The UN Security Council has sharply criticised the leadership of Bosnia Hercegovina for failing to implement an agreement signed in New York last November designed to strengthen national unity .

The attack came from US ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke, who was the chief negotiator of the 1995 Dayton peace acccords.

Mr Holbrooke said there was "considerable annoyance" among council members over the delays in setting up a joint secretariat and a joint border police force.

"We are not happy with the failure to implement fully the New York Declaration of 15 November by the joint presidency," he said.

The declaration was issued by Ante Jelavic, Alija Izetbegovic and Zivko Radisic, who represent the Croat, Muslim and Bosnian Serb communities respectively.

In it, they agreed to set up a joint, multi-ethnic secretariat for the presidency, a product of the Dayton accord which established the framework for governing Bosnia after the 1992-95 war.

There were "signs of progress everywhere" in Bosnia, Mr Holbrooke told reporters.

"But the joint presidency, its central institutions and many attributes of a single, sovereign, centrally governed state with two entities have not yet been fulfilled."

He said one of the co-presidents had claimed that the declaration was invalid because he had not signed it.

"They were not asked to sign because they issued the statement to the Security Council," Mr Holbrooke said.

The document had international standing, he said.

The New York declaration also included an agreement to set up a multi-ethnic police force to patrol Bosnia's international borders.

At the time, a US official said this was the most difficult part of the declaration, which was thrashed out in "an intense six-hour negotiating session" at Mr Holbrooke's residence in New York.

The force was initially to have about 400 members and was to be deployed by the end of December.

On December 29, Bosnia radio reported that a bill creating the police force had not been adopted during the last 1999 session of the lower house of the state parliament in Sarajevo because two Bosnian Serb members had refused to give their consent.

'Criminals and crooks'

On Wednesday, the Bosnian parliament again rejected a bill to introduce the border police because of objections by 10 Bosnian Serb deputies.

A spokeswoman for the international representative in Bosnia, Wolfgang Petrisch, said he was now likely to use his powers to impose the legislation.

Asked whether he felt personally offended at the failure to implement the New York accord, Mr Holbrooke said: "The people who are thwarting the will of the international community aren't doing it personally to me.

"They're doing it because they represent the forces of darkness, ethnic division, racism, hatred and very often they ... represent mafia groups."

He added: "They are just criminals, crooks, disguising their crookedness under the guise of ethnic divisions or demagogy."