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of UNPROFOR. In his letter to Boutros Boutros Ghali F. Tuđman stressed that the
cancellation of the UNPROFOR mandate did not imply that Croatia was desisting
from a peaceful settlement of the confl ict with the rebel Serbs and that it was instead
an endeavour to reach an agreement through direct negotiations between Zagreb and
Knin. 98 Th e reaction of the Krajina Serbs was not long in coming. On 27 January M.
Martić applied to the UN Secretary General Ghali and asked him for “UN force protection
of the AP Western Bosnia from the army of Alija Izebegović, just as the peacekeeping
forces are protecting, in the confl ict between the Croats and the Serbs, the Republic of
Serbian Krajina from the Republic of Croatia, which has violated our territory as many
as four times since 1992, perpetrated ethnic cleansing and committed crimes against the
Serbian civilian population”. 99 In spite of their unfavourable position, of which they were
partly aware, the Serbs turned down Plan Z4. Martić’s position that the plan should not
be considered at all was accepted at the extraordinary session of the RSK Assembly held
on 8 February in Knin. Th e Assembly accepted the proposal of the RSK Government
to break off and postpone negotiations with the Republic of Croatia on economic and
political issues “until Croatia withdraws its request for the cancellation of the mandate
of UN peacekeeping forces or until the Security Council decides to extend the mandate
of the UN peacekeeping forces in the protected zones in the territory of the Republic of
Serbian Krajina. 100
Th e next shock came on 31 March 1995 when the UN Security Council accepted the
Croatian requests and passed Resolution 981 which confi rmed the territorial integrity
of the Republic of Croatia and recognized that major provisions of the Vance Plan
remained to be implemented. Th e role of the peacekeeping forces was redefi ned, and
the name UNROFOR changed into UNCRO (United Nations Confi dence Restoration
Operation in Croatia) with a mandate until 30 November 1995. According to the new
mandate, UN forces were responsible for the establishment of effi cient control over the
internationally recognized borders of Croatia, and for controlling and monitoring the
crossing of military equipment and personnel from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
or Republika Srpska into the protected areas. 101
Aft er the military successes of the Croatian Army on Mount Dinara in late 1994 and
early 1995 the area of Knin was threatened from Mount Dinara and Livanjsko Polje,
i.e., from the territory previously held by the armed forces of Republika Srpska. Faced
with the same danger, the rebel Serbs from Croatia and the Bosnian&Herzegovinian
Serbs founded on 20 February the Joint Council of National Defence. 102 In the following
months it was hardly active. An attempt to establish order in the army of the Krajina
98 “Otkaz mandata UNPROFOR-u: Treća obljetnica međunarodnog priznanja Republike Hrvatske” (Cancellation
of the UNPROFOR Mandate: Th e Th ird Anniversary of the International Recognition of the Republic
of Croatia); MORH, Political Directorate, Zagreb, 1995, 12-18.
99 VRH, USMSP: RSK, President of the Republic, no. 020/1-56 of 27 January 1995.
100 POA: Abridged minutes of the fi rst extraordinary session of the RSK Assembly held on 8 February 1995.
101 «Kronologija rata» (Th e Chronology of the War), 465.
102 «Hronologija 1990-1995.»(Chronology 1990-1995), 222.
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