Role of external powers in the development of the conflict

Question 1

Role of external powers in emboldening and building the capability of belligerent states leading to intensified and prolonged conflict

Answer 1

Role of Serbia
- Bosnian serbs were transferred from into the newly-minted Bosnian Serb Army
- received extensive military equipment and full funding from Serbia who was part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to ensure this forces’ survival and continuity in war efforts

Role of Russia
- Supported Serbs based on irredentist reasons (shared slavic heritage, colonisation from the Ottomans and Habsburg Empire)
- Moscow backed Milosevic’s Serbia and Bosnian Serb leaders with an estimated 500 Russian volunteers going into to fight alongside the Bosnian Serbs

Question 2

Role of external powers in the use of force leading to the reduction of intensity of the war and hastened the end of the conflict

Answer 2

1992
- NATO responded to reso 787 created Op Maritime Guard to forcefully stop ships and inspect their cargo; If needed, they were allowed to divert ships back
- NATO aircraft was allowed to shoot down aircraft that violated the blockade

1993
NATO responded to reso 816 and created Op Deny Flight to enforce the no-fly zone and give close air support to UNPROFOR at the UNs request
- Shot down 4 Srpska J-21 jets in Banja Luka in 1994
- NATO bombed several Serb targets at the request of UN Commanders

1995
- agreed to use Nato airstrikes in response to attacks on safe areas in Bosnia
- NATO launched Op Deliberate Force in response to Serb shelling of a marketplace in Sarajevo which lasted for a month, targeting 338 targets
- Bombed Bosnian Serbs into submission when they stalled in Geneva

→ Pressured them into signing Dayton Accords
- NATO provided 60 00 troops to be deployed as part of the IFOR who remained to be part of the SFOR for 10 years to ensure total resolution and no hostilities which eventually led to the stabilisation of the region

Question 3

Role of external players in successfully addressing the root causes of the conflict in crisis management to effectively put an end to the Bosnian War

Answer 3

Dayton Accords
- Preservation of Bosnia as a single state which was Izbetgovic’s concern with the previous peace treaties that failed
- power-sharing with the state being made up of 2 parts – Bosniak-Croat Federation and Bosniak Serv Republic whilst allowing Sarajevo to remain as an undivided capital city
- Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe was charged with organising the first free elections in 1996

Question 4

Failure of the EC resolutions due to the lack of support from the international community

Answer 4

The Clinton administration failed to support the Vance-Owen plan and were not prepared to assist in the necessary implementation force needed on the ground which led to the further withdrawal of support from NATO members

Question 5

The inherent structural limitations of negotiation efforts by the Contact group led to prolonging of the conflict in the LR

Answer 5

1. Opposition from belligerents
   - Serbia was unhappy with the partition of Bosnia that allocated 49% to them
   - pointed out that it was an American diktat
2. Opposition from within the contact group
   - The US and Germany wanted to increase the equitability of this war to ensure Bosnian muslims could fight through the lifting of the arms embargo
   - France and the UK wanted the arms embargo to remain to prevent a wider war
   - Russia was championing the ideals of the Serbs and often requested for changes to be made for the plan to be more attractive to the Bosnian Serbs

> It was unwilling to mediate differences
Pulled out and ceased contacts with the Bosnian Serbs