Word: croatian
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...provocateur this time is Croatia's President, Franjo Tudjman, who announced in January that the 12,000 United Nations peacekeepers patrolling the cease-fire line along the Serb-occupied Croatian region of Krajina must leave the country beginning March 31, when the U.N. mandate expires. The soldiers have managed to keep the peace in Croatia since being deployed there in the beginning of 1992, but Tudjman has concluded that they mainly serve to protect the Serbs' hold on Krajina. If the troops depart, there will be nothing to prevent the 105,000-man Croatian army and 40,000 Krajina Serbs...
...better hurry. Both Croatian and Krajina Serb forces are preparing to fight the moment the U.N. soldiers depart--or worse, even before they go. Croatia and Muslim-led Bosnia last week signed a military alliance intended to squeeze the Krajina and Bosnian Serbs. The Serbs, in turn, are digging in. "It is abundantly clear that military forces on both sides of the zone of separation are deepening their defensive positions," says Yasushi Akashi, the U.N. special representative in the region. Both sides are building bunkers, cutting trenches and moving heavy weapons into offensive positions...
Clearly, the best solution would be to renew the U.N. mandate so the peacekeepers can stay right where they are. Croatia objects on the ground that their presence merely legitimizes a Serbian occupation of Krajina, stealing away 27% of Croatian soil. "If we let the U.N. stay forever, we'll have another Cyprus, and that's unacceptable," says Tudjman's spokesman, Jozo Curic...
Under intense pressure from the U.S., Tudjman finally seems to be reconsidering his eviction notice. TIME has obtained a White House document outlining the tentative agreement Holbrooke has reached with the Croatian leader, which the American envoy hopes to nail down as soon as possible...
...remain until Sept. 15. In return, Washington is prepared to give Tudjman a say in who makes up the new force and what it will be called. Because he publicly vowed to remove the old force, dubbed UNPROFOR, a different name will allow the Croatian leader to save face. Whereas Tudjman wanted the peacekeepers replaced by NATO soldiers, Washington has agreed only that a "separate Croatia-only'' force would be made up of units "from countries mutually agreed between Croatia and the Security Council." The new mission would also control 25 to 30 main crossing points along Croatia's international...