Vance plan

The plan was designed to implement a ceasefire, demilitarize parts of Croatia that were under the control of Croatian Serbs and the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), allow the return of refugees, and create favourable conditions for negotiations on a permanent political settlement of the conflict resulting from the breakup of Yugoslavia.The Implementation Agreement, signed in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, by JNA Lieutenant Colonel General Andrija Rašeta and Croatian defence minister Gojko Šušak, produced a longer-lasting ceasefire, which was supervised by the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR).It centred on the predominantly Serb-populated areas of the Dalmatian hinterland around the city of Knin,[1] parts of the Lika, Kordun, and Banovina regions, and settlements in eastern Croatia with significant Serb populations.He endorsed the plan because it ensured the preservation of Serbian territorial gains of 1991, retained Croatian Serb administration of the areas where the peacekeepers would be deployed and allowed the JNA to shift its focus to Bosnia and Herzegovina.Vance then met Yugoslav defence minister JNA General Veljko Kadijević, who also endorsed the plan and was apparently urged by Milošević to do so.[22] The final obstacle to the agreement was removed when Tuđman agreed to lift the blockade of the remaining JNA barracks in HV-held territory on 25 December.[24][25] The UN deployment was made possible by the acceptance that the agreement did not represent a final political settlement and by the description of the role of the UN mission, which allowed both sides to claim it as a victory.[26] After four hours of negotiations,[20] the agreement was signed by Croatian Defence Minister Gojko Šušak and deputy commander of the JNA's 5th Military District Lieutenant Colonel General Andrija Rašeta in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on 2 January 1992.[34] UNPROFOR was tasked with creating buffer zones between the belligerents, disarming the Croatian Serb Territorial Defence Force troops, overseeing the JNA and HV withdrawal from the UNPAs, and the return of refugees to those areas.[35] Instead, the resolution referred to Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter,[36] which foresees enforcement through regional arrangements or agencies after further authorization by the UN Security Council.[41] As a consequence of organizational problems and breaches of the previous ceasefire agreement, the UNPROFOR did not start to arrive until 8 March[35] and took two months to fully deploy in the UNPAs.[46] In 1993, Croatia launched several small-scale military operations against the RSK to seize significant local objectives and capture international attention; it was worried the situation on the ground might become permanent.[47] Later that year, most of the territory controlled by the RSK was captured by the HV during Operations Flash and Storm, which was foreseen by Babić when he opposed the Vance plan in 1991.