United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium
UNTAES | |||||||||||||
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| 1996–1998 | |||||||||||||
 Coat of arms | |||||||||||||
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| Status | United Nations governed territory | ||||||||||||
| Headquarters | Vukovar | ||||||||||||
| Official languages | Croatian,Serbian and theofficial languages of the United Nations (primarilyEnglish) | ||||||||||||
| Head Administrator of the Region | |||||||||||||
• 1996-1997 | Jacques Paul Klein | ||||||||||||
• 1997-1998 | William Walker | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
• Established | 1996 | ||||||||||||
• Disestablished | 1998 | ||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||
• Total | 2,600 km2 (1,000 sq mi)[1] | ||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||
| 193,513[1] | |||||||||||||
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| Abbreviation | UNTAES |
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| Formation | January 15, 1996 |
| Dissolved | January 15, 1998 |
| Type | Peacebuilding transitional administration |
| Legal status | Completed |
| Headquarters | Vukovar Beli Manastir(liaison office; initiallyZagreb)[2] |
Head | Jacques Paul Klein William Walker |
Parent organization | United Nations Security Council |
| Website | United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium |
Part ofa series on the |
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| History ofSlavonia |
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TheUnited Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) was aUNpeacebuildingtransitional administration inEastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia, in the eastern parts ofCroatia (multiculturalDanube river region). The transitional administration lasted between 1996 and 1998. The transitional administration was formally established by theUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 1037 of January 15, 1996.[3] The transitional administration was envisaged and invited in the November 1995Erdut Agreement between theCroatian Government and the representatives of the local Serb community in the region. At the time of UNTAES deployment the region already hosted another traditional type UN peacekeeping mission known as theUNCRO. While the region was covered under the UNCRO's sector east (sector led by Russian and Belgian forces), the whole UNCRO mission was brought into question by theOperation Storm escalation of hostilities.
UNTAES is only the third UNpeacekeeping mission in history (afterUNTEA inWestern New Guinea andUNTAC inCambodia) where the UN assumed direct and high executive powers in the territory of concern. Via UNTAES, theUnited Nations temporarily took the role of governance in the region by creating aUN protectorate. At the end of the UNTAES deployment an additional monitoring support mission was provided for the region under the name of theUnited Nations Civilian Police Support Group.
AfterOperation Storm in mid-1995, the only remaining part of the self-proclaimedproto-stateRepublic of Serbian Krajina was the area in eastern Croatia along theDanube river. Contrary to Krajina mainland,Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia shared a long border with theFederal Republic of Yugoslavia (its constituentRepublic of Serbia). It was also economically and socially dependent and politically much more closely aligned with authorities inBelgrade andNovi Sad than Krajina.[4] This led the international community to believe that Croatian intervention in Eastern Slavonia case would trigger a military reaction from Yugoslavia and result in an escalation of hostilities.[5] At the same time, the military defeat of Krajina and signing of theWashington Agreement opened the space to resolve thearmed conflict in Bosnia which the US Administration wanted to use for political benefits before the1996 United States presidential election.[6]
In the context of successful Croatian military interventions of Bljesak and Oluja, the initial idea that the region of Eastern Slavonia could be integrated back to Croatia through peaceful means was perceived with astonishment on Croatian side and as a form of pressure from theinternational community.[7] TheCroatian military establishment held informal talks about preparation of a military solution for the region under the code name "Skok uDalj" ("Jump to Dalj").[7] There was lack of enthusiasm and belief that peaceful process would be successful among the involved parties and other states in the region, themselves recently involved in Yugoslav Wars.[7]
TheErdut Agreement between theCroatian Government and the representatives of the Serbs in the region was signed in November 1995, which requested that the UN form a transitional authority and a peacekeeping force.United Nations Security Council Resolution 1023 supported that, and after theUNCRO mission was terminated in theUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 1025, UNTAES was set up to serve as aUnited Nations protectorate over the region in Resolution 1037. Reintegration of the region, the last part of the country outside the control of the central government and arguably geopolitically the most sensitive part of the former self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina, was the most important Croatian condition for participation in Dayton Peace Negotiations.[8] The subsequentDayton agreement for peace in Bosnia ended the deadliest conflicts of theYugoslav wars.
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The transitional administration started its operations on January 15, 1996, with theUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 1043.[9] It was meant to last for one year, with a provision for an extension of the mandate for up to one year at the request of either party.[2] Administration's main task was to monitor demilitarization and ensure peaceful reintegration of the territory into Croatia. UN Secretary General initially proposed that UNTAES should have 9,300 soldiers.[2] By the final agreement the administration had a military and a civilian component with 5,000 soldiers,[2] 500 UNTAES civilian police (UNCIVPOL)[2] and 99 military observers. At its full deployment UNTAES consisted of 4849 soldiers, 99 military observers and 401 civil police members, close to the agreed number.[10]
Before the arrival of UNTAES troops in region there were already 1,600 troops from theBelgian andRussian Armed Forces underUnited Nations Confidence Restoration Operation in Croatia.[2] They were joined byJordanian andPakistani mechanized battalions,Ukrainian helicopter gunships and other units.[2] United States took a dominant role in implementation of reintegration process.[8]
Strobe Talbott was one of the policy makers who raised the issue of regulation of position ofSerbs in Croatia, the most important issue inCroatia–United States relations at the time, while US AmbassadorPeter Galbraith organized three meetings with the population of the region in the towns of Vukovar, Beli Manastir and Ilok where he informed local Serbs that they will, regardless of fact that their leaders did not inform them of it, indeed become part of Croatia based on the Erdut Agreement.[8] He also told them that they have the right to stay and live wherever they want in Croatia, be it Zagreb, Osijek,Donji Lapac,Knin orGlina and that ethnic Croats have the right to return to Eastern Slavonia.[8]Madeleine Albright visited Vukovar in early 1996 to express her support to the process of reintegration where she was attacked with eggs and stones at local market.[11] Initial headquarters was located atUnited Nations Protection Force headquarters inZagreb but idea of mission personnel was to put headquarters ineastern Croatia.[2]Croatian Government offeredOsijek for that purpose but mission refused it since it wanted to locate it on the territory ofEastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia.[2] Therefore, the headquarters were located inVukovar, with a liaison office inBeli Manastir, which provided UNTAES civil affairs officers with the opportunity to attend sessions of local Serb Executive Councils and assemblies which facilitated exchange of relevant information.[2] One of the challenges the mission faced was the tense but mostly peaceful retake ofĐeletovci oil fields from the control ofScorpions paramilitary.[2] Representatives of mission urged ambassadors from Zagreb to visit the region and additionally introduced the practice of visiting of the local Serbian orthodox churches and two Catholic churches that still were in operation.[2]
On 13th of April 1997 UNTAES facilitated the conduct ofCroatian Chamber of Counties election in region and on that occasion special US mission underNancy Ely-Raphael leadership visited Vukovar.[8] US special mission visitedSarvaš,Erdut,Dalj,Vukovar,Borovo,Lovas,Opatovac,Ilok,Šarengrad,Bilje,Čeminac,Beli Manastir andKneževi Vinogradi.[8] US mission gave its thanks to Croatian authorities for enabling Serb population with missing Croatian documents to vote and to local Serbian executive committee presided byVojislav Stanimirović for motivating local Serb population to take part in Croatian elections.[12] Mission once more underlined that the goal ofErdut Agreement to re-establish multi-ethnic region in CroatianPodunavlje.[8]
One of the main tasks of UNTAES was the reform of local police forces, which before the war were involved in the first inter-ethnic conflicts. UNTAES' initial problem was the need to replace theFederal Republic of Yugoslavia's symbols.[2] Since there was resistance to that, a compromise was reached where UNTAES, with financial support ofUS Department of Justice, bought uniforms without any state insignia.[2] The Croatian government initially refused to begin paying salaries to local police, but later agreed to do so since it demonstrated the return of Croatian sovereignty and responsibility for region.[2] The second problem was the fact that Croatian government refused to pay salaries inYugoslav dinars while the local police didn't want to receiveCroatian kuna, so in the end it was paid inDeutsche Marks.[2] The management of transitional police forces was functioning on the basis of dualism, in which each top position in the region there were two individuals, one from Croatian and one from the Serbian community, including double commanders of police forces.[7] Support for UNTAES was provided by the Polish Special Police Group that made first arrest of an indicated war criminal who was a former mayor of Vukovar.[13]
TheUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 1145 in late 1997 arranged for the United Nations Police Support Group (UNPSG) to take over UNTAES' policing tasks, effectively concluding the UNTAES mission on January 15, 1998. A support group of 180 civilian UN police officers remained to monitor the progress of the Croatian police and oversee the return of the refugees. As additional help to UNTAES mission,Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe establishedOSCE Mission to Croatia whose tasks was to overlook of respect ofhuman andminority rights, return ofrefugees, formation ofpublic institutions and monitoring of work of civil police.[8]
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