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U.S. Firm Cleared to Train
Bosnian’s Muslim-Croat Army
 SARAJEVO, July 7 (AP) -- Bosnia’s Muslims and Croats have agreed on the text of
a defense law that would allow an American company to start training their joint army.
A newspaper said Sunday the company is ready to start work within 30 days. The law, to be presented to the Bosnian
parliament this week, establishes a single interim defense ministry and a joint military command for the shaky
Bosnian-Croat federation that governs half of Bosnia.
The joint structures are to exist for three months, until elections are held in September and permanent institutions
are then developed. Negotiations on the law dragged on for almost four months. The main sticking point was the
command structure of Bosnia’s future joint Muslim-Croat army.
Ambassador James Pardew, the U.S. envoy for military stability in the Balkans, says the law effectively leaves
leaders from both groups in charge -- Alija Izetbegovic, the president of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and a Muslim; and
Kresimir Zubak, a Croat and the president of the Muslim-Croat Federation.
Passage of the law is the key condition for start-up of the U.S.-sponsored military training and equipment program.
The Bosnian government negotiated with several contractors before choosing Military Professional Resources Inc.,
a northern Virginia-based consulting firm made up of recently retired, high-ranking U.S. military officials, including
the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency. MPRI is credited with helping retrain the Croatian army, which
retook a large chunk of its territory from Croatian Serb insurgents in a lightning strike last summer.
MPRI representatives are ready to come to Sarajevo and sign the contract, the Oslobodjenje daily said, and their
instructors are due to arrive within 30 days to start training. |