Crisis at Bihać: Bosnia's Bloody Battlefield, Including the Carter Peace Initiative, Croatia Reclaims Western Slavonia, The Fall of the Krajina SerbsSutton, 1998 - 245 páginas Based on the author's experiences as an EC Monitoring Mission Observer, this narrative account of the civil war in the former Yugoslavia combines material from a range of eyewitness and documentary sources. Brendan O'Shea had access to both EU and UN official documents for his research and used these to unravel the complex story of the war. The author tells the tragic story of what happened at the "safe haven" at Bihac in north-western Bosnia between 1992 and 1996 to show the Bosnian civil war in microcosm. At Bihac, Muslim fought all variety of Serb, Muslim fought Muslim and the Croats interfered continually - thereby ensuring a rapid descent into bitter civil war and a vindictive power struggle. "Ethnic cleansing" was rife and horrific war crimes which shocked the world were committed by all sides. Local politicians manipulated the desperate refugee situation in order to extract concessions, humanitarian aid and considereable sums of money from the UN and other agencies, and then siphoned off huge quantities to pay for military arms and equipment. O'Shea reveals how General Dudakovic of the Bosnian Army's 5th Corp and Fikret Abdic, one-time friend of Alija Izetbegovic and later founder of the breakaway Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia, manipulated all agencies who came to assist them in order to ensure their own military and political advancement. The war in Bihac was also linked to other events in former Yugoslavia and O'Shea offers a perspective on the relationship between Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, vis-a-vis who was actually in control of events on the ground. He also re-examines the role of Slobodan Milosevic in directing the activities of the Bosnian Serb Army. As every party to the Bosnian tragedy continues to promote their own version of events as "the truth", O'Shea reveals the numerous layers of deceit and dishonesty. |
Palavras e frases frequentes
5th Corps Agreement aircraft airstrikes Akashi appeared APWB Armija artillery attack attempt Babic Balkans Banja Luka Batnoga became began Belgrade Bihac Bihac Daily Report Bihac Pocket Bihac town Bosanska Krupa Bosnia-Hercegovina Bosnian Croats Bosnian Serbs Brigade Carter Cazin cease-fire civilian COHA Commander conflict confrontation line Contact Group continued convoy Croatian army Croatian government Defence Dudakovic ECMM ECMM Team Bihac ECMM's fighting Fikret Abdic fired forces further Ganic Gorazde Haris Silajdzic humanitarian immediately Izetbegovic Karadzic Knin Krajina Serbs launched Martic meeting military Milosevic Mladic Monitors mortars offensive officers operating Pale peace police political positions President Tudjman Rasim Delic RC Zagreb Daily refugees remained Republic of Srpska Reuters safe area Santic Sarajevo Sarajevo government Sector West Serbia shelling sides situation Special Report Team Bihac Daily territory Topusko troops Turanj Tuzla Una river UNHCR UNMO UNPROFOR Velika Kladusa weapons Yugoslavia Zagreb Daily Report