Robertson and the ambassadors of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) were scheduled to hold talks with Bosnia's tri-partite presidency and the NATO led peacekeeping force here.

The aim of the one-day visit is to "re-emphasize NATO's commitment to stability and security in Bosnia-Hercegovina," Robertson said on arrival at Sarajevo airport.

"We also come with a strong message and that is a strong necessity for reform of military structures" here he said, adding that the current system of separate command over Bosnia's two armies is "intolerable."

"Common command and control are absolute prerequisites for Bosnia-Hercegovina joining the Partnership for Peace" programme, under which nations cooperate with the North Atlantic alliance, Robertson added.

Under the terms of the 1995 peace agreement, Bosnia was split into two administrative entities -- the ethnic Serb domintated Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat federation.

They have separate governments, police and armies, and are linked by a weak central government with no authority in defence matters.

Robertson and the ambassadors will meet the commander of the 12,000-strong NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) in Bosnia, US General William Ward.

They will also hold talks with the Bosnian presidency, whose Serb chairman, Mirko Sarovic, resigned last week over an arms-to-Iraq scandal and a spying affair.

Borisav Paravac from Sarovic's nationalist Serb Democratic Party was expected to be appointed a new presidency member later Thursday.

SFOR peacekeepers have been in Bosnia since the end of the former Yugoslav republic's 1992-95 war.

The European Union is planning to replace SFOR with its own troops, after beginning in Macedonia last month its first ever peacekeeping mission.

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