Bosnia opposes Nato force cuts

Nato troops are seen as a stabilising force

By the BBC's Bill Hayton

The international community's high representative in Bosnia has told a meeting of Nato's ruling body that the alliance must maintain its military presence there.

Rumsfeld: Plans to cut US commitment

"We have not yet reached the point of no return where Bosnia-Hercegovina would truly be a viable state that could stand alone," Wolfgang Petritsch said during the two-hour meeting with Nato ambassadors in Brussels.

In December, the United States Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, called for a large cut in troop numbers, something which has alarmed many Bosnians who fear a return to instability.

There are now 18,000 peacekeepers in Bosnia, known as S-for, of whom just over 3,000 are Americans.

That is well down from 60,000 who were originally deployed at the end of the civil war six years ago.

Little interest

But the US wants to reduce that figure by around a third and transfer some military functions to a European-led police force.

Petritsch made a strong plea against reductions

Many in the Balkans oppose the cuts because they fear a reduced American commitment to the region could prompt nationalists to once again try and destabilise it.

No figures were mentioned at the meeting, but Nato agreed to discuss scaling down the military presence in Bosnia and integrating it with the alliance's other missions in Kosovo and Macedonia.

The United States has little strategic interest in Bosnia, beyond ensuring that it continues to lead a strong and united Nato alliance, and since the 11 September events, it has had plenty of other demands on its armed forces.

But Washington is caught between a desire to pull troops out of the Balkans and its oft-stated commitment that NATO went into the region together and will come out together.

The discussions will come to a head in May when a bi-annual review of troop numbers will be discussed at the alliance's summit in the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik.