BOSNIA: COUNCIL OF MINISTERS APPOINTS HEADS TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SARAJEVO 000297

SIPDIS

EUR/SCE (HYLAND, FOOKS); INL (CARROLL); NSC FOR HELGERSON;
OSD FOR BEIN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/10/2019
TAGS: REL PGOV PINR KDEM KCRM KJUS BK
SUBJECT: BOSNIA: COUNCIL OF MINISTERS APPOINTS HEADS TO
THREE NEW POLICE AGENCIES

REF: A. SARAJEVO 234

B. SARAJEVO 101

C. 08 SARAJEVO 714

Classified By: CDA Judith B. Cefkin, Reasons 1.4(b),(d)


1. (U) After a long delay the Council of Minister February 26
made several appointments to leading positions for three new
state-level police support agencies created as part of two
April 2008 reform laws. Although the Ministry of Security
had held interviews for the positions of Director and Deputy
Director for the Institute for Forensics, the Institute for
Establishment and Professional Upgrading of Personnel
(Education),and the Police Support Agency in June 2008, the
CoM only now selected the final nominees from a ranked list
of all interviewees ranked as per their interview scores
(based on a scale from one to ten). Post had been lobbying
(Ref A) the CoM to make nominations in order to be able to
include these new agencies into our law enforcement capacity
building program. Although these new agencies have not been
given binding authority over entity and cantonal police
structures, they can, if properly staffed, serve to promote
inter-entity cooperation, especially in the fields of
forensics and education.


2. (C) The position of Director of the Institute for
Forensics went to Ljiljana Trisic (Serb) and the Deputy
Director is Damir Vejo (Bosniak). The position of Director
for the Police Support Agency went to Rahmija Hodzic
(Bosniak) and the Deputy Director is Dragan Slipac (Croat).
The position of Deputy Director of the Institute for
Education went to Milan Krulj (Serb). The CoM ordered a new
competition for the position of Director of the Institute for
Education, allegedly because the position they feel the
position needed to go to an ethnic Croat and there were no
other Croat candidates on the list other than Assistant
Security Minister Vjekoslav Vukovic, who is currently
suspended following his indictment in Croatia on charges
relating to weapons trafficking (Ref B). The CoM also
decided that the headquarters of the Police Support Agency
should be in Sarajevo, the Institute for Education in Mostar,
and the Institute for Forensics in East Sarajevo. While, the
fact that the CoM was finally able to make a decision to move
the ball forward is positive, unfortunately most of the
candidates are not well known figures and lack the
qualifications and experience one would expect for the
leadership of these fledgling state-level agencies.

Agencies created as Part of SAA Process
--------------


3. (U) The CoM decision comes in partial fulfillment of the
terms of two police reform laws, passed by Parliament April
2008 in order to fulfill a major prerequisite for Bosnia to
sign a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the
EU (Ref C). The two laws called for the creation of seven
new state-level police support structures, while postponing
local police reform until sometime after the completion of
constitutional reform. The new institutions are to be the
1) Directorate for Coordination of Police, 2) Institute for
Forensics, 3) Institute for Establishment and Professional
Upgrading of Personnel (Training),4) Police Support Agency,
5) Independent Candidate Selection Board, 6) Citizen
Complaint Board, and 7) Police Officials Complaint Board.

Three down, Four to go
--------------


4. (U) Now that the Council of Ministers has appointed most
of the senior leadership for three of the agencies,
Parliament must overcome a deadlock to make appointment for
the other four. Specifically Parliament must agree on names
for the Independent Candidate Selection Board, which will
then recommend names for leading positions in the Directorate
for Coordination of Police. We have been told that the issue
is now held up in the state-level House of Peoples due to the
objections of one Alliance of Independent Social Democrats
(SNSD) delegate. We will continue to consult with all
parties involved to help expedite the creation of these
agencies.

Disappointing Selections
--------------

SARAJEVO 00000297 002 OF 002




5. (C) Aside from the new Deputy Director for the Institute
for Forensics Damir Vejo, a solid performer in the Ministry
of Security who attended an International Visitors Program in
late 2006, the majority of appointments went to lackluster
candidates. In at least the case of the Director for the
Police Support Agency, we are told that pressure from the
Minister of Security Tarik Sadovic caused the CoM to pass
over a better qualified Bosniak candidate who had scored
almost one full point higher (on a ten point scale) than
Sadovic's favored candidate. Rahmija Hodzic, Sadovic's
favored candidate, is himself two years away from mandatory
retirement. Such politically motivated appointments, made
with more consideration to ethnic background than relevant
experience, will make it harder for these new state-level
institutions to forge out relevant roles in the convoluted
police structures of BiH. We will nevertheless provide
whatever we can to steer them in a positive direction. Short
biographic sketches of the new candidates follow:

Ljiljana Trisic (Serb): Before her appointment as Director
of the state-level Institute for Forensics, Ms. Trisic served
as Assistant Security Minister in charge of the Sector for
Analytics, Assessment and Strategic Analysis, a sector
reputed to have at best lackluster results. Before the
1992-1995 she was employed with the Yugoslav State Security
Service. She is 45 years-old, unmarried and has no apparent
experience in the field of forensics.

Damir Vejo (Bosniak): Before being appointment Deputy
Director of the state-level Institute for Forensics, Mr. Vejo
served as Head of Section for Combating Organized Crime and
Corruption. Mr. Vejo graduated from a police high school
before receiving higher degrees in Criminology in Sarajevo
and Italy. He has also worked in the Border Police and was a
2006 attendee of an International Visitor Program. He is
married, has three children, and speaks several foreign
languages, including English.

Rahmija Hodzic (Bosniak): Originally from Kupres, the new
Director of the Police Support Agency came to Sarajevo and
worked in the Federation Police, where he led the section for
education. He holds a degree from the traffic faculty. Mr.
Hodzic is close to mandatory retirement age and has a
reputation of being affiliated with the conservative faction
of SDA.

Dragan Slipac (Croat): Before being appointed as Deputy
Director for the Police Support Agency, Mr. Slipac served in
the Ministry of Security as Head of Section for Analytics and
Strategic Analysis. Slipac completed a degree in machine
engineering and worked before the war at a military hardware
factory in Novi Travnik. We are told that he served in the
Croat Intelligence Service during the war and is rumored to
be very close to the political party HDZ-1990.

Milan Krulj (Serb): Before his appointment as Deputy Director
for the Institute for Establishment and Professional
Upgrading of Personnel (Training),Mr. Krulj worked in the
Border Police as Deputy Director for Support. He was born in
1956 and completed a degree in political science in Sarajevo
and later worked in the police forces. He is married with
two children, and has no apparent relevant experience in the
field of education.
CEFKIN