Prospects for lasting peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina have improved in recent months as a result of a clear shift in approach towards implementation of the peace plan on the part of the international community.  The new-found resolve has been characterised, in particular, by a snatch operation in Prijedor in July in which one indicted war criminal was captured and another killed, and the seizure by the NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) of four transmission towers used by Bosnian Serb television’s (SRT) Pale studio which had hitherto been used to broadcast ethnic hatred and obstruct implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA).

The about-turn in international policy is, in part, a product of the change in government in Britain as well as the appointment of Madeleine Albright as US Secretary of State.  It also reflects a realisation that NATO forces will only be able to make a dignified withdrawal from Bosnia and Herzegovina once the groundwork for a lasting peace has been laid.  Maintaining a cease-fire for two and a half years and holding elections is simply not enough to prevent the country from slipping back into war as soon as international peace-keepers pull out.  While the more robust international approach to implementing the DPA has begun to pay dividends, it has also highlighted the magnitude of the remaining task necessary to rebuild Bosnia and Herzegovina after four years of war.

Sarajevo, 19 November 1997