The U.N’s attempt at peace in Bosnia Essay Example for Free

The U.N’s attempt at peace in Bosnia Essay In this essay the question that I am going to answer is â€Å"Was the United Nations effective in its activities in the Bosnian War?† I am going to show that the U.N was not effective in the activities regarding Bosnia Herzegovina by first providing background on the cause of the war. I will then talk about the U.N’s beginning mandate and the formation of UNPROFOR and how they have attempted to aid Bosnia. That will transition into different perspectives on the U. N’s effectiveness in this world. I will end my paper with the resolution for the Bosnian war and finally conclude with a summary of the essay. Yugoslavia was once a country that bordered Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Albania. In the 1990’s there were a lot of disputes with Yugoslavia from the U.S and Germany. The U.S wanted Yugoslavia to break up because they â€Å"were interested in the more recently established states† (Mahiras) because they controlled key routes through the Balkan Mountains. Germany was interested because as territory of its â€Å"vital interest† Slovenia and Croatia.† In order to obtain this goal the U.S decided to give Yugoslavia and ultimatum that was backed by Germany, and other countries that the U.S â€Å"influenced†, the ultimatum was that â€Å"If Yugoslavia did not announce multi-party elections, it would face economic isolation.† This was the ultimate cause of Yugoslavia’s dismemberment into six different republics which included Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The individual states turned countries sovereignty would be put to the test in the Bosnian war. In each separate republic of what was formerly known as Yugoslavia they had a majority ethnic group. This, however, was not the case of Bosnia, Bosnia in 1991 â€Å"Muslims comprised 44% of the population, Serbs 31%, and Croats 18% with the remainder mixed.† (GOA pg 1)When Bosnia achieved independence there was a civil conflict between the Bosnian Government and the Bosnian Serbs. In order to try and keep the peace the UNPROFOR was first established (UNPROFOR stood for United Nations Protection Force) and they later created a mandate that was extended to Bosnia. Their original mandate was as follows, â€Å"UNPROFORs mandate was to ensure that the three United Nations Protected Areas (UNPAs) in Croatia were demilitarized and that all persons residing in them were protected from fear of armed attack†. (Department of Public Information) The mandate was then extended â€Å"In June 1992, as the conflict intensified and extended to Bosnia and Herzegovina, UNPROFORs mandate and strength were enlarged in order to ensure the security and functioning of the airport at Sarajevo, and the delivery of humanitarian assistance to that city and its environs.† There were also hidden dilemmas in the U.N. People were beginning to question whether they were keeping the peace, or forcing the peace unto others. Author Ivo Daalder brought up a controversial point when saying, â€Å"U.N. Protection Force in Bosnia confronted a fateful dilemma. UNPROFOR could actively oppose the Bosnian Serb effort and side with the Muslim victims of the war. But this would entail sacrificing the evenhandedness that is the hallmark of U.N. peacekeeping. Alternatively, UNPROFOR could preserve its much-vaunted neutrality and limit its role to protecting humanitarian relief supplies and agencies. But this would effectively leave the Muslims to face the Bosnian Serb assault virtually unprotected.† (Daalder). After the war the U.N is criticized with not having allocated enough time and effort into the Bosnian War. They did not help out enough until the very end and in some regards are held accountable for the Mass Genocide that occurred on their watch. This is what happened with the case in Rwanda. They did not offer aid or assistance until the very end and because of that countless people die. Back on topic, the UNPROFOR was fighting to keep Sarajevo open. They tried to keep Sarajevo open in order to deliver much needed aid however much of the aid did not reach them. It was later recorded that only about 50% of the total aid reached the areas that were most affected. The reasoning behind this was that the continued fighting prohibited the cargo from reaching certain places. In an US Secretary-General Report â€Å"one UNHCR convoy on its way from Zagreb to Sarajevo had to pass some 90 roadblocks, many of them manned by undisciplined and drunken soldiers of no clear political affiliation† (US Secretary General). In addition to the Mandate the U/N also enforced a â€Å"No Fly Zone†. This meant that they banned all military flights in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The U.N also established â€Å"safe areas† around Bosnian and the city of Sarajevo where an airport they were using was located. The public as well as the people in the safe areas expected UNPROFOR troops to protect them, ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid, and, possibly, get them out of these places. However, none of this could be easily delivered. This was because Humanitarian convoys were often halted on the way, usually prior to some military intervention of the Bosnian Serb army. The Bosnian Serbian Army would halt aid because it was going toward the Muslim communities that they were fighting. The UNPROFOR troops did not have sufficient enough numbers or weapons to protect themselves against the Serbian Army. Word was being spread around the world about the war in Bosnia. The media would â€Å"include footage from World War II concentration camps to draw parallels between the past slaughter of Jews and the current slaughter of Muslims by European Christians.† (Hedge). The Serbians were sweeping across Bosnia raiding in destroying predominately Muslim communities. They were better armed, allowing them to slaughter the Muslims who had barely any weaponry. They would leave death and destruction in their wake. When they would go into the villages they would commit as they called it â€Å"Ethnic cleansing† and mass rape. It would later be discovered that most of the people who committed these heinous crimes were mostly from the Bosnian Serbian community. Due to these crimes the United Nations Security Council created Resolution 808 which read an international tribunal shall be established for the prosecution of persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991. As of 2011 they had finally caught the last fugitive to be indicted for his war crimes â€Å"The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal crowned 18 years of operations on Wednesday with the capture of the last of 161 suspects from the wars of the 1990s† (Traynor). Culture played a huge card in this war. â€Å"a cultural dimension, marked by the intentional destruction of historical monuments and cultural artifacts — it has been estimated that by the end of 1992 up to 70 percent of the architectural inheritance of Bosnia-Herzegovina had been damaged or destroyed, including over 300 mosques, 150 Orthodox churches, and 50 Catholic churches†.(Vreme) As the Serbians were going through villages they were destroying any religion affiliated with the enemy. They only wanted things left standing that were important to them. â€Å"Many of these atrocities had an explicitly anti-Muslim character, and were justified as acts of historical revenge directed against the Ottoman legacy, â€Å"the continuation in an extreme form of a process of de-Islamization that had begun decades earlier.†(Mazower)† (Nation) Around this same time there was a treaty that would negotiate peace plans in Bosnia. It called for a multiethnic Bosnia. This plan was presented to the Bosnian Serbian Army. They went on to reject the initial plan and the continued fighting. Due to this turn of events NATO was on reserve to initiate and air strike in accordance the U.N. In 1994 Nato began its first air strikes killing 64 people and injuring plenty other. They became more involves with some of their jets were gunned down. Things starting looking bleak and the war continued through most of 1995. After this time the Clinton Administration decided to take action. This is how the war ultimately got decided. The Clinton Administration created a solution with the help of Madeleine Albrigh who went on to say that the UNPROFO hindered rather than help peace agreements in Bosnia. Instead she along with her follow people helped find a new solution, â€Å"The outlines of such a solution, which was based on the Contact Group plan of 1994, included: recognition of Bosnias sovereignty and territorial integrity within its existing borders; division of Bosnia into two entities—a Bosnian Serb entity and a Muslim-Croat federation; entity borders would be drawn in a compact and defensible manner, with the federation territory accounting for at least 51 percent of the total; and acceptance of special parallel relationships between the entities and neighboring states including the possibility of conducting a future referendum on the possibility of secession† (Daalder). The war end ed with the Dayton Peace Agreement signed on 21 November 1995. The final version was signed on 14 December 1995 in Paris. In conclusion, the U.N was ineffective in its efforts to stop the Bosnian War. They tried to send supplied but the cargo did not reach its destination half of the time. The troops were not armed well enough to put up a fight against the Serbians. Countless people died because they refused to take the drastic measures necessary to stop the War before it escalated. The U.S had to intervene and with them came the plan that ultimately ended the war peacefully. After the war the TCPY arrested and charged 161 people with War crimes that violated Resolution 808. I will conclude with saying that the U.N was not effective in its activities in the Bosnian War. Bibliography. Department of Public Information, United Nations. UNPROFOR. Welcome to the United Nations: Its Your World. http://www.un.org/Depts/DPKO/Missions/unprof_p.htm (accessed November 20, 2012). Daalder, Ivo. Decision to Intervene: How the War in Bosnia Ended | Brookings Institution. Brookings Quality. Independence. Impact.. http://www.brookings.edu/research/articles/1998/12/balkans-daalder (accessed November 20, 2012). HEDGES, CHRIS. Muslims From Afar Joining Holy War in Bosnia New York Times. The New York Times Breaking News, World News Multimedia. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/05/world/muslims-from-afar-joining-holy-war-in-bosnia.html (accessed November 20, 2012). Mahairas, Evangelos. The Breakup of Yugoslavia . IACenter.org. http://www.iacenter.org/folder02/hidden_em.htm (accessed November 20, 2012). Nation, R.Craig. WAR IN THE BALKANS, 1991-2002. WAR IN THE BALKANS, 1991-2002. www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/00117.pdf (accessed November 20, 2012). THE SECRETARY-GENERAL PURSUANT TO SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION. Security Council . Security Council . daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N92/202/18/PDF/N9220218.pdf?OpenElement (accessed November 20, 2012). The Role of UN During and After the War in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Role of UN During and After the War in Bosnia-Herzegovina. www.google.com/url?sa=trct=jq=esrc=ssource=webcd=1ved=0CDMQFjAAurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ceeisaconf.ut.ee%2Forb.aw%2Fclass%3Dfile%2Faction%3Dpreview%2Fid%3D166445%2Fgoga.docei=zKSrUM6NE_K40AHHvoDQDwusg=AFQjCNHsaKAUo7bXMPbP_Hie99RnTfYLXwsig2=tCOCOkY0Y (accessed November 20, 2012). Traynor, Ian. Goran Hadzic capture a milestone for Yugoslav war crimes tribunal | World news | The Guardian . Latest US news, world news, sport and comment from the Guardian | guardiannews.com | The Guardian . http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/20/goran-hadzic-capture-war-crimes-milestone (accessed November 20, 2012). United States General Accounting Office . Effectiveness of U.N, operations in Bosnia. Humanitarian Intervention. www.gao.gov/assets/80/78825.pdf (accessed November 20, 2012).