On Sunday, the 20th of December, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is marking 20th anniversary since the start of the first peacekeeping mission of the Alliance, the Implementation Force (IFOR), which was sent to B&H on the 20th of December 1995 after the Dayton Peace Agreement was successfully agreed.
“The commitment of NATO for stable and secure B&H was included in Dayton Peace Agreement 20 years ago and has not been undermined until the present day. We came here in order to ensure peace after the end of terrible conflicts. Today, B&H is a very different place. Peaceful, stable and moving towards a better future on the path of Euro-Atlantic integration,” as stated by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
The IFOR mission started after the war in B&H on the 21st of November 1995, when a peace agreement was signed in the US air base in Dayton, Ohio. A month later, on December 20, 1995, soldiers of the IFOR mission were distributed throughout B&H to ensure respect of the agreement.
The main objective of IFOR was to maintain peace and separate armed forces of FB&H and Republika Srpska. IFOR also supervised the demarcation of the border line and the removal of heavy weapons from authorized disposal sites. In December 1996, IFOR was replaced by NATO’s Stabilization Force (SFOR), which was quite smaller and had a different authorities.
Later, the European Union took a stabilizing role in 2004.
NATO still has its headquarters in Sarajevo, and representatives are giving advices regarding defense reform, coordination of partner activities and support the Euro-Atlantic efforts. B&H became a partner of NATO in 2006 and intends to apply for NATO membership, as announced from the NATO headquarters.
(Source: novovrijeme.ba)
