A memorial to the victims of towns in eastern Bosnia
In 1995,everything changed for the Serbs, when Croatian forces retook Krajina in southeastern Croatia. The victory sent more than 170,000 Serbs fleeing in fear. After this devastating defeat, hold cease-fire talks with the United Nations were commenced. The Dayton Agreement of November 1995 separated Bosnia between a Serbian-controlled region and a Bosnian Federation of Croats and Muslims. In effect, the agreement rewarded the Serbian aggressors and left an unsteady Bosnia.
Although the mission to Bosnia finished unhappily and left many UN officials unsatisfied, it did not end in total failure. Peacekeepers were able to keep back major attacks on patrolled towns; in doing so, they lowered casualties and improved basic humanitarian conditions. Even in safe areas, however, living conditions were overcrowded, crime, and unemployment were aggressive. Most unsettling was the uncertain future.
Annan noticed UN's failings, and called on all human beings to pick up a torch to help the UN succeed. "The world cannot claim ignorance of what those who live here have endured," Annan said in Sarajevo in 1995,
Although the mission to Bosnia finished unhappily and left many UN officials unsatisfied, it did not end in total failure. Peacekeepers were able to keep back major attacks on patrolled towns; in doing so, they lowered casualties and improved basic humanitarian conditions. Even in safe areas, however, living conditions were overcrowded, crime, and unemployment were aggressive. Most unsettling was the uncertain future.
Annan noticed UN's failings, and called on all human beings to pick up a torch to help the UN succeed. "The world cannot claim ignorance of what those who live here have endured," Annan said in Sarajevo in 1995,
In looking back, we should all recall how we responded to the escalating horrors of the last four years. And, as we do, there are questions which each of us must ask: What did I do? Could I have done more? Did I let my prejudice, or my fear, overwhelm my reasoning? And above all, how would I react next time?