Perception and Reality in the Modern Yugoslav Conflict by Brendan O'Shea

Author:Brendan O'Shea [O'Shea, Brendan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Europe, Eastern, Military, General, Political Science, Security (National & International)
ISBN: 9781134248681
Google: wYgqBgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2012-10-12T01:16:47+00:00

Bihac

In the meantime the war in Bihac Pocket continued unabated, with Abdic hanging on to control of the northern one-third of the Pocket while Dudakovic juggled his limited resources in an attempt to keep the internal confrontation line quiet and simultaneously deal with never-ending harassment shelling54 and regular low-intensity ground attacks by the Bosnian Serbs. Then on 16 February APWB forces launched several attacks against 5th Corps’ positions and succeeded in moving the confrontation line up to 2 kilometres to the south.55 Observers on the ground began wondering just how long this could go on, as Dudakovic appeared to be on the verge of a total collapse.56

The Danish UN battalion, which was stationed just north of the Pocket, also indicated that the 5th Corps would collapse within two weeks.57 All other monitoring agencies on the ground agreed as the Bosnian Serbs launched one attack after another across the Una river and were supported by rockets, artillery and helicopters. On 11 March Bosnian Serb snipers also saw fit to take the life of a young French peacekeeper who was simply manning an observation post near the town of Otoka. He was shot twice in the back.58

Incredibly, and in spite of the war, business was still business, and the 5th Corps and APWB managed to organise crossing points in the front line on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, where civilians could cross and re-cross in order to buy food and trade in cigarettes and other items. Equally, a formal meeting was also organised on 23 February to discuss a large-scale purchase of food from APWB by the 5th Corps itself.59

A Commission chaired by the chief of staff of UNPROFOR’s BH Command60 did arrive in the region on 24 February in an attempt to negotiate three separate ceasefire agreements: one between the 5th Corps and APWB; a second between the 5th Corps and the BSA; and a third between the 5th Corps and the Krajina Serbs – but it ignored three fundamental problems. First, the French battalion had no mandate whatever to go patrolling a DMZ. The UN was in Bosnia to support the distribution of humanitarian aid and nothing else. Second, the 5th Corps would never tolerate the free passage of Serbs along the railway between Banja Luka and Knin. Last, and perhaps most importantly, Izetbegovic had long since abandoned any intention of ever again negotiating with Fikret Abdic. These proposals were destined only for the garbage bin, and the virtual pointlessness of international involvement in the Pocket was well articulated by Colonel Legrier in an interview with World-wide Television News (WTN).61

Nevertheless, on 31 March, for no obvious reason and of their own volition, Dudakovic met with General Boric, his BSA counterpart in the 2nd Krajina Corps, and they produced a draft ceasefire agreement which apparently established an actual line on the ground across which both sides agreed not to step.62 Dudakovic was running a new strategy now because before he could take on the Serbs again he had to deal with Abdic.

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