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Balkaneu/IBNA (5 May 2017)

General Sir James Everard, the EUFOR Operation Commander, has paid a visit in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the last few days in order to inspect various elements of the EUFOR mission in this country.

At the beginning of the visit General Everard was greeted on arrival by Commander EUFOR (COMEUFOR), Major General Anton Waldner, and an Honour Guard outside the HQ Building in Camp Butmir, near Sarajevo. After meeting key HQ personnel he had office calls with COMEUFOR and Commander NATO HQ Sarajevo, Brigadier General Giselle Wilz, to discuss the situation in BiH from their perspective. He then took the opportunity to tour the HQ Building, visiting the various departments and receiving briefs from the branch chiefs on the work and challenges of their particular teams.

During the visit General Everard and Major General Waldner also visited two of EUFOR’s Liaison and Observation Teams (LOTs) located in Banja Luka, one manned by Chilean soldiers and the other by Romanian.

General Everard explained that he was very keen to see the LOT Houses, of which there are 17 across the country, and that he was very impressed by the small teams living in the community, who are working very hard to understand exactly what’s going on. He stated that he had seen enough during his visit to convince him that they have a very good understanding of the local situations where they live.

General Everard also had a tour of the ammunition storage site in Krupa where he was welcomed by Major General Husein Tursunović, the Commander of the Support Command of the AFBiH.

The EUFOR Operation Commander also met with EU Special Representative in BiH, Ambassador Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, and was introduced to the Heads of Mission (HoMs) meeting where he witnessed the presentation of the political report of the EU HoMs on the political situation in BiH. This was his second visit to BiH and EUFOR after he took over the role with a ceremony in Camp Butmir at the end of March this year.

By Mladen Dragojlovic

http://www.balkaneu.com/eufor-operation-commander-visits-bih/