Mirko Sarovic, the Serb chairman of the Bosnian tripartite presidency, resigned Wednesday after repeated international calls to sanction those caught violating the UN arms embargo against Iraq.

The scandal first came to light in September in the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska (RS).

"The reform of the army of Republika Srpska cannot be avoided, notably regarding its doctrine, structure, command and other contemporary standards," Cavic said, addressing the RS parliament at an extraordinary session.

"In order to preserve the RS army we must do it with new generation of officers who understand that they answer to civilian authorities and to nobody else," he said.

Sarovic was a former president of the Republika Srpska, which along with the Muslim-Croat federation makes up post-war Bosnia.

At the same time he was the commander-in-chief of the Bosnian Serb army between 2000 and 2002 when the Serb military company Orao exported equipment and refurbished military jets for Iraq.

A NATO investigation also implicated Sarovic in another scandal that accused Bosnian Serb military intelligence of spying on the NATO-led peacekeeping Stabilisation Force (SFOR) in Bosnia, as well as on individuals and international and local institutions.

Following the two scandals, the top international representative for Bosnia Paddy Ashdown Wednesday announced measures aimed at strengthening civilian and state-level control over the country's armed forces.

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