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Implementation Force

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"IFOR" redirects here. For other uses, see IFOR (disambiguation).

Implementation Force
Pocket badge of the IFOR
Active1995–1996
Country32 countries
TypeCommand
Part of NATO
Nickname(s)"IFOR"

The Implementation Force (IFOR) was a NATO-led multinational peace enforcement force in Bosnia and Herzegovina under a one-year mandate from 20 December 1995 to 20 December 1996 under the codename Operation Joint Endeavour.

Background

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U.S. Army vehicles with IFOR crossing the Sava using a pontoon bridge. The Brčko Bridge, seen at the right, was destroyed in 1992 and was still being reconstructed by U.S. Army engineers when this photo was taken in 1996.

In 1995, NATO was tasked by the United Nations (UN) to carry out the provision of the Dayton Peace Accords ending the Bosnian War. The Dayton Peace Accords were started on 22 November 1995 by the presidents of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia, on behalf of Serbia and the Bosnian Serb Republic. The actual signing happened in Paris on 14 December 1995. The peace accords contained a General Framework Agreement and eleven supporting annexes with maps. The accords had three major goals: ending of hostilities, authorization of military and civilian program going into effect, and the establishment of a central Bosnian government while excluding individuals who are serving sentences or under indictment by the International War Crimes Tribunals from taking part in the running of the government. IFOR's specific role was to implement the military Annexes of The General Framework Agreement for Peace (GFAP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina.[1]

IFOR relieved the UN peacekeeping force UNPROFOR, which had originally arrived in 1992, and the transfer of authority was discussed in Security Council Resolution 1031. Almost 60,000 NATO soldiers in addition to forces from non-NATO nations were deployed to Bosnia. Operation Decisive Endeavor (SACEUR OPLAN 40105), beginning 6 December 1995, was a subcomponent of Joint Endeavor.[2] IFOR began operations on 20 December 1995.[3]

The Dayton Agreement resulted from a long series of events, notably, the failures of EU-led peace plans, the August 1995 Croat Operation Storm and fleeing of 200,000 Serb civilians, the Bosnian Serb war crimes, in particular the Srebrenica massacre, and the seizure of UNPROFOR peace-keepers as human shields against NATO's Operation Deliberate Force.[4]

U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry and his Russian counterpart, Pavel Grachev agreed on October 8 that the peacekeeping operation name will be Implementation Force of the Peace Agreement on Bosnia-Herzegovina, that is without reference to NATO; other differences were unresolved at that time (chain of command, area of command and control).[5] On October 27 they agreed that "the Russian unit will not be part of the NATO peacekeeping force, but will perform special engineering, transport and construction activites".[6]

Admiral Leighton W. Smith Jr., Commander in Chief Allied Forces Southern Europe (CINCSOUTH), served as the first Joint Force Commander for the operation, also known as Commander IFOR (COMIFOR). He commanded the operation from IFOR's deployment on 20 December 1995 from headquarters in Zagreb, and later from March 1996 from the Residency in Sarajevo.[7] Admiral Thomas J. Lopez commanded the operation from 31 July to 7 November 1996, followed by General William W. Crouch until 20 December 1996.[3] Lt Gen Michael Walker, Commander Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC), acted as Land Component Commander for the operation, commanding from HQ ARRC (Forward) based initially in Kiseljak, and from late January 1996 from HQ ARRC (Main) in Ilidža. This was NATO's first ever out-of-area land deployment. The Land Component's part of the operation was known as Operation Firm Endeavour.[8]

At its height, IFOR involved troops from 32 countries and numbered some 54,000 soldiers in-country (BiH) and around 80,000 involved soldiers in total (with support and reserve troops stationed in Croatia, Hungary, Germany, and Italy and also on ships in the Adriatic Sea). In the initial phases of the operation, much of the initial composition of IFOR consisted of units which had been part of UNPROFOR but remained in place and simply replaced their United Nations insignia with IFOR insignia.[citation needed]

Components

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Map of the International Sectors under the Peace Agreement.

NATO member states that contributed forces included Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Non-NATO nations that contributed forces included; Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Morocco, New Zealand, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Russia, and Ukraine.[9]

The tasks of the Land Component were carried out by three Multi National Divisions:[10]

On 20 December 1996, the task of IFOR was taken over by SFOR.[39] In turn, SFOR was replaced by the European EUFOR Althea force in 2004.[40]

NATO began to create service medals once it began to support peacekeeping in the former Yugoslavia, which led to the award to IFOR troops of the NATO Medal.[41]

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ The General Framework Agreement for Peace (GFAP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina
  2. ^ "Appendix C: References", Federation of American Scientists Archived 26 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ a b "Peace support operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina". NATO. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  4. ^ "NATO AIRCRAFT ATTACK BOSNIAN-SERB TANK" (Press release). NATO. 22 September 1994.
  5. ^ The United States and Russia failed Sunday to resolve.... upi.com Oct. 8, 1995
  6. ^ Russia-U.S. agreement on Balkans reached. upi.com Oct. 27, 1995
  7. ^ SFOR leaves Residency Compound
  8. ^ Operational Analysis Support to NATO IFOR/SFOR Operations
  9. ^ Clark, A.L. (1996). Bosnia: What Every American Should Know. New York: Berkley Books.
  10. ^ https://www.armyupress.army.mil/portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/mcgrath_boots.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  11. ^ The Multinational Division South-East in Bosnia Archived 28 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ https://publicaciones.defensa.gob.es/media/downloadable/files/links/r/e/revista_ejercito_672.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  13. ^ "Recap6-opex".
  14. ^ "History: 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment | French Foreign Legion Information". Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  15. ^ "Independence and restoration". Royal Moroccan Armed Forces. 18 September 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  16. ^ "Recap6-opex".
  17. ^ "Recap6-opex".
  18. ^ https://publicaciones.defensa.gob.es/media/downloadable/files/links/r/e/revista_ejercito_675.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  19. ^ "The medal collection - Esercito Italiano". www.esercito.difesa.it. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  20. ^ "SPABRI I - Spanish army". ejercito.defensa.gob.es. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  21. ^ "Contenido - Ejército de tierra". ejercito.defensa.gob.es. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  22. ^ "Contenido - Ejército de tierra". ejercito.defensa.gob.es. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  23. ^ "British Forces Bosnia". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 18 July 1996. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
  24. ^ "Army senior appointments". United Kingdom Government News. 23 July 2002. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
  25. ^ Lord, p. 304
  26. ^ 2nd Battalion The Light Infantry Bosnia 1995 - 96 Op Grapple 7, 28 October 2018, retrieved 19 December 2023
  27. ^ 1 RRF Bosnia, 6 June 2015, retrieved 19 December 2023
  28. ^ "The Dutch contribution to Implementation Force (IFOR), Stabilization Force (SFOR) and European Force (EUFOR) - Historical missions - Defensie.nl". english.defensie.nl. 8 September 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  29. ^ https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/themes/defence/caf/militaryhistory/dhh/honours/commonwealth-foreign-honours.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  30. ^ https://www.army.cz/assets/en/ministry-of-defence/newsroom/publication/20-let-acr_en.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  31. ^ https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/military-review/Archives/English/MilitaryReview_20070831_art007.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  32. ^ https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/AA/00/06/21/90/00011/03-15-1996.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  33. ^ https://collections.unu.edu/eserv/UNU:2429/ebrary9280810790.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  34. ^ Nelson, James (2005). Bosnia Journal: An American Civilian's Accountof His Service. Infinity Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7414-2321-4.
  35. ^ https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA389550.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  36. ^ https://icds.ee/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/RKK_Apprenticeship__Partnership__Membership_WWW.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  37. ^ https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/AA/00/06/21/90/00016/04-19-1996.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  38. ^ https://ispaim.mapn.ro/webroot/fileslib/upload/files/Occasional%20Papers/OP%2016%202011.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  39. ^ "History of the NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina". NATO. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
  40. ^ Hawton, Nick (October 23, 2004). "EU troops prepare for Bosnia swap". BBC News. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
  41. ^ "NATO Medal for Former Yugoslavia (NATO-FY)". National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces. July 22, 2015. Retrieved December 18, 2018.

Further reading

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Media related to IFOR at Wikimedia Commons

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