world in conflict unlimited reinforcement points

The reinforcements also mean that the 22,500 troops already there may be withdrawn more easily with helicopters and protective cover to help avoid a ruinous retreat. They have virtually declared the United Nations force an enemy. All of that is construed by the United Nations as falling within what it calls a 'humanitarian' operation.īut the sending of reinforcements by Britain and France, coming against a background of what many diplomats see as increasing provocation by the Bosnian Serbs and pressure for retaliation from the Clinton Administration, are viewed as a hostile act by the Bosnian Serbs. It has gone from escorting food convoys to brokering and overseeing cease-fires, setting up 'safe havens' and declaring exclusion zones for both heavy weapons and aircraft that apply, in practical terms, only to the Bosnian Serbs. So the question arises: is the United Nations force about to cross the 'Mogadishu line' and effectively be drawn into taking the side of the Muslim-led Bosnian Government against the Bosnian Serbs?Įuropean leaders insist that this is not the case, that the soldiers already sent and the reinforcements soon to come are still there only to carry out the United Nations mandate, which has broadened in the last three years. The troops and equipment mean that the United Nations force is able to adopt a tough line in 'peace enforcement,' should it choose to do so - a course that would bring it on a collision course with the Bosnian Serbs, who are delaying relief convoys, surrounding predominantly Muslim enclaves and threatening United Nations posts.

The reinforcements being sent by Britain, France and other countries because of the crisis over the seizure of United Nations peacekeepers as hostages by the Bosnian Serbs include two rapid reaction brigades - 10,000 troops, representing nearly a 50 percent increase in total strength - and more significantly, artillery guns, light tanks and battlefield support helicopters. The term derives from the debacle of the American-led intervention in Somalia, and it refers to that dangerous moment when United Nations troops change from being peacekeepers to combatants.įor the first time, the European countries contributing to the United Nations force in Bosnia have given themselves real military capability.

The new buzzword on Bosnia is the 'Mogadishu line,' and suddenly policy-makers and critics from Paris to Washington are worrying about it and wondering if it has been crossed.

World in conflict unlimited reinforcement points