Peacekeeping Operations in Croatia: Between Failure and Success

The author is examining the lessons to be learned from peacekeeping operations in Croatia. He thinks that the whole conflict on the territory of former Yugoslavia needs to be studied in detail since it is one of the first non-international conflicts where the Security Council got involved at a time when concept of traditional peacekeeping operations has been reconsidered as manifested in the Agenda for Peace. The UN ground troops have been mostly impotent due to the politics between great powers, but also due to false assessments of the situation on site. The mandate of peacekeeping troops was ill defined and in future the peacekeeping mandate should comprise also a peace-enforcing mandate from the start. There is a need for a professional army to replace the present made of securing peacekeeping troops, yet even such troops need thorough training on local conditions. But all is in vain if a viable peace plan is not developed from the start by politicians, who should rely on professional guidance by experts of the local and regional environment.