Peace agreements bring a 'long-delayed birth of hope': multinational force set up in Bosnia to replace UNPROFOR.

• Position: Yugoslav Crisis

"This is a time of hope", Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali declared on 13 December. The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, signed on 14 December in Paris by the Presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), as well as the 12 November Basic Agreement on the Region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium--mostly Serb-populated areas in Croatia--offered "real hope of bringing to an end the tragic conflict" in the former Yugoslavia, he stated.

The accords, "brilliantly constructed" in Dayton, Ohio, in the course of the United States-led Balkan peace talks (1-21 November)--on the foundations laid by many peacemakers, especially the Secretary-General's Personal Envoy, Cyrus Vance, and Steering Committee Co-Chairmen Thorvald Stoltenberg and Lord Owen--came after "more than three hard years" of UN and international community's involvement in the former Yugoslavia, the Secretary-General observed.

Provided the parties allowed their implementation, those agreements would "end the terrible suffering" inflicted on the people of both Bosnia and Croatia, and remove a "major source of instability in Europe". However, failure to implement one would threaten the implementation of the other, he warned.

On 21 November, in welcoming the accords, the Secretary-General stated that they "give us hope that peace can now become a reality in the war-torn lands of the former Yugoslavia". As he thanked United States President William J. Clinton for his peace initiative, which had "brought the contending parties to the negotiating table", Mr. Boutros-Ghali pledged that the UN "will do all it can, within mandates authorized by the Security Council, to help end the suffering and to return life to normal".

On 11 October, he had expressed deep satisfaction that the 5 October cease-fire agreement was to come into effect at 0001 hours on 12 October "throughout the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, following the signing by both the Bosnian parties of written declarations to that effect today". Mr. Boutros-Ghali also urged the parties to scrupulously respect the cease-fire and to seize that opportunity to "advance decisively towards a peace settlement".

On 23 November, he reported (S/1995/987) that since the cease-fire's entry into force, the situation in Bosnia had improved significantly.

To help ensure compliance with the Bosnian Peace Agreement, deployment of a 60,000-personnel multinational military Implementation Force (IFOR) was authorized by the Security Council on 15 December. Carl Bildt of the European Union was named High Representative, as the "final authority in theatre" regarding the civilian implementation of the Peace Agreement.

On 20 December, IFOR took over from the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR)--originally established by resolution 743 (1992) of 21 February 1992--whose mandate was thus terminated. On 21 December, a UN civilian police force in Bosnia and Herzegovina and a UN civilian office were set up.

Council and Assembly actions

Throughout October, November and December, the Security Council continued to keep the situation in the former Yugoslavia under constant review. During that period, it met formally on 13 occasions to consider the subject, adopting 10 resolutions and issuing 4 presidential statements.

The General Assembly, at its fiftieth session, adopted a number of resolutions relating to the former Yugoslavia, namely: on the human rights situation in Bosnia, Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) (50/193); violations of human rights in Kosovo--a mostly Albanian-populated region in the FRY--(50/190); and rape and abuse of women in the former Yugoslavia (50/192).

From 1 October through 16 December, or until the IFOR was established, some 582 violations of the ban on military flights, imposed under Council resolution 816 (1993), were reported--677 less than in the previous three months. That brought to 7,552 the total number of apparent violations since monitoring began in November 1992 under resolution 781 (1992).

With regard to Croatia, the Secretary-General on 13 December recommended the establishment of a "well-armed division-seized force" to maintain peace and security and ensure demilitarization of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium.

The Council on 22 November, by adopting resolutions 1021 (1995) and 1022 (1995), lifted the embargo on deliveries of weapons and military equipment to the territory of the former Yugoslavia, imposed by resolution 713 (1991) of 25 September 1991, and indefinitely suspended the economic sanctions against the FRY (Serbia and Montenegro).

Recognition for Special Representative Akashi

On 30 October, Under-Secretary-General for Peace-Keeping Operations Kofi Annan was named temporarily as the Secretary-General's Special Representative to the Former Yugoslavia and, in that context, to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Former Special Representative Yasushi Akashi who, according to Mr. Boutros-Ghali, "deserves the sincere thanks and grateful recognition of the international community", was to return to New York as the Secretary-General's Special Adviser.

Flag of FYROM raised at UN Headquarters

On 21 October, the flag of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), a UN member since April 1993, was hoisted at UN Headquarters. In hailing the event, Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali said the 13 September Interim Accord between the FYROM and Greece, negotiated under UN auspices, represented an "important step towards the peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues in the region". The raising of the flag reflected that "improved understanding" and symbolized "friendship in the region and within the international community," he stressed.

On 15 December, representatives of Greece and the FYROM met with Mr. Vance to discuss various aspects related to the further implementation of the Interim Accord. The meeting was reported to have taken place in a "cordial and businesslike atmosphere and lasted for several hours".

Secretary-General praises UNPROFOR

In strongly disputing the allegation that the UN involvement in the former Yugoslavia had "not been a success", Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali on 13 December stated (S/1995/1031) that its original and primary mission--to protect humanitarian activities--had been successfully carried out.

In particular, UNPROFOR deserved credit for its "successes in negotiating and helping to implement cease-fires and other military arrangements, often of a local nature, without which many people alive today would be dead and material destruction would have been even greater", he stressed.

The price for the UN had, however, been high, since "too many United Nations personnel had been killed or suffered crippling injuries", the Secretary-General noted. The Yugoslav conflicts had dominated the Organization's peace and security agenda and "distorted its peacemaking and peace-keeping efforts at the expense of other parts of the world". In August 1995, for example, the former Yugoslavia had accounted for nearly 70 per cent of peace-keepers worldwide and over two thirds of peace-keeping costs, Mr. Boutros-Ghali added.

On the other hand, the UN and its Member States, he noted, had "learned many lessons" in Bosnia, whose "benefit will become apparent in our future peacemaking and peace-keeping endeavours".

In paying tribute, "not in a routine way but in heartfelt recognition of dedicated service and sacrifice", to all those men and women who had contributed to the "long-delayed birth of hope" in the former Yugoslavia and who had "risked, and too often given, their lives in the largest peace-keeping operation ever deployed" by the UN, Mr. Boutros-Ghali declared: "History will confirm that what they ... achieved is far greater than they receive credit for in some quarters today."

Peace signed in Paris

In a historic breakthrough, the Presidents of the three Balkan States--Alija Izetbegovic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Franjo Tudjman of Croatia and Slobodan Milosevic of the FRY (Serbia and Montenegro)--formally signed the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 14 December in Paris.

Standing behind them at the Elysee Palace were the leaders of the Contact Group nations--President Clinton of the United States, President Jacques Chirac of France, Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany, Prime Minister John Major of the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Viktor S. Chernomyrdin of the Russian Federation.

"The signing ceremony, which has brought us together here in Paris, crowns the efforts of all those who have been working for peace in Bosnia", Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali declared.

Since the conclusive negotiations conducted in Dayton, Ohio and the subsequent London Conference held on 8 and 9 December, "all the interested parties have demonstrated the extent to which the road to peace requires patience and tenacity, open-mindedness and determination", he went on. "We can therefore be filled with hope at the thought that, from now on, the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a Member State of the United Nations, will at last be able to live in peace and, I hope, in dialogue", the Secretary-General stressed.

However, the results achieved would, "no doubt, not have been possible" without all those men and women who, for more than three years, had "devoted themselves, and sometimes sacrificed their lives", in the service of the UN. "The Blue Helmets, along with all the States that contributed troops and materiel to this difficult mission, deserve the recognition of the international community", he stated.

"From peace-keeping to humanitarian action, through many often unprecedented and perilous missions, the soldiers of the United Nations have given diplomats the time they needed to complete their work", Mr. Boutros-Ghali said. It was a "tribute to the greatness of the United Nations that it carries out...