Former Yugoslavia.

• Position: UN missions

The Security Council on 15 June extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) for one year, until 21 June 1999, and authorized Member States, acting through or in cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), to continue the multinational Stabilization Force (SFOR) for a further 12 months.

By unanimously adopting resolution 1174 (1998), the Council also decided that the civilian police component of UNMIBH - the International Police Task Force (IPTF) - should continue its tasks pertaining to the inter-entity boundary line and related matters, as set out in the General Framework Agreement on Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, signed in 1995 in Dayton, Ohio.

Determining that the situation in the region continued to constitute a threat to international peace and security, the Council authorized the Member States concerned with SFOR to effect the implementation of, and ensure compliance with, Annex 1-A of the Peace Agreement, which spelled out the military aspects of the peace settlement. It stressed that the parties should continue to be held equally responsible for compliance with the Annex and be subject to enforcement action by SFOR.

The Bosnian authorities were asked to cooperate with SFOR to ensure the effective management of the airports, as the Council demanded that the parties respect the security and freedom of movement of SFOR and other international personnel.

In reiterating that the primary responsibility for the success of the peace process lay with the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Council underlined the importance of cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, including the surrender for trial of all persons indicted by the Tribunal and the provision of information to assist in Tribunal investigations.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 10 June, in recommending the extension of UNMIBH for another year, observed that such action would be a demonstration by the international community of its long-term commitment the peace process in Bosnia.

Mr. Annan said he had been informed by NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana that NATO military authorities developed an operational plan for the continuation of a multinational force in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which had been endorsed by the Foreign Ministers of NATO's member States on 28 May. The plan, built on the success of SFOR, had the same unity of command, the same robust rules of...