ABSTRACT
Lt. General Sir Michael Rose arrived in Bosnia on 25 January 1994, the first UN commander in Bosnia to serve out his full term in office. During that time, three UN ‘safe areas’ came under an intensified offensive, putting the UN, NATO and the ‘dual key’ arrangement severely to the test – a test that ultimately failed, despite the early perceived ‘window of opportunity’ following the threat of NATO action. As the VRS tightened its grip on Eastern Bosnia and the Bihac pocket, the newly-formed ‘contact group’ evolved a plan which effectively created the conditions for ratifying a ‘state’ within a state – Republika Srpska – thus fulfilling the main war aim of its leader, Radovan Karadzic. The one redeeming international initiative that year was the US-brokered agreement which ended the war in Central Bosnia and, through the establishment of a federation between the Bosnian government and the Croats obviated, at least temporarily, the proposed three-way ethnic split between the Bosnian communities.
