ABSTRACT
The 1992-1996 ethnic wars in Bosnia Herzegovina and the conflict in Kosovo during 1999 are frequently cited. This chapter outlines the significant events during these conflicts that prompted international outrage over extreme human rights violations. It argues that humanitarian intervention by the international community in Bosnia Herzegovina and in Kosovo was too little, too late and poorly executed. The war in Bosnia Herzegovina had its genesis in 1968, when Yugoslavia began to unravel after the government crackdown on the student movement in Zagreb. The admission of Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia to the United Nations (UN), and the UN's recognition of the independence of the Government of Bosnia Herzegovina against strategic incursions by the Yugoslav and Croatian military, internationalised the conflict in the Balkans. Clearly, the negotiations by the European Union and the UN teams with the parties involved in the Balkans conflict were not working.
