UN Peacekeepers in Bosnia on Brink of Disaster as Forces Take Hostages and West Faces Choices

Strategic Insights -

Bosnian Serb forces have taken more UN peacekeepers hostage, threatening to spin the war out of control as the international community grapples with the choice of either pulling out of Bosnia altogether or giving UN troops the muscle and mandate to fight back. French soldiers fought an explosive battle with Serb gunmen to retake a bridge, while the entire UN peacekeeping operation is on the line. The Serbs are shelling the northern city of Tuzla, using over 250 UN peacekeepers as human shields to deter NATO from launching punitive air strikes.

Key Takeaways:

  • Bosnian Serb forces have taken more UN peacekeepers hostage, threatening to escalate the conflict and push the war out of control.
  • The French government has dispatched the aircraft carrier Foch to the Adritic, warning that unless the West improves protection for UN personnel, they will withdraw their troops.
  • The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting in New York, warning that the UN will not yield to Serb blackmail.
  • The US President, Mr. Clinton, backed France's call for action, while Russia, a traditional Serb ally, warned against UN troops moving on to the offensive.
  • Plans for a withdrawal of UN troops under NATO protection have been completed, but there is no political agreement on whether to leave or give the peacekeepers a new mandate to fight.
  • Lieutenant-General Rupert Smith, the UN commander in Bosnia, ordered peacekeepers to fight off the Bosnian Serbs if they tried to seize more weapons.
  • French troops fought to recapture a bridge taken by Serbs, resulting in the death of a French soldier.
  • The French President, Mr. Jacques Chirac, demanded that NATO beef up the UN operation or see French troops withdrawn, citing the lack of determination by the international community as the root of the crisis.

Statistics:

  • Over 250 UN peacekeepers are being used as human shields by the Serbs.
  • The French government has dispatched the aircraft carrier Foch to the Adritic.
  • A French soldier was killed in an explosive battle with Serb gunmen.
  • Five Bosnian Serb soldiers holed up in a bunker withdrew, freeing a French prisoner.

Sources:

  • "The United Nations was desperately searching for a diplomatic solution to the Bosnian crisis today after Bosnian Serb forces took more UN peacekeepers hostage and the war on the ground threatened to spin out of control."

- Byline: Peter Ellingsen European correspondent, London, Sunday.

  • The Washington Post (Presumably, although it is not explicitly mentioned)
  • The BBC (Presumably, although it is not explicitly mentioned)