The United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR; also known by its French acronym FORPRONU: Force de Protection des Nations Unies) was the first United Nations peacekeeping force in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Yugoslav Wars. The force was formed in February 1992 and its mandate ended in March 1995, with the peacekeeping mission restructuring into three other forces (the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP) in the Republic of Macedonia, and the United Nations Confidence Restoration Operation in Croatia (UNCRO) in Croatia, with restructured UNPROFOR operations ongoing in Bosnia and Herzegovina until their replacement by NATO and EU missions in December 1995).
Personnel
UNPROFOR was composed of nearly 25,000 personnel. It consisted of troops from Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States. According to the UN, there were 167 fatalities amongst UNPROFOR personnel during the course of the force's mandate. Of those who died, three were military observers, 159 were other military personnel, one was a member of the civilian police, two were international civilian staff and two were local staff.
The commanders of UNPROFOR were: NameCountryFromToLieutenant-General Satish Nambiar India March 1992 March 1993Lieutenant-General Lars-Eric Wahlgren Sweden March 1993 June 1993General Jean Cot France June 1993 March 1994 General Bertrand de Sauville de La Presle France March 1994 March 1995 General Bernard Janvier France March 1995 January 1996 Prominent officers : Major-General Lewis MacKenzie (Canada) Sector Sarajevo 1992 General Philippe Morillon (France) from October 1992 to July 1993 Lieutenant-General Francis Briquemont (Belgium) 12 July 1993 to 24 January 1994 Lieutenant-General Sir Michael Rose (United Kingdom) from 24 January 1994 to 25 February 1995 Lieutenant-General Rupert Smith (United Kingdom) from 25 February 1995
Mandate
Croatia
UNPROFOR was created by UN Security Council Resolution 743 on 21 February 1992 during the Croatian War of Independence. The initial mandate of UNPROFOR was to ensure stable conditions for peace talks, and security in three demilitarized "safe-haven" enclaves designated as United Nations Protected Areas (UNPAs). These were located in various regions before the Republic of Croatia received full membership status in the United Nations (UN), but were controlled by the self-styled Republic of Serbian Krajina.
In 1992, the mandate was extended to so-called "pink zones" controlling access to the UNPAs (UNSC Resolution 762), some border control and monitoring of civilian access to the Pink Zones (UNSC Resolution 769), and control of the demilitarisation of the Prevlaka peninsula near Dubrovnik (UNSC Resolution 779).
Bosnia and Herzegovina In contrast to that of Croatia, the UNPROFOR mandate for Bosnia and Herzegovina was not to monitor a preexisting cease-fire. The mandate can essentially be divided into four phases:
Phase 1: Aid to Sarajevo - Beginning on 5 June 1992, UNPROFOR was responsible for the protection of Sarajevo airport as mandated by Resolution 758 for humanitarian purposes. UNPROFOR would run a security corridor for aid convoys between the airport and the city.William J. Durch and James A. Shear (1996). Faultlines: UN Operations in the Former Yugoslavia. New York: St. Martin's Press. Phase 2: Escort of Humanitarian Aid - On 14 September 1992, UNPROFOR was given a mandate (United Nations Security Council Resolution 776) by the United Nations Security Council to provide protection to humanitarian organisations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, and other activities as requested by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees such as scheduling convoys and negotiating safe passage. The Force would also be permitted to use self-defence if armed persons attempted to prevent it from carrying out its mandate. Phase 3: The Protection of Safe Areas - The next expansion of the mandate was on 16 April 1993 with United Nations Security Council Resolution 819 declaring the town of Srebrenica a "safe area" free "from armed attack or any other hostile act."William J. James and John A. Shear (1996). Faultlines: UN Operations in the Former Yugoslavia. New York: St. Martin's Press In May 1993, Bihać, Sarajevo, Goražde, Žepa and Tuzla were also added as "safe areas". Phase 4: Monitoring the Muslim-Croat Federation and Weapons Exclusion Zones - Eventually, UNPROFOR monitored a US-brokered cease-fires in Bosnia in February 1994, creating the Muslim-Croat Federation.Steven L. Burg & Paul S. Shoup. (1999). The War in Bosnia and Herzegovina. New York: M.E. Sharpe UNPROFOR was responsible for monitoring the zones of separation and weapons control points. In addition, the UNSC increased UNPROFOR's authorized strength to monitor weapons exclusion zones, but never actually altered the operation's mandate.
On 31 March 1995, UNPROFOR was restructured into three coordinated peace operations. On 20 December 1995, the forces of UNPROFOR were reflagged under the NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR), whose task was to implement the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (GFAP – otherwise known as the Dayton Accords or Dayton Agreement).
Course of action
February 1992 – March 1993 Cedric Thornberry was director of UNPROFOR Civil Affairs at the beginning of the mission in February 1992. By the end of its first mandate in March 1993, UNPROFOR had some success in restoring peace in Croatia, notably obtaining the removal of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) in May 1992. However, civil unrest was such that terror, discrimination and ethnic cleansing were still present. Local Serb forces managed to complete their cleansing of the UNPA areas, started in 1991, that left only 279 Croats there out of a pre-war population of 102,000.Jerry Blaskovich, Anatomy of Deceit: An American Physician's First-hand Encounter with the Realities of the War in Croatia
The situation was problematic, mostly due to non-cooperation by local Serb authorities, and because of later major Croat military offensives. Additionally, the situation for which UNPROFOR had been designed and anticipated for had significantly changed. The Croat side now refused to negotiate its sovereignty on the UNPAs and Pink Zones, which the Serb part would not accept. Establishment of the "Republic of Serbian Krajina" further complicated the situation.
The Opening of the Sarajevo Airport was conducted by the Canadian Operational Force, which moved within the Theater of Operations from Croatia (Surac) to the combat zone of Sarajevo. The Canadian Force included the French-speaking Royal 22e Régiment, with the attachment of N Company of the English-speaking 3rd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment. The Canadian Contingent was deployed by train from Canadian Forces Base Baden-Soellingen and CFB Lahr, Germany.
In spite of hostile actions, Sarajevo international airport had successfully remained open. In the period from 3 July 1992 to 31 January 1993, the humanitarian airlift organised by UNHCR under UNPROFOR protection brought in 2,476 aircraft carrying 27,460 tons of food, medicines and other relief goods.
Distribution of humanitarian aid was disrupted due to non-cooperation and even hostile actions (mines, small arms fire, RPG) of the parties in the field, especially from the Bosnian Serb forces. Nonetheless, from November 1992 to January 1993, a total of some 34,600 tons of relief supplies had been delivered to an estimated 800,000 beneficiaries in 110 locations throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.
March 1993 – February 1994
Croat incursions
On 6 July 1993, new tensions arose following the Croatian government's decision to re-open the strategic Maslenica bridge on 18 July – Croatia was cut in half while the bridge was in Serb hands. The UNPROFOR forces who were mandated to monitor the Croat forces' withdrawal from the area had been unable to deploy, due to the refusal of access by Croat authorities. The Serbs shelled the bridge, partially destroying it on 2 August. On 12 August, negotiations for a cease-fire began in Geneva, but were unsuccessful. Eventually, Croat forces retreated to their positions previously occupied before the incursion.
Operation "Deny Flight" In mid-March, unidentified airplanes dropped bombs onto villages in the vicinity of Srebrenica, violating the "No-Flight zones" for the first time. The Bosnian Serbs were accused of the bombing but denied responsibility. On 31 March, a resolution was voted authorising the nations contributing to UNPROFOR to take "all necessary measures" to prevent military flights from the belligerents in the no-flight zones ("Operation Deny Flight"). French, Dutch, and American airplanes were deployed to enforce the resolution. In total, until 1 December 1994, 3317 violations were observed. On 28 February 1994, four military aircraft were shot down by NATO fighter jets over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Safe areas
From March 1993, Serb paramilitary units killed a great number of civilians, destroyed habitations, prevented the UNHCR from delivering humanitarian aid, and forced thousands of Bosnian refugees to flee to the town of Srebrenica. As many as 30 to 40 persons per day were dying from military action, starvation, exposure to cold or lack of medical treatment. Resolution 819 attempted to address this issue by declaring Srebrenica a "Safe Area". Resolution 836 authorized UNPROFOR "acting in self-defense, to take the necessary measures, including the use of force, in reply to bombardments against the safe areas by any of the parties or to armed incursion into them or in the event of any deliberate obstruction in or around those areas to the freedom of movement of UNPROFOR, or of protected humanitarian convoys".Security Council Resolution 819, 16 April 1993, operative para. 1 To implement the deterrence, around 7,600 reinforcements were sent and air support was organised in coordination with NATO.
War in Bosnia In May 1993, intense fighting broke out in Central Bosnia between Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats. Croat paramilitary forces committed atrocities against Serbs and Bosnians, such as the massacre in the village of Ahmići, on 16 April 1993. Tihomir Blaškić, an officer of the Croat HVO army formation, was tried and convicted at the ICTY over his responsibility for this massacre. Blaškić served almost nine years in prison before the appeals panel acquitted him of most of the charges in July 2004. The defence proved he did not command all the HVO units in the area or any paramilitary units.
On 24 September, the Security Council was informed by the Croatian Government that if the mandate of UNPROFOR was not amended to promote energetic implementation of the relevant resolutions of the Security Council, Croatia would be forced to request UNPROFOR to leave the country no later than 30 November 1993. Subsequent redefinition of the mandate occurred.