yugoslavias implosion

Sarajevo and the entire Muslim population, the horror of the Srebrenica
massacre compelled the United States to take military action.
The Serbian carnage threatened to discredit the efforts of the United
Nations and all international mediators who had become active
agents in the war. From a moral point of view, Srebrenica was both
a turning point in the Bosnian war and a symbol of the impotence
and indifference of Western foreign policy. The West, which had
simply ignored genocide in Rwanda, now reacted differently. The
un rapporteur for human rights for the former Yugoslavia, Tadeusz
Mazowiecki, in his letter of resignation to the un secretary-general
stated inter alia: “Bosnia is the issue of stability of international
order and civilised principles.” He accused the international community
and its leaders of inconsistency and a lack of courage in defending
human rights in Bosnia-Herzegovina. 301
The fall of Srebrenica finally persuaded the Europeans to throw
their weight behind the new u.s. strategy, which this time envisaged
the robust use of force against the Bosnian Serbs. As it happened,
the Serbs had provoked the West at time when, for the first time,
it wanted to be provoked. The ensuing nato strikes and the Croat-Muslim
offensive threatening to “liberate” Banja Luka reduced
the amount of territory held by Serbs from 75 percent to 46 percent.
The Croat-Muslim push was halted outside Banja Luka because the
West, having witnessed the Serbian exodus from Krajina, feared a
new refugee crisis. It was then that Milošević realised for the first
time that negotiations alone could save the tottering Serbs from an
utter rout.
Milošević failed in an attempt he made in 1993 to end the war in
Bosnia by negotiation because of opposition from Radovan Karadžić
and the leadership in Pale, the capital of Republika Srpska during the
war. Milošević was desperate for peace on account of the untenable
economic situation in Serbia, which could be mitigated only by the
301 Final (thirteenth) Periodic Mazowiecki Report/ 22 August 95/Part 1/E/CN/4/1996/9 .
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