storm - Hrvatski memorijalno-dokumentacijski centar Domovinskog ...

POLITICAL PREPARATION OF OPERATION STORM
In his message to the public on 3 May 1995, aft er the end of Operation Flash, the
President of the Republic of Croatia F. Tuđman pointed out that “with such a victory
Croatia [...] has demonstrated to the rebel Croatian Serbs, and to international
factors, that it has an armed force capable of liberating all the still occupied areas if that
is not achieved in a peaceful way in cooperation with the international community”. 120
Along with its success in Western Slavonia, the Croatian army also mounted a number
of successful military operations along the border between the Republic of Croatia and
Bosnia&Herzegovina, and created conditions for the liberation of temporarily occupied
areas. 121 Th e Croatian leadership was aware that there would be no peaceful reintegration,
and that the inactivity of the Croatian Army in the Western Bosnian theatre could only
adversely aff ect the general balance of forces, which had never been so favourable until
that point in time. Having been given the green light by the political leadership the
Croatian Army had a free hand to set off the process for the liberation of the temporarily
occupied parts of the Republic of Croatia. At the meeting held on the Brijuni Islands on
31 July 1995, the President of the Republic of Croatia Dr. Franjo Tuđman and top-level
HV offi cers considered the forthcoming operation and sought to defi ne the political
justifi cation for it. F. Tuđman wanted the rebel Serbs totally defeated within the shortest
possible time. 122
At the political level, the last attempt for a peaceful resolution of the issue of rebel
areas was made on 3 August 1995 at the meeting of the representatives of Croatian
authorities and of the rebel Serbs from Knin. Th e meeting started at 10 a.m. in the Saugy
Villa at Genthod, a dozen kilometres from Geneva. Th e Croatian delegation included
Ivić Pašalić (MP), Vesna Škare Ožbolt (Assistant Chief of Staff of the President), Smiljan
Reljić (Assistant Minister of the Interior) and Lieutenant-General Petar Stipetić (Assistant
Chief of the HV General Staff ). During the negotiations it produced the following
demands: immediate peaceful reintegration of the occupied areas; immediate opening
of all communications across the occupied areas, especially the Zagreb-Split railway via
Knin; opening of the pipeline within 24 hours of the end of negotiations, with Croatian
control throughout the pipeline route; immediate enforcement in the occupied areas of
the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia and of the provisions of the Constitutional Law
on the Rights of the Serbian Ethnic Community guaranteeing political, civil and ethnic
rights; surrender of weapons to the Croatian authorities witnessed by UNCRO within 3
120 HDA, HUPMEZ: Message of the President of the Republic Dr. Franjo Tuđman, 3 May 1995.
121 For basic information about the actions of the Croatian forces in the spring of 1995 see A. Gotovina, “Napadajni
bojevi i operacije HV i HVO” (Off ensive HV and HVO Battles and Operations), Knin 1996. 37-56.
122 N. Barić, “Srpska pobuna u Hrvatskoj 1990-1995.» (Serb Rebellion in Croatia 1990-1995), 514-516.
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