
ringing in Europe and America. Open defiance by Bosnian Serb
leader Milorad Dodik of Christian Schmidt, the high
representative charged with overseeing the peace accords that
ended Bosnia's 1990s war, has aggravated the situation. The RS
laws were later struck down, and Dodik was convicted last month
and given a one-year prison term for his feuding with Schmidt,
along with a ban on holding office for six years, though he can
appeal that sentence. But the Bosnian Serb leader remains
unrepentant. NATO chief Mark Rutte on Monday flew to Sarajevo
and said the alliance will not allow a "security vacuum to
emerge". US Secretary of State Marco Rubio separately told
reporters: "We're hoping we can do anything we can to avoid
another conflict in Europe from emerging." (ANSA-AFP).
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
