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On 2 December 2004, the NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) comes to an end and the Alliance hands responsibility for providing security in Bosnia and Herzegovina to the European Union. The photo of the reconstructed Old Bridge, or Stari Most, in Mostar
On 2 December 2004, the NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) comes to an end and the Alliance hands responsibility for providing security in Bosnia and Herzegovina to the European Union. The photo of the reconstructed Old Bridge, or Stari Most, in Mostar is in many ways symbolic of both the Wars of Yugoslav Dissolution and international reconstruction efforts. Originally built in 1566 by the Ottoman architect Mimar Hayruddin, Mostar’s Stari Most represented a crossroads between East and West, Islam and Christianity for more than 400 years. It survived many conflicts, including two world wars in the 20th century, before being destroyed on 9 November 1993. Just over a decade later, on 23 July 2004, the Stari Most was officially reopened after a €15 million reconstruction project, financed by a multitude of donors and coordinated by the World Bank. SFOR, too, played its part. After the Bosnian War ended, Royal British Engineers constructed a temporary bridge where the Stari Most had been and, starting in 1997, a Hungarian Engineering Contingent brought the original stones out of the river.
The Stari Most now stands as a tribute to nine years of post-war reconstruction and peace-building. As great a physical achievement as this is, it is easier to span two sides of a river than to build bridges between communities that had been at war with each other less than a decade ago. The work, therefore, is not complete. Indeed, NATO is not leaving Bosnia and Herzegovina. Rather, the peace process is entering a new phase in which the Alliance will be focusing its efforts on defence reform and preparing Bosnia and Herzegovina for membership of the Partnership for Peace programme. This issue of NATO Review, which is entitled Historic change in the Balkans, examines the progress that has been made both in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the wider region in the years since NATO first deployed forces in the former Yugoslavia as well as the challenges that lie ahead. In the first of four articles devoted to this theme, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer places NATO’s achievements in Bosnia and Herzegovina in historical perspective. EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana considers how the European Union can assist Bosnia and Herzegovina’s European integration. Robert Serry, Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Crisis Management in NATO’s Operations Division and I analyse NATO’s future engagement in the Balkans. And Admiral Gregory G. Johnson, who commanded all NATO’s Balkan operations from the beginning of 2001 to October 2004, examines lessons learned from NATO’s operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In the debate, Gerald Knaus of the European Stability Initiative and Nicholas Whyte of the International Crisis Group discuss the international presence in the Balkans and whether it needs restructuring. In the first of three interviews, Lord “Paddy” Ashdown, the international community’s High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, discusses the challenges facing Bosnia and Herzegovina. Søren Jessen-Petersen, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Kosovo, sets out his vision for Kosovo. And Bosnian Defence Minister Nikola Radovanović describes his country’s new defence structures. Elsewhere, Carl Bildt, a former Swedish Prime Minister and the international community’s first High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, examines the key issues facing Southeastern Europe in the coming year. Alexander Nikitin of Moscow’s Center for Political and International Studies assesses the Russian experience of participating in NATO-led peacekeeping operations in the Balkans. Kai Eide, Norway’s Ambassador to NATO, summarises his impressions on Kosovo’s future. And James R. Locher III and Michael Donley of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Defence Reform Commission assess the progress that has been made in the field of defence reform. A bibliography of literature on the Wars of Yugoslavia’s Dissolution and the Alliance’s involvement in the former Yugoslavia compiled by the NATO library rounds out the issue.