1996
January 2, 1996 - The international Tribunal accused 52 people in total of war crimes. Neither one of them were arrested and extradited.
January 4, 1996 - Deadline: All parties should have offered a list of all POWs to the international Red Cross.
January 6, 1996 - British and French IFOR troops were fired upon.
January 7, 1996 - A French IFOR aircraft with passengers was fired upon during its landing at the airport of Sarajevo.
January 8, 1996 - EU administrator of Mostar (southwest Bosnia-Herzegowina), threatened to stop the overall assistance to the town if the muslims and Croats were not able to solve their conflict. The mayor of the Croat part of the city said dividing the town permanently would be the only solution.
NATO troops were fired upon four times in several days, on separate occasions. It was announced that two AH-64 helicopters would be be moved to Sarajevo in order to protect IFOR troops and to pose a threat.
January 9, 1996 - One civilian was killed and nineteen were injured after a tramcar was fired upon with a grenade on "Sniper Boulevard". Immediately after the explosion, snipers opened fire at the tramcar. French IFOR troops responded by firing a 20mm gun. The fight lasted for about 20 minutes.
Serb leaders threatened to start an exodus of Bosnian Serbs from Sarajevo, if NATO would not be prepared to delay the transfer of authority of the town until September 1996.
During 12,900 flights, 160,000 tons of cargo were airlifted to Sarajevo.
January 10, 1996 - In Mostar, Bosnian Croats fired five grenades at government troops.
Two US AH-64 attack helicopters were moved to Sarajevo, in order to pose a threat.
January 12, 1996 - The first Russian IFOR troops arrived at Tuzla.
January 19, 1996 - An exchange of 225 POWs took place at the airport of Sarajevo, though there were still over 700 prisoners being held by all parties in 23 prisons in total.
January 24, 1996 - Two Italian and one Portuguese IFOR soldiers were killed after an explosion in Sarajevo and ten Italian and Portuguese soldiers are injured. These were the first NATO casualties since the arrival of the Implementation Force in former Yugoslavia in December 1995. The explosion was caused by improper handling of ammunition.
January 25, 1996 - According to the International Red Cross, 645 POWs were being held in Bosnia: 318 by the Bosnian government, 150 by the Bosnian Serbs and 177 by the Bosnian Croats. The POWs should have been released one week ago, according to the peace agreement.
January 28, 1996 - Three British soldiers were killed when their vehicle hit a mine near Mrkonjic, central Bosnia. Other casualties include a Swedish soldier, who was killed when his vehicle landed in a river near Doboj in north Bosnia and a US soldier who was injured after being hit by a bullet near IFOR Headquarters in Ilidza, Sarajevo.
January 29, 1996 - The International Red Cross said all parties were still holding 99 POWs, of which 63 suspected war criminals. The prisoners suspected of war crimes did not have to be released according to the Dayton agreement. The Red Cross demanded the immediate release of the other 36. During the previous weekend, almost 500 prisoners in total were released by all parties.
January 30, 1996 - Six Bosnian Serbs — amongst which Gen. Djordje Djukic and Col. Aleksa Krsmanovic — were arrested by Bosnian federal troops on the accusation that they were involved in massive exodus of civilians.
January 31, 1996 - A new government was etsblished in Bosnia under the leadership of Hasan Muratovic. The Muslim Croatian federation was supposed to have installed a new government too. The current administration would stay in charge until elections could be held in September 1996.
IFOR soldiers have been fired upon by snipers in Sarajevo for the sixth time in one week: two IFOR vehicles were fired upon in Ilidza, the demilitarized zone near the Headquarters of IFOR ground forces.
February 1, 1996 - French IFOR soldiers killed a sniper in Sarajevo after a shooting incident of a day before. French special forces located the man and shot him. A second sniper was arrested.
February 3, 1996 - The transfer of control over the Serb quarters of Sarajevo to the central government was postponed for 45 days, due to the fact that the International Police Task Force was not ready yet. The IPTF would eventually consist of 1,600 people, but only 300 arrived.
February 4, 1996 - A US soldier in Gradacac in the US-controlled sector in northern Bosnia was killed after having touched unexploded ordnance. This was the first US soldier killed since the arrival of US forces in Bosnia in December 1995.
February 5, 1996 - Two British soldiers were slightly injured after being hit by a sniper.
February 6, 1996 - The Bosnian Serbs have cut off all contact with the Bosnian government after the arrest of six Serbs who are being accused of being war criminals.
A spokesman of the International Red Cross said to be convinced of the killing of 3,000 muslims from Srebrenica in July 1995. The faith of 5,000 others is unknown.
The Bosnian government released 5 POWs.
The Bosnian Croats remained persistent in their demand that the City of Mostar was to be divided into two separate Croate and Muslim parts.
February 8, 1996 - The Bosnian Serbs threatened to boycott the peace process after the arrest of two officers by government troops.
February 9, 1996 - US mediator Richard Holbrooke tried to negotiate with the Bosnian Serbs, after their decision to boycott the peace process. The Bosnian Serbs demanded immediate release of the two officers arrested January 30. Another obstacle in the Bosnian peace process was the disagreement about the city of Mostar, which was still divided. Bosnian-Croatian civilians threatened EU administrator Hans Koschnick earlier.
February 11, 1996 - The Bosnian government released four of the Serbs arrested on January 30. The two officers remain in detention. Serb president Milosevic declared to the Yuguslav press agency Tanjug that he was willing to observe the agreement completely.
February 13, 1995 - Two Bosnian-Serb officers — Gen Djordje Djukic and Col. Aleksa Krsmanovic — were transferred to the International Tribunal in The Hague for questioning. The two were not on the Tribunal's list of 52 officially accused persons.
February 15, 1995 - Thursday, eleven individuals were detained by IFOR forces in a house Fojnica — west of Sarajevo. The individuals, some not natives of Bosnia Herzegovina, were found to be in possession of a large number of weapons, ammunition and explosives. According to the Dayton agreement, all foreign soldiers should have left the country on January 19.
February 16, 1996 - Serb president Milosevic terminated the independence of the last television station of the country not controlled by the government. With the exception of two magazines — Vreme and Nasa Borba — all of the news media were in government hands.
February 17, 1996 - Bosnian president Izetbegowic, Serb president Milosevic and Croat president Tudjman came to an agreement in Rome, where they attended a meeting with Richard Holbrooke, NATO general Joulwan and Carl Bildt. The Croats agreed on a total freedom of movement in the city of Mostar, and a combined Muslim / Croat police force. Another agreement was reached on the arrest procedures of suspected war criminals. All contacts with IFOR would be resumed.
In the Serb quarters of Sarajevo a massive exodus of Bosnian-Serbs started. Hundreds of civilians already left, fearing the transfer of authority of the city to the Bosnian government.
February 19, 1996 - French IFOR troops discovered a Bosnian Serb ammunition depot in Ilijas, one of the suburbs of Sarajevo. The existence of the depot was a violation of the peace agreement. Ilijas was one of the suburbs to be handed over to the Bosnian government in a week; weapons were not allowed.
February 20, 1996 - The Serbs ordered the evacuation of the Serb quarters of Sarajevo. According to the Serbs 50,000 inhabitants were going to leave Sarajevo before authority would be transferred to the Bosnian government.
The UN Tribunal in The Hague announced a public hearing against the Croatian Serb Milan Martic, who was "president" of the "Serb Republic Krajina", a part of Croatia that was conquered from the Coratian Serbs last year. In May last year Martic ordered the shelling of the center of Zagreb, which caused the death of seven people.
Richard Holbrooke was succeeded by Robert Gallucci.
February 22, 1996 - The Canadian judge Louise Arbour succeeded Richard Goldstone from South Africa as public prosecutor of the UN Tribunal for war crimes.
February 23, 1996 - Russia decided to lift the economic sanctions against the Bosnian Serbs. According to UNSC resolution 1022 these sanctions could be lifted when the Bosnian Serbs withdrew from the "separation zones" as agreed in Dayton. IFOR had not yet advised the UN to do so.
Februari 24, 1996 - IFOR commander Leighton Smith and peace coordinator Carl Bildt were unable to persuade the remaining 2,000 of 17,000 inhabitants of the village of Vogosca to remain in the city. After it became clear they would not succeed, they authorized the use of trucks of the Bosnian Serb army, though Vogosca is in the demilitarized zone and military trucks are not allowed.
February 27, 1996 - Hans Koschnick sent in his resignation as governor of the Bosnian city Mostar. In New York the UN Security Council lifted the sanctions against the Bosnian Serbs.
March 11, 1996 - IFOR refused to take strong action against the lawlessness in the suburbs of Sarajevo.
March 12, 1996 - Croatia and Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) reached an agreement on the reopening of the main road and the railroad between Zagreb and Belgrade and the restructuring of telecommunications links.
March 16, 1996 - A Dutch Army Corporal was shot in his left leg while unloading his weapon.
March 16, 1996 - The United States pleaded in favor of restoring military balance in Bosnia; a plan that was not widely supported by all western countries. There were no plans for the re-arming of former Yugoslavia's military forces.
April 3, 1996 - A USAF CT-43 (737-200) crashes on approach to Dubrovnik (Croatia), killing all 35 passengers, including the US Commerce Secretary Ron Brown.
April 8, 1996 - Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) and Macedonia announced mutual diplomatic relations. Macedonia was the first new country on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, being recognized officially.
April 17, 1996 - Two IFOR soldiers were killed in a mine incident in the Nordic Pole Brigade when a military vehicle struck a mine 2 km southeast of Brezici.
May 21, 1996 - Coordinator Carl Bildt accused Karadic of delaying the peace process.
May 21, 1996 - IFOR intensified its search for war criminals, especially the former Bosnian-Serb 'president' Radovan Karadic and Ratko Miladic. Critics doubted whether IFOR would be capable of capturing both persons.
May 29, 1996 - On 29 March 1994, William Eagleton was appointed to the position of Special Coordinator, according to UNSCR 900 (March 4, 1994). Goal was to draw up an overall assessment and plan of action for the restoration of essential public services in the various opstinas of Sarajevo, other than the city of Pale.
IFOR reported that the North Atlantic Council authorized IFOR to detain and transfer to the ICTY "those persons indicted of war crimes for whom arrest warrants have been issued by the tribunal." IFOR had no authority to detain alleged war criminals that were not been indicted by the ICTY. IFOR would only detain persons indicted for war crimes if it encountered them in the course of its regular duties, but would not search for them.
May 29, 1996 - The Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP) for a six-month period, until 30 November.
June 13, 1996 - D+180 was the last day of the arms embargo (1991) against the republics of former Yugoslavia. A new agreement dealing with the re-arming of Bosnia, Croatie, Yugoslavia, Serb republic and the Muslim-Croatian federation was not established.
June 13, 1996 - US president Clinton stuck to earlier plans to remove US military forces at D+360, in December 1996. On June 12, US Minister of Defence William Perry said that the US would be prepared to keep US forces in the area, once NATO decides to do the same. In December, all 60,000 IFOR troops (20,000 of them being from the US) were scheduled to leave Bosnia. However, due to the lack of cooperation between the various parties in former Yugoslavia, this could trigger renewed hostilities. The British parliament stated that they were prepared to participate in a post-IFOR keeping force. Britain had 10,500 troops in Bosnia at that time.
June 14, 1996 - The elections in Bosnia needed to take place, independent of the arrest of the Bosnian-Serb leaders Karadzic and Mladic, both suspected war criminals.
June 14, 1996 - The Muslim-Croat federation postponed a law dealing with joining the Bosnian federal army and the army of the Bosnian Croats. As a result, the US was not willing to start training of the Bosnian federal army; a process scheduled for completion at the end of the IFOR mandate in December 1996.
June 18, 1996 - In accordance with Security Council resolution 1021 (1995), all provisions of the embargo on deliveries of weapons and military equipment imposed by resolution 713 (1991) were terminated.
June 20, 1996 - Croat authorities identified 350 bodies, found in mass graves in Krajina — probably one thousand bodies in total are present of habitants of 20 villages near Petrinja (50 km southeast of Zagreb). This area was conquered in the second half of 1991 by the Croat Serbs and the Yugoslav army.
June 21, 1996 - Bosnian-Serb leader Karadzic was pointed out as candidate to be elected as president of the Serb republic in Bosnia. This decision was in conflict with the Dayton peace agreement and was condemned by the West. Karadzic was accused of war crimes earlier.
June 21, 1996 - Bosnian Serb Dusko Tadic identified himself before the UN Tribunal in The Hague.
June 21, 1996 - The Netherlands sent a special representative to UN head quarters in New York to investigate the fall of "safe area" Srebrenica on July 11, 1995.
Juny 26, 1996 - Elections in Bosnia were scheduled for September 14, 1996, even if certain minimum requirements for such elections were not completely met, according to the OSCE.
Bosnian-Serb leader Karadic — accused of war crimes — was still politically active, recuperation of refugees had not been accomplished and free access to independent media was not established.
Juny 26, 1996 - The Bosnian-Serb parliament discussed the possible resignation of Karadic. According to the Dayton agreement, Karadic was not allowed to hold any public function.
July 1, 1996 - Karadic transferred authorities to his vice-president Biljana Plavsic, but formally remained president until the September elections.
July 2, 1996 - Karadic's Bosnian-Serb party wanted him as a candidate for the presidential elections in September. The international community was not prepared to take sanctions against the Serbs.
July 4, 1996 - An international crisis group vehicle was taken at gun point in Banja Luka.
July 5, 1996 - A Finnish expert team located the remains of 35 bodies during a demining operation near Zvornik. No authorization was given by the Zvornik police to proceed with the project.
During a helicopter reconnaissance mission, MND North discovered several VRS tanks and armored vehicles outside a registered cantonment not authorized for heavy equipment.
July 15, 1996 - During an authorized HIP helicopter flight from Zenica, four 75 mm anti-tank weapons and 148 rounds of anti-tank ammunition were carried, instead of the 24 passengers it had been authorized to carry. It was all seized by a Portugese patrol and taken to an IFOR base near Gorazde. All A-B-I-H rotary and fixed-wing flights were banned immediately and until further notice.
July 18, 1996 - In a conversation with the UN civil affairs, the mayor of Ugljevik, Miladin Stefanovic stated that if Karadzic was arrested, the RS would respond with military action targeting IFOR and all UN international police monitors.
July 19, 1996 - Bosnian-Serb leader Karadic resigned all public functions to clear the way to the elections in September, said Richard Holbrooke after several meetings with Bosnian-Serb president Milosevic and Bosnian-Serb leaders. After heavy American en Serb pressure Karadic signed a statement in which he declared to withdraw from all political activities. The statement was also signed by Serb president Milosevic and Serb and Bosnian-Serb representatives.
July 22, 1996 - Luxembourg Minister of Foreign Affairs J. Poos pleaded in favor of an international peace keeping force in Bosnia, once the US troops leave.
July 24, 1996 - A road accident caused the death of one Polish soldier and minor injuries to two others.
July 26, 1996 - A French officer lost his foot and portion of his hand after contact with an anti-personnel mine. A road accident between a civilian vehicle and an IFOR vehicle caused the death of the civilian driver.
A drunken Serb male entered the IPTF regional HQ building in Banja Luka with a hand grenade in hand. A physical fight ensued as the receptionist restrained the subject, preventing him from activating the grenade.
An anti-tank mine detonated, damaging a French light reconnaissance vehicle with a crew of three. Two casualties.
July 27, 1996 - A French NCO received a minor injury to his arm after shots were fired in the vicinity of a patrol near Visoko airfield. In response, a French and a Ukraine company moved into sweep the area for evidence of the perpetrators. Six persons were detained and thirty weapons and a about 1,000 rounds of ammunition were seized.
In Livno, a bomb exploded in a house used by the UN International Police and another bomb destroyed a truck used by a local Muslim humanitarian organization. No injuries.
July 31, 1996 - Admiral Leighton Smith (USN) was succeeded as Commander-in-chief Allied Forces Southern Europe, Commander-in-chief US Naval Forces Europe and Commander NATO IFOR. He was succeeded by Admiral T. Joseph Lopez (USN). Lopez was the 21st CINCSOUTH since the HQ was established in Naples in 1951.
August 2, 1996 - MND South-East shut down two illegal police checkpoints, one Serb and one Bosnian, on either side of the Iebl between Ustikolina and Foca.
August 6, 1996 - Three shots were fired in the direction of a joint Mostar police patrol. At 23:15 some tracer fire was observed from Mostar West to Mostar East. And, two explosions at 23:40 and 01:00 were investigated, with no apparent damage evident.
August 9, 1996 - The ban on HVO flights was lifted.
August 10, 1996 - The ban on ABIH flights was lifted.
An Italian military railway company arrived to reconstruct the badly damaged railway between Zvornik and Kalesija.
During a routine patrol near Margetici, about six kilometers north-east of Sokolac, IFOR soldiers spotted a suspicious looking building, and on inspection discovered an ammunition dump.
An IFOR inspection team was denied access to a site in Han Pijesak.
August 11, 1996 - An American foreign service officer was shot by an unidentified assailant(s) when returning by road to Sarajevo from Kiseljak.
August 12, 1996 - The UN international police went to code Orange in RS territory. All UN police monitors as well as most of the UN international staff were moved to either IFOR bases in RS territory or to IFOR or UN bases across the boundary line. Patrolling continued with IFOR escorts.
Soldiers from MND/SE were on patrol between Sokolac and Han Pijesak, verifying the move of two 155 mm guns to an approved site. Two undeclared 155 mm guns have been confiscated.
A UNHCR bus en route from Banja Luka to Zenica was stopped by RS police, claiming it was operating illegally. After invention of the Royal Military Police, the bus was allowed to continue. In a meeting with the local police, IFOR stated that any illegal RS police checkpoint interfering with the bus service will be removed.
August 13, 1996 - Caused by the refusal to let IFOR inspectors gain access to the site near Han Pijesak, Operation Fear Naught has been conducted. All isolated detachments have been withdrawn into secure bases or reinforced to a practical size for security purposes. The operation will continue until the results are satisfactory.
August 19, 1996 - The main activity in MND South-East was Operation Volcano: the plan to destroy some 300-plus tons of mines and ammunition that had been stored at the unauthorized site at Margetici. About 2,000 soldiers from all three divisions, including two battalions of infantry and an engineer battalion, were participating in this operation. There were some anonymous threats against IFOR soldiers warning of danger if IFOR persisted with this operation.
August 21, 1996 - Operation Volcano: About 130 tons were destroyed and 200 tons were expected to be destroyed.
The director of a factory in Teslic was removed from his position. Four civilians armed with pistols, hand grenades, knifes and axes arrived at the factory, while the director was absent. Later, the same individuals accompanied by two policemen armed with pistols and baseball bats returned, forcing office doors. They changed all the locks and the few muslims and Croats working at the factory were told to leave.
August 22, 1996 - Fire was opened at Bosnian a police patrol. The perpetrator has been arrested. The situation in Cazin is not improving and the local police force does not take action.
The ABIH broke the strict IFOR air movement regulations in four separate incidents, when moving military personnel with helicopters. Two of the flights were not authorized to carry passengers. The other two flights were carrying far more passengers than had been approved by HQ ARRC. As a result, all ABIH helicopter flights were banned again.
August 24, 1996 - After an unauthorized ABIH transport of several hundred newly trained soldiers from Zenica to Bihac, all ABIH troop and equipment movement into the sensitive Bihac pocket was banned.
September 2, 1996 - There were four explosions in Brcko overnight; shortly after midnight, three explosions damaged homes and around 0330, one explosion damaged a Muslim warehouse containing construction materials.
September 3, 1996 - In concert with the IPTF, MND NORTH continued to monitor the Mahala area. Three explosions were reported at Muslim houses in the process of being rebuilt in the Brcko area on Sunday night and early Monday morning. One of the houses was destroyed, and the other 2 suffered roof damage. At the same time another explosive device went off in a warehouse containing Muslim owned building materials. There were three other explosions in Brod.
IFOR engineers spanned the river at Slavonski Brod on the RS/Croatian border in MND NORTH's area and at Vojkovici, south of Sarajevo, within the Sarajevo suburbs.
September 29, 1996 - Results from the Sept 14 election showed Bosnia's Moslem President Alija Izetbegovic narrowly defeated Bosnian Serb rival Momcilo Krajisnik.
September 29, 1996 - A Jordanian military aircraft on a scheduled IFOR flight landed in Sarajevo to bring cargo and supplies to Jordanian IFOR troops. Aboard were non-official passengers who were picked up by a civilian bus. Some of them have been arrested.
September 30, 1996 - An ABiH helicopter on an authorized flight from Coralici to Zenica and back was carrying 28 instead of the approved 18 passengers. As a result of this violation, all ABiH helicopter flights were banned.
October 1, 199 - The United Nations Security Council lifted the sanctions against the Serbs.
October 2, 1996 - At a meeting of the Peace Implementation Council Steering Board in Sarajevo, is was decided that the municipal elections could go ahead as long as three conditions would be met:
- that there would be higher standards for these elections than the September 14th pole;
- That there would be international supervisors at polling stations and throughout the counting process;
- A two part requirement that the structure exists for free-running elections and also that the structure exist for the installation of elected officials.
October 3, 1996 - President Izetbegovic and president Milosevic met in Paris in a meeting facilitated by the US and hosted by president Chirac. Agreement was reached on full diplomatic relations and the exchange of the ambassadors as soon as possible.
October 6, 1996 - Today, two IFOR soldiers from the Portuguese battalion died in a road traffic accident, east of Visegrad. A preliminary investigation indicates that the accident occurred when the brakes on the soldiers' armored vehicle failed, causing it to plunge off the road and overturn.
In MND-Southeast over the weekend, an IFOR patrol stopped two military trucks belonging to the HVO near Posusje, between Trebinje and the Croatian border. They were returning to Bosnia from Croatia. The trucks were carrying a military cargo, and this one was not approved. Since the convoy was unauthorized, the cargo of 10 tons of explosives was confiscated and will be destroyed by MND Southeast.
In MND-Southwest, sixth Czech battalion confiscated eight unauthorized weapons from a number of civilian security guards near Bihac. The guards lacked formal permits to possess the weapons, which consisted of five M70 pistols, two 59/66 rifles and one M48 rifle. The will be destroyed.
October 7, 1996 - The 150 bodies exhumed in July in Cerska were handed over to Amor Masovic, the chairman of the Federation Committee on exchange of prisoners and missing persons. According to the documentation recovered, there was a possibility that approximately a dozen of these bodies might be identified.
The UN international police had a meeting with the Zvornik police chief Dragan Vasic to discuss joint patrols in Jusici. The RS police refused to conduct any joint patrols in that area with the UN international police.
October 8, 1996 - The 150 bodies exhumed in Cerska were handed over to Amor Masovic All the bodies were of different age, suffered multiplied gun-shoot wounds, non-combat related and none had military clothing and as far as the tribunal team is concerned, all were civilians and many had their hands tied behind their back. Although the team can't definitely conclude that ALL the bodies are from the Srebrenica area, the few of about a dozen identified were.
During an inspection of the HVO personnel site at Kobiljaca, troops of MND-Southeast confiscated two anti- aircraft armored BOV vehicles that were not on the list of equipment authorized for that site. The vehicles were taken to the divisional headquarters in Mostar.
October 9, 1996 - In MND-SW, meanwhile, sixth Czech battalion troops intercepted VRS military units near Pucari. Upon inspection a truck was found to contain two M57 mortars, one M78 missile, and one 82 mm recoilless gun, none of which had been authorized to move from the site and they were thus confiscated. After inspection of the Pucari Canton site one SA7 AA missile, one M59/66 rifle, 200 7.62 rounds of ammunition, two grenades, and one AT-3 Sagger anti tank missile launcher were discovered.
In Jusici an agreement was reached that joint RS police/UN patrols will commence the same day.
The first batch of US troops — belonging to the special 5,000 strong withdrawal force — left Germany.
October 10, 1996 - The joint RS police/UN/IPTF/IFOR patrol moved to Dugi Dio where three houses were searched. In one of them two rifles, two hand grenades and ammunition was found. When the RS police tried to arrest the owner of the house, a large crowd of angry villagers gathered protesting the arrest. IFOR and IPTF were able to diffuse the situation but no further joint patrolling was conducted after this incident.
After an IFOR inspection of the cable factory at Tomislavgrad 26 unauthorized weapons were discovered and confiscated.
October 11, 1996 - The responsibility for monitoring within the blue zone in Mostar will transfer from the WEU police to IPTF. And the WEU will hand over authorities that are now held by the WEU for policing in the blue zone to its minister and his deputy of the canton.
October 12, 1996 - 18 persons have been arrested in Bihac and Velika Kladusa. Most of these persons are allegedly suspected autonomists. On the weekend of the October 12 and 13, all 18 were presented before the Bihac court. 13 of the 18 were released at that time and 5 of the 18 were ordered detained for 30 days each on war crimes charges. The OSCE is concerned that the arrests appear to target members of the political opposition. In addition, the arrests appear to be in violation of the rules of the road agreement made in Rome in February of 1996.
October 13, 1996 - A group of a 250 displaced Serbs in five buses tried to reach their hometown of Titov Drvar in federation territory. After having passed the IEBL, the busses were stopped by the chief of the police of Drvar who told them they could not proceed because of security reasons. A hostile crowed had assembled at the entrance of the town and blocked the road. after stand still lasting some five hours the busses turned back to Banja Luka.
October 16, 1996 - IPTF reported that a bus sponsored by the High Representative's office was making a return trip from Capljina to East Mostar. This bus was stopped by about 150 Croats in Bivolje and stoned by a group of 12 women. IFOR responded to the scene, and fired about five shots to disperse the crowd. IPTF was also present.
October 18, 1996 - The Banja Luka to Prijedor railway was completed and work to link Doboj is scheduled to be finished by the end of November.
An IFOR patrol reported a number of explosions in MND-Southwest in the area of Palivuk and Kovacevici. Patrols later discovered that three houses in Kovacevici had been destroyed. This is a former Muslim village in RS territory and a place of possible returns of displaced persons.
October 19, 1996 - MND Southwest confiscated six unauthorized SA-7 firing mechanisms - and these are from man-portable air, anti-air rocket systems - at a VRS site north of Banja Luka.
October 22, 1996 - Since the tenth of October, IFOR representatives estimated there have been in the order 14 explosions in the Zone Of Separation, and an additional 56 elsewhere. The majority of these have occurred in the Sapna area, with a smaller number in the Vrbanja Valley and MND/Southwest area.
Today, the postponing of the municipal elections was announced, meaning IFOR could turn its full attention to ensuring military compliance and supporting the civilian-led effort of reconstruction and democratic political reform.
The new three-man presidency gathered a meeting.
A French non-commissioned officer was killed, one seriously injured and one slightly injured when their light truck left the road south of Pale and fell down a 40 meter slope.
October 28, 1996 - Admiral Lopez expressed his extreme concern and displeasure over the recent wave of arson and bombings and provocative actions that are aimed at intimidating people, that were aimed at inciting fear in the hearts of people ready to look beyond the hatred and killing of recent years.
October 29, 1996 - The Foca/Srebinja bridge — destroyed in August 1995 — was reopened.
November 1, 1996 - In a suspected anti-mine strike near Busonovic, five Russian soldiers have been evacuated to a hospital at Uglevik.
Five prisoners of war have been released in Sarajevo. They included 4 Serbs, two of these were kidnapped between Tudoma Kula in early September and the other two had been in detention since July. The fifth was Franjo Markovic, a Croat policeman who was arrested on the 27th of October.
November 4, 1996 - COMIFOR (Adm. Lopez) visited Plavsic in Banja Luka, who expressed to be willing to investigate some issues in the Republika Srpska, as the reports of suspected war criminals still hold positions in the government or influence the municipalities and police forces, as well as the destruction of houses of refugees.
November 5, 1996 - A British IFOR soldier died from injuries he received when his vehicle left the road and fell down a 40-foot cliff. Three other soldiers were injured and were evacuated to Sipovo for treatment.
November 6, 1996 - An IFOR patrol discovered several houses burning near Kljuc and a car with five persons driving away with high speed. The car stopped at a police station later; the houses turned out to belong to Serb refugees.
Civil affairs officers in Sarajevo reported renewed violations of the human rights of Serbs in the Serb suburbs; the house of a prominent lawyer was bombed, another house was torched and an elderly lady was beaten. In Blazuj, a Serb was evicted from his house. In Nosiak, a Serb woman was physically assaulted.
November 7, 1996 - NATO and UN expressed their indignation over the way the three parties (Serbs, muslims, Croats) tried to sabotage the return of refugees. In October, UNHCR handed over a list to the Serbs with the names of 96 refugees and requested approval for their return. The Serbs used this information destroy the houses of these 96 people with mines within one day. According to UNHCR the action was set up professionally, which could only be the responsibility of Serb army or police.
COMIFOR - Admiral T. Joseph Lopez (USN) - has been succeeded as Commander NATO IFOR by General William Crouch - Commander-In-Chief Allied Land Forces Central Europe.
November 8, 1996 - In West Mostar, the local police refuses to cooperate with the UN IPTF and refuses to conduct joint patrols.
November 9, 1996 - General Ratko Mladic, accused of war crimes, was relieved from his command after intensive international pressure. According to the Dayton agreement, persons accused of war crimes could not fulfill public functions. Bosnian-Serb president Biljana Plavsic thanked Mladic for his achievements during the war, which indicates Plavsic did not agree with the international accusations. Earlier, Radovan Karadic resigned after being accused by the International War Tribunal. He was accused of being responsible for the actions in the safe area Srebrenica and the shelling of Sarajevo. IFOR was unable to locate and or arrest both Mladic and Karadic.
November 11, 1996 - About 400 Muslims moved to Marici and Gajevi. Three IFOR platoons were deployed after gun shots had been heard. Also, IPTF monitors and IFOR Civil Affairs Teams moved into the area to restore calm. The majority of the Muslims intended to stay in Gajevi. On the 12th again, shots were heard. The incident was probably provoked with acquiescence of the Bosnian authorities.
The Zone of Seperation caused concern to IFOR. During the previous weekend two houses were destroyed near Brcko, five in Begovacia, four in Brod, two in Zedlecha and several in Sanski and Drvar. In one case, several blocks of TNT were used. There was a systematic violence and systematic destruction of houses to prevent minorities from returning to their pre-war homes. In total, 200 houses in the ZOS have been destroyed, thought the area is ultimately controlled by international troops. IFOR said these actions should have be prevented by applying political pressure.
Approximately 500 people from Chilic crossed the inter-entity boundary line on their way to Corac. Shots have been fired. IFOR has secured the area and maintains presence.
Ninenty-seven people arrived at Sarajevo airport for a planned repatriation to Zedna. So far, approximately 20,000 people returned to Bosnia-Herzegovina in an organized form. The actual number of spontaneous returns ess much higher, approximately 200,000 up to 250,000.
November 12, 1996 - RS police armed with long-barreled rifles and grenades proceeded to the area of Gajevi, where the large group of Muslims arrived at the 11th. The chief of staff of the Celic based ABIH brigade was seen amongst the Muslim crowd in Celic. IFOR, in conjunction with IPTF, met the RS police to have the armed policemen withdrawn from the area. All parties agreed that US troops would sweep the area to confiscate weapons (AK-47s, anti-tank mines, magazines).
November 13, 1996 - The presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina attended a meeting in Paris. It was the first meeting outside their country.
In the Republika Serbska, civilians and army are constantly struggling for influence in an unstable political environment.
November 14, 1996 - Bosnia's three co-presidents, after having met world leaders in Paris, agreed to stabilize peace in former Yugoslavia as condition for continuing international aid.
November 15, 1996 - The Yugoslav Sanctions Committee, established in 1993, submitted its final report to the Security Council and was dissolved
US president Clinton promised to be willing to supply 8,500 troops for the new NATO-led peace force in Bosnia, if NATO plans would turn out to be feasible. SFOR's mandate will be more limited than that of the current force. Total SFOR strength is being estimated to be 31,000 troops, until the end of 1997. After that period, the need for a small contingent until halfway 1998 could be evaluated each six months.
Clinton denied that he deliberately avoided the issue of the IFOR succession until after the presidential elections.
November 22, 1996 - The wife of opposition leader Vuk Draskovic said to be taken hostage and questioned for one day by the Yugoslav security service last Thursday (November, 21).
November 23, 1996 - In Belgrade the Serb opposition demonstrated for the fifth day in sequence against Serb president Milosevic, demanding that Milosevic recognizes the defeat of the local elections. The opposition won the elections for the municipal council nine days ago in most of the Serb large cities, but Milosevic refuses to recognize his defeat, bringing up that the outcome of the elections was not legitimate.
November 24, 1996 - Canadian soldiers from MND South-West, in conjunction with the IPTF and an explosive ordnance disposal team, conducted a no-notice inspection of the Sanski most police station. They confiscated ten 82 millimeter mortars, 48 rocket-propelled grenades, several small arms and a small quantity of ammunition. All material will all be destroyed.
US Army engineers in MND North dismantled the float bridge near Zupanja. The bridge was established on December 31, 1995 and was used to bring in the American covering force into theater.
November 25, 1996 - 150,000 opponents demonstrated against Milosevic in the biggest protest since Milosevic came to power in 1987. In 1991 90,000 people demonstrated against Milosevic, but the demonstration then was dispersed with the use of tanks and two people died. Ministers of foreign affairs of the European Union decided to postpone trade concessions for Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro).
November 27, 1996 - NATO agreed to send a follow-on force to Bosnia to replace the current IFOR troops and stipulates it should stay in country for no more than 18 months.
November 28, 1996 - According to the International Donor Community there are significant shortcomings in the way in which the Bosnian authorities are handling the economic and social situation in their country. There is inadequate gas, heating, electricity, water, basic supplies reaching the ordinary people of Sarajevo.
Mladic gave up his leadership of the Bosnian Serb Army (BSA).
November 29, 1996 - The UN war crimes tribunal sentenced a Croat who confessed to taking part in the Bosnian Serb Army massacre of over 1,200 unarmed Moslems at Srebrenica to 10 years in jail.
December 1, 1996 - Wartime prime minister Haris Silajdzic will be named co-chairman of Bosnia's newly-formed central government, the Sarajevo-based Oslobodjenje News Agency (ONASA) reported on Sunday. Silajdzic resigned from office and from Bosnia's nationalist Moslem party in 1995 and ran for president in the country's first post-war elections but lost to Alija Izetbegovic, who is now president of the three-man Presidency. [Source: Reuter]
Foes of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, struggling to maintain momentum after two weeks of protests, declared that they would take their movement to cities throughout the country. It was unclear how long the demonstrations could continue to draw crowds as large as Saturday, when 150,000 people were on the streets, hurling firecrackers at state TV and the Serbian parliament building. The protests already have been the largest and most sustained ever against the Serbian leader.
December 2, 1996 - After 2 months of talks the Bosnian state presidium reached agreement on the establishment of a central Bosnian government.
December 3, 1996 - The by mass demonstrations cornered Milosevic administration has closed down the two independent radio stations Radi Index and Radio B-92. Allmost all newspapers and television and radio stations are being controlled by the government.
Again nearly 100,000 people participated in demonstrations against Milosevic, who kept ignoring international criticism on ignoring the outcome of the November municipal elections in cities where the opposition won. The election committee condemned Milosevic's action.
December 4, 1996 - In a Bosnia conference held in London, British prime minister Major called upon the three-men presidency to act more energetic and drastically in order to turn Bosnia into a politically and economically independent state. All of the ministers need to be appointed, a central bank needs to be established, as well as a legal framework that can encourage foreign investors, Major said.
The White House warned Belgrade that the use of force against the demonstrators would lead to an international response and the isolation of the country. The country already has been excluded from an international conference on the economical development of South-East Europe. Another consequence is that the US Voice of America will take over the broadcastings of Radio B-92 (closed down by Milosevic earlier).
December 5, 1996 - Bad weather slowed down IFOR operations badly. Helicopter and fixed wing flights as well as road convoys were canceled or postponed.
The weekly MND South-West press conference involving IFOR, IPTF, and the OSCE, planned for Bosanska Krupa, was aborted due to a protest by local female factory workers. The factory manager had agreed to make his facility available for a fee and had also offered to provide a tour of his textile factory to journalists, including some from Banja Luka. When the factory workers discovered that Republika Srpska press were present they occupied the conference room and the factory car park. The mood of the women became hostile and the crowd increased in size to about 150-200 women, and became noisy and openly hostile. When MND South West decided to close the conference, but the crowd prevented them from leaving.
A French patrol apprehended approximately 20 Bosnian civilians making a get-away in eight vehicles after they were caught looting four inhabited Serb houses, taking doors, windows, taps, and other items of value in Borci, about 10 kilometres South-East of Konjic, on the Republika Srpska side of the IEBL.
Later, again in Borci, another French patrol intercepted two persons looting the church after breaking in.
A major loan agreement between the European Bank and Bosnia Herzegovina was signed. This was the first loan to be signed by authorities of both the federation and the Republika Srpska, for the repair of roads, bridges and Sarajevo airport.
December 6, 1996 - A French lieutenant, an engineer, disappeared while working on the Ustikolina bridge with his engineering group, about 18 kilometres South-West of Goradze. Apparently, in response to a call for assistance with a stuck vehicle about two kilometres away, the officer left the bridge site and began walking by himself to the scene to help out. An intensive search was launched yesterday after it became clear he was missing. His body was found later.
December 8, 1996 - An explosive device was placed under the car of one of the senior SDS members in Nova Grad. The SDS official survived the blast.
December 19, 1996 - The director and editor-in-chief of ISV Radio, Elavbusala , was badly beaten in the middle of Sarajevo. This is the second attack against journalists from ISV Radio. Lately, the radio station has started a campaign to try to return Santa Claus, a increasingly politicized issue to the children of Sarajevo.
A hand grenade was thrown at vehicles parked outside of the OSCE field office in Serbinja Foja.
December 20, 1996 - Today the IFOR mandate came to an end. Authority and assets were transferred to the Stabilization Force.