Special Units from 4 Cantonal MUPs Will Not Attend Today's Exercise: Čović Takes Control of Police

Today at 2:30 PM at the Ciljuge Airport in Živinice, a joint exercise of anti-terrorist units and special purpose units called Rapid Response 2016 will be held. The Federal MUP announced that several hundred police officers from various law enforcement agencies at the FBiH level will participate in the exercise, reports the Patria News Agency.

It is indicative and concerning that, according to information obtained by the Patria News Agency, special police units from three cantons with a Croatian majority will not participate in the exercise: West Herzegovina, Livno, and Posavina Cantons. The MUP of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, where both the commissioner and the minister are of Croatian nationality (HDZ BiH cadres), later joined the boycott. 

-The coalition is strong as a house, the leaders of HDZ BiH, SDA, and SBB, Dragan Čović, Bakir Izetbegović, and Fahrudin Radončić, said last night after the meeting.

If the coalition is strong, why then did the three cantons with a Croatian majority not join this police exercise in which special units of the Federal and other seven cantonal MUPs are participating?

Čović and HDZ BiH have one story for coalition meetings and European officials, while the situation on the ground is completely different. The absence of special units from these three MUPs is a clear message that politics is interfering in police structures, and that Čović, or rather HDZ BiH, has taken control of these three MUPs, which is very dangerous.

 Will the coalition partners SDA and SBB react?