End-of-year cease-fire signed, further negotiations urged: tightened sanctions against FRY vetoed.

Following complex, start-stop negotiations, agreements on a cease-fire and on a complete cessation of hostilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina were signed by its President Alija Izetbegovic and Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic on 23 and 31 December, respectively. In welcoming the accords, the Security Council commended the efforts of "all who worked to achieve them" and urged an "immediate and full compliance".

A comprehensive settlement in Bosnia was pivotal to large-scale return in "safety and dignity" of refugees and displaced persons, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali reported on 6 December. Negotiations were also needed on the Tuzla airport, which "cannot be safely used if its opening is achieved by force".

Humanitarian access continued to be "intermittently denied to several safe areas", particularly the Bihac enclave, where it had been "obstructed since May 1994", the Secretary-General observed.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which was providing thousands of tonnes of aid to 2.7 million people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, remained concerned over "several problem areas", including Sarajevo, Gorazde, Srebrenica, Zepa and Bihac, where access was still a major problem. Also, Bosnian Croat authorities had demanded a "tax" on fuel shipments into Bosnia--a demand rejected by the UNHCR. Bosnian Serbs had also blocked fuel deliveries to some areas, including Sarajevo, the agency reported.

On 19 November, High Commissioner Sadako Ogata expressed "outrage" at the "vicious attacks" on densely populated civilian areas of Bihac. Those "horrific attacks must be stopped", and the "deliberate starvation of civilians in the Bihac enclave must not be allowed", she stated.

In a 6 January statement by its President, Emilio J. Cardenas of Argentina, the Security Council supported "efforts in train" to strengthen the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR) and encouraged Member States to provide the personnel and equipment needed for the Force to "supervise and monitor the agreements".

Full support for intensified efforts to achieve an "overall settlement on the basis of the acceptance of the peace plan" prepared by the Contact Group--France, Germany, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and United States--was also pledged.

The cease-fire agreement had been announced on 20 December by former United States President Jimmy Carter after his meeting with Dr. Karadzic in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In welcoming the announcement, Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali on 21 December said Mr. Carter's visit to the former Yugoslavia had created a "new momentum which can be built upon".

Two accords

The two agreements provided for a "general cease-fire along all lines of confrontation" for an "initial period of seven days and four months", to be monitored by UNPROFOR through the "establishment of joint commissions", the Secretary-General reported (S/1995/8) on 6 January.

The seven-day cease-fire took effect at 1200 hours on 24 December, while the four-month cessation of hostilities became effective from 1200 hours on 1 January 1995.

The parties agreed, among other things, to: enable the passage of UNPROFOR and humanitarian convoys; release promptly and unconditionally all detainees; separate their forces and position UNPROFOR units for "observation and monitoring, to include interpositioning"; and "comply immediately and fully" with all existing accords between them.

On 2 January, the Bosnian Croats agreed to sign the two pacts on the understanding that Croats and Muslims should "not be forcibly conscripted" into the Serb armed forces, and that ethnic cleansing of Croats and Muslims ceased, it was reported.

'War not an answer'

Negotiation was the only solution to the "web of conflicts" in the former Yugoslavia, Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali told the Budapest summit meeting of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) on 5 December. "A continuation of war is not an answer and will never be an answer. One must negotiate and promote dialogue."

The effectiveness of negotiation had been demonstrated by a 2 December economic agreement between Croatia and the Krajina Serbs, he observed. It led, among other things, to a reopening of the Zagreb-Belgrade international highway on 21 December.

Battle of Bihac

By the end of October, the Bosnian Government forces had "achieved their largest territorial gain of the war", the Secretary-General reported (S/1994/1389) on 1 December.

But a mid-November Bosnian Serb counter-offensive, supported by the Krajina Serbs of Croatia, had "recovered the lost territories and advanced beyond the original confrontation lines to close in on the town of Bihac". The Krajina Serb forces, despite UNPROFOR warnings, had "repeatedly intervened in the fighting by launching missiles and air attacks", sometimes employing napalm and cluster bombs, the report said.

That led to a 21 November air strike by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Udbina airfield, which had been used for those attacks. The air action, however, had not prevented the Bosnian Serbs from entering the safe area, nor had it made the Krajina Serbs "stop their military intervention", the Secretary-General stated.

In reflecting upon the "limitation of deterrence capacity" of air power, Mr. Boutros-Ghali noted the "extreme and unavoidable vulnerability of UNPROFOR troops to being taken hostage and to other forms of harassment, coupled with the political constraints on wider air action".

Between 1 October and 2 January, some 769 violations of the ban on military flights in the Bosnian airspace, imposed under Council resolution 816 (1993), were reported--114 less than in the previous three months. That brought to 3,434 the total number of apparent violations since monitoring began in November 1992 under resolution 781 (1992).

As the battle for the northwestern Bosnian enclave of Bihac raged, the food situation there had become "extremely urgent", with a "threat of hunger" looming for more than 150,000 people, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported on 5 December. The besieged enclave had been effectively cut off from food deliveries for over five months, and only two convoys with 126 metric tonnes of WFP-supplied food had reached the Bihac area since May, it stated.

Council resolutions 959, 958

Between October and December, the Security Council met, either formally or in consultations, on 12 occasions to consider the situation in the former Yugoslavia, adopting three resolutions and issuing five statements.

On 19 November, it condemned violations of the international border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and demanded that all parties and others concerned, particularly the so-called Krajina Serb forces, "fully respect the border and refrain from hostile acts across it".

By unanimously adopting resolution 959 (1994), the Council also expressed full support for UNPROFOR's efforts to ensure implementation of Council resolutions on safe areas, and called upon all Bosnian parties to "respect fully the status and functions" of the Force and cooperate with it.

Also on 19 November, the Council authorized Member States, acting nationally or through regional arrangements, to use air power to support UNPROFOR in Croatia. By unanimously adopting resolution 958 (1994), the Council thus expanded the authorization given under resolution 836 (1993) of 4 June 1993 to take "all necessary measures" to support the Force in and around the safe areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Hostilities condemned

Earlier, the Council had condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the attack on Bihac by aircraft belonging to the so-called Krajina Serb forces, and the shelling by those forces from the UN Protected Areas (UNPAs) as a "flagrant violation" of Bosnia's territorial integrity and relevant Council resolutions.

In an 18 November statement by its President, Madeleine K. Albright of the United States, the Council also demanded, among other things, a cessation of "all hostile actions across the international border" between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and an "immediate end to all military activity" which endangered the lives of UNPROFOR personnel. A similar call had been made in a 13 November Council statement.

In a 26 November presidential statement, the Council demanded that: all Bosnian Serb forces withdrew from the safe area of Bihac; the "so-called Krajina Serb forces" left the Bosnian territory; and all parties and others concerned agreed to an "immediate and unconditional cease-fire" in Bihac, and intensified negotiations for a cease-fire and a cessation of hostilities throughout Bosnia "in pursuit of the territorial settlement" proposed by the Contact Group.

By a 29 November statement, the Council called on the Bosnian Serb party to accept a UN-proposed cease-fire for Bihac, including an interposition of UNPROFOR and a complete demilitarization of the Bihac safe area.

Sarajevo trip

On 30 November, the Secretary-General went to Sarajevo, where he had a long meeting with Bosnian President Izetbegovic. However, Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic did not come to the airport and "no meeting with him was therefore possible", Mr. Boutros-Ghali announced in expressing his "disappointment and surprise".

The Secretary-General had declined Dr. Karadzic's offer to meet at another location as it was the UN position that it recognized "one governmental authority in that area", which was the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina", his Spokesman explained on 30 November at Headquarters.

The 12 December "deliberate attack" on UN peace-keepers in Velika Kladusa, in the Bihac region of Bosnia, was strongly condemned by the Council on 13 December.

In a statement by its President, Manzi Bakuramutsa of Rwanda, the Council said the victims, who were travelling in a vehicle carrying clear UN markings, had been hit by a wire-guided anti-tank missile, resulting in one death and injuries to four other Bangladeshi personnel.

In stating its outrage at the "incident of direct attack on UNPROFOR personnel" and demanding that such attacks did not recur, the Council warned the perpetrators that their "heinous acts of violence carries corresponding individual responsibility".

Safe areas: Modified regime

In order to achieve the "overriding objective of the safe areas", which was to provide protection of the civilian population and ensure humanitarian deliveries, the Council might redefine the present regime, the Secretary-General said in a 1 December report.

Such measures might include: delineation and demilitarization of the safe areas; cessation of hostilities and provocative actions; and "complete freedom of movement". But UNPROFOR's role of deterring violations of the safe areas "should not be changed to one of enforcing the regime", because to do so would create expectations that UNPROFOR "could not fulfil without compromising its basic mission", the Secretary-General stated.

Concerned with the grave situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina which was a "threat to international peace and security", the General Assembly on 3 November encouraged the Security Council to exempt that country from the arms embargo imposed on the former Yugoslavia by resolution 713 (1991) of 25 September 1991.

In adopting resolution 49/10 by a vote of 97 to none, with 61 abstentions, the Assembly also noted Bosnia's offer to "seek de jure lifting of the arms embargo with effective application deferred for up to six months".

In other texts, the Assembly condemned: human rights and international law violations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro)--FRY--(resolution 49/196); rape and abuse of women and children in the areas of armed conflict in the former Yugoslavia (49/205); human rights violations in Kosovo (49/204); and militant actions of the self-proclaimed authorities in the Serb-controlled territories of Croatia, asking the FRY to cease immediately any military and logistical support to those authorities (49/43). The Assembly also expressed concern at the "persistent special economic problems" of States adversely affected by the implementation of sanctions against the FRY (49/21 A).

Council debate

In the course of a two-day debate (8 and 9 November) on lifting the arms embargo, held at the request of Pakistan, which called to "declare the entire 51 per cent of the territory allocated to the Muslim-Croat Federation a 'safe area'", the Security Council heard a total of 46 speakers.

Bosnia and Herzegovina stated that if faced with a choice between the lifting of the embargo and the continuation of UNPROFOR, it preferred the first option, since victims should be allowed to defend themselves.

Croatia said that the embargo imposed on the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia--a State that had since then ceased to exist--should be lifted to create a "new desirable balance of power" in the region.

The United States declared that "a policy driven by fear has no future", and urged the Council to change its approach to make the Bosnian Serbs embrace peace.

Several speakers, however, argued that an end to the embargo would increase hostilities, jeopardize UNPROFOR and, in the Russian Federation's view, have the "most negative consequences for the political process". The five Nordic countries--Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Norway--said such a decision would risk escalating the war, and must remain a "last resort".

The United Kingdom announced that troop contributors would withdraw if the embargo were lifted, while France stated that "one cannot indeed simultaneously follow a logic of war and a logic of peace".

Resolution 967: Anti-serum from FRY

An export of some 12,000 vials of diphtheria anti-serum from the FRY was permitted, for a period of 30 days, by the Council on 14 December. In unanimously adopting resolution 967 (1994), it acted in exemption from resolution 757 (1992) of 30 May 1992, since the only available stocks of the anti-serum were located in the FRY.

Also on 14 December, the Security Council Committee established under resolution 724 (1991) had informed the Council of a request from the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) for approval to export the anti-serum vials to combat a "major resurgence of diphtheria" in several countries of Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

A draft resolution, by which the Security Council would have reconfirmed that all goods crossing the border between the FRY and Bosnia and Herzegovina, including goods for the UNPAs in Croatia, must comply strictly with all its relevant resolutions against Belgrade, particularly resolutions 820 (1993) and 943 (1994), was defeated on 2 December by a negative vote of the Russian Federation.

Sergei V. Lavrov of that country termed the draft "completely inadequate", since the FRY had begun to "cooperate constructively" with international efforts, "unconditionally supported" the territorial settlement plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and closed its borders to all deliveries to the Bosnian Serbs, except for humanitarian supplies.

Li Zhaoxing of China, who had abstained, said that he could not agree that Chapter VII of the UN Charter--dealing with actions with respect to threats to the peace, breaches of the peace, and acts of aggression--should be invoked.

Mario Nobilo of Croatia said the text would sent a message that strategic resources such as fuel, directed to the local croatian Serbs, "cannot be used for the benefit of Bosnian Serbs". Ivan Z. Misic of Bosnia and Herzegovina stated that Council members who failed to support the draft would "practically be associating themselves with the Knin and Pale authorities".

The FRY (Serbia and Montenegro) was "continuing to meet its commitment" to close the border with the areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina under the Bosnian Serb control, Lord David Owen and Thorvald Stoltenberg, Co-Chairmen of the Steering Committee of the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia (ICFY), stated on 4 January 1995.

The ICFY Mission, which by 3 January had deployed 178 international personnel to FRY since 14 September, was covering 20 major crossings 24 hours a day and encountering "very few substantial problems". ICFY Coordinator Bo Pellnas of Sweden found the situation "most satisfactory", the report said (S/1995/6).

FRY compliance had also been certified by the Co-Chairmen on 1 December (S/1994/1372) and 3 November (S/1994/1246), as they continued to report on "border closure measures" to the Security Council "every 30 days", pursuant to resolution 943 (1994) of 23 September.

A number of problems, however, still existed, including: helicopter flights and trucks passing the border in Montenegro; "well-orgaized smuggling"; an increase in the number of "military passenger cars with military plates and uniformed passengers" crossing the border; and difficulties in humanitarian deliveries due to measures taken by the FRY. Also, a crossing point north-west of Krstac had been left "wide open for five days" in November, the Co-Chairmen reported.

On 6 December, the Secretary-General stated (A/49/758) that ICFY continued to "deploy its best endeavours for a solution to the conflict" in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

From July to December 1994, the ICFY had, among other things: provided a framework for dealing with humanitarian problems; initiated and helped to ensure a population census and "contributed to defusing tensions" in the October elections in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM); negotiated a "draft treaty on succession issues"; and brought together the Foreign Ministers of Croatia and the FRY for "what is hoped will be regular meetings in their respective capitals", the Co-Chairmen reported (S/1994/1454) on 29 December.

Red Cross visits, aid flows

Since the eruption of the Bosnian conflict in 1992, delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had visited about 34,000 detainees in 146 places of detention, and 8,825 detainees had been "released under ICRC auspices, including some 1,550, following the establishment of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina" on 1 March, the Secretary-General reported.

Having seen some 840 detainees held by the Bosnian Government and 570 held by the Bosnian Serbs by 20 November, the ICRC had "never been granted access to all of them since it has never regularly been notified of new captures", he said on 6 December.

Military attacks on civilian targets in Bosnia and Herzegovina had continued with "varying degrees of intensity", killing "many hundreds of men, women and children", Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur Tadeusz Mazowiecki stated (A/49/641-S/1994/1252) on 4 November.

Although the principal perpetrators had been the Bosnian Serbs, the Bosnian Government forces had also been engaged in "attacks on civilians, especially at Brcko", and, with the local Croat authorities, were "responsible for certain interference" with the humanitarian aid deliveries, the Special Rapporteur stated.

The current wave of "forced and fear-induced displacement" in areas under Bosnian Serb control was the "largest since the summer of 1992", he said. Therefore, any peace agreements must ensure the "right to return of all displaced people", including some 30,000 displaced from northern Bihac into UNPA North.

International Tribunal: A 'momentous advance'

The establishment of the International Tribunal for the prosecution of persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991--a "novel and experimental institution"--was a "momentous advance in the world community", so stated the new judicial body in its first annual report (A/49/342-S/1994/1007).

Since 1946-1947, no international institution had been entrusted with the "noble but difficult task" of enforcing the laws of humanity by "calling to account those who have ridden roughshod over them".

In early November, an indictment involving charges of grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, violations of the laws and customs of war and crimes against humanity, as well as warrants of arrest, had been issued to the "relevant national authorities" by Tribunal Prosecutor Richard Goldstone, the Secretary-General reported on 6 December.