ABSTRACT

In December 1995 NATO deployed a multinational peace Implementation Force (IFOR) to Bosnia-Herzegovina to implement the terms of the Dayton Accord. The smaller Stabilisation Force (SFOR) replaced IFOR in December 1996 with the primary task of contributing to the secure environment necessary for the resumption of peace. The United Nations peacekeeping operation was confused by mixed mandates combining peacekeeping with peace enforcement, thus putting the lives of peacekeepers at risk and damaging the organisation's reputation for impartiality. A recent initiative, flowing from the 1996 Lisbon Summit, has been the European Charter which, among other things, aims to make sense of the relationship between the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and Europe's other security organisations. In line with Russia's ambitions, the operation has arguably elevated the OSCE in relation to other European security institutions and underscored the possibilities for pan-European cooperation in the interests of crisis management, peacekeeping and stability.