III.

Provisions of the Accord

The three sides stood to gain in different ways from the provisions of the Dayton Accord and the end to the war. The Bosnian Muslims believed that they would receive substantial economic and military assistance following the lifting of the United Nations (UN) embargoes that had been imposed on the Yugoslav republics in the early 1990s. The Serbs calculated that an end to the war would forestall further territorial losses at the hands of Croat and Bosnian forces, and legitimize the country’s division. The Croats gained the prospect of economic assistance and increased integration of Croatia into Western Europe, as well as a larger share of Bosnian territory than the Croat proportion of the Bosnian population warranted.

Specifically, the Dayton Accord contained military, political, and civil provisions. In its military aspects, Dayton obligated Bosnia’s warring parties to withdraw their forces behind a ceasefire line and established demilitarized zones of separation. In January 1996 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) placed an Implementation Force (I-FOR) in Bosnia on a one-year mandate to monitor the ceasefire. At its peak, I-FOR consisted of about 60,000 troops from more than 20 nations, including about 20,000 US soldiers, and large numbers of French and British troops. In January 1997 NATO launched a new Stabilization Force (S-FOR) to replace I-FOR, and the troop contingent was decreased by half. Although NATO leaders cut troop numbers further during the summer of 1998, the mission itself was extended indefinitely.

On the political side, Dayton was intended to ensure that Bosnia remain a single state composed of two entities, the Muslim-Croat federation (officially called the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and the Serb Republic. The Muslim-Croat federation would administer 51 per cent of Bosnia’s territory, and the Serb Republic would control 49 per cent. The agreement outlined a new national constitution specifying relations between Muslims, Serbs, and Croats. It provided for federal institutions representing all three nationalities—including a collective presidency and a shared central legislature—as well as separate governmental structures for the Muslim-Croat federation and the Serb Republic. The accord also required that elections be held throughout the country by September 1996.

In its civil aspects, the Dayton Accord contained provisions relating to humanitarian aid, economic reconstruction, and the promotion of human rights. As part of these provisions, all citizens were supposed to have the right to move freely throughout the country, and refugees were to have the right to return to their homes. The United Nations appointed a special representative to facilitate civilian aspects of the Dayton Accord.