Electricity and water supplies were cut to army barracks in Bosnia's Muslim-Croat part last week over unpaid bills, James Billings, spokesman for the NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR), told journalists.

Meanwhile, the army of the Bosnian Serb entity overshot the 2002 budget by three million euros, (3.4 million dollars) and suspended its demining projects after wages could not be paid on time.

"To address these issues the reform of the armed forces in Bosnia-Hercegovina must proceed quickly," Billings said.

A central state-level command and control of the armed forces are expected to reduce "unnecessary duplication of expenditure," he said.

Bosnia's two entities -- the Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation -- which were formed after the 1992-95 war each have their own army under separate chains of command.

The total number of soldiers in Bosnia is 19,200. They use up 18 percent of the combined budgets of the country's two parts.

"Almost all the (army) budget gets eaten up by personal costs so there is hardly any money left," Urdur Gunnarsdottir, spokeswoman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), told AFP.

The desired number of soldiers in the country is 12,000, she said adding that duplication in the current command structure was "also part of the problem."

NATO has demanded the establishment of a common command and control system for the armed forces of the two entities as a requirement for Bosnia to join the alliance's Partnership for Peace program.

Membership of the program is generally considered a precursor to membership of NATO.

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