Fifteen years after first deploying troops to Bosnia, a Spanish general, Ignacio Martín Villalaín, has assumed control of European troops taking part in Operation Althea in Bosnia Herzegovina.

At a military ceremony in Sarajevo at midday today, General Martín relieved his German counterpart, Hans Jochen Witthauer, thus becoming the first Spanish general ever to assume control of a UN overseas peacekeeping mission.

In total, troops from 31 countries, including 24 from Europe, comprise the EUFOR Bosnia contingent.