Bosnia (April 1995)

The Bosnian Serbs have refused to sign the international community’s latest peace plan. This initiative, put forward by the Contact Group (comprising France, Germany, UK, Russia and the USA), would have required the Serbs to relinquish large areas of territory, reducing their area of control from the current levels of 70% of Bosnia-Hercegovina to 49%.

The failure of the plan has left the Group with few alternative options. There is some hope that as Bosnia’s Serbs become increasingly isolated from their counterparts in Belgrade, many of whom are disassociating themselves from the Bosnian Serb actions, negotiations may continue.

But with the early breaking of the tenuous four-month cease-fire, and the Bosnian government’s despair of finding any alternative but to resume war, conditions for the affected populations remain critical. Conditions in Bihac remain generally unchanged: over 200,000 people face severe food shortages – 100 mt of food was delivered in mid-March, but subsequent requests for clearance for convoys have been denied.

A significant increase in military activity in Tuzla and Travnik in central Bosnia has caused further population displacement. Food convoys into Sarajevo resumed in mid-March, but airlifts are still suspended because of repeated security incidents at the airport.