Implementation Force (IFOR), Stabilization Force (SFOR) and European Force (EUFOR)
- Duration
- 20 December 1995 - 2 December 2004
- Military personnel
- 29.081
- Fatalities
- 8
- Decorations
- 1
In mid-September 1995, the presidents of Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia, under pressure from Russia and the US, agreed to cooperate in a peace settlement based on the preservation of Bosnia’s territorial integrity.
Dayton Agreement
The start of a ceasefire in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 14 October 1995 allowed serious negotiations to get under way. A month of negotiating produced a General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (GFAP), better known as the Dayton Agreement, which was signed in Paris on 14 December 1995.
Approval for IFOR
On 15 December 1995, the Security Council sanctioned the establishment of the Implementation Force (IFOR), which was to conduct Operation Joint Endeavour, a Chapter Seven operation. IFOR was a robust, 60.000-strong multinational NATO implementation force under unified command. A smaller Stabilization Force (SFOR) relieved IFOR after a year and conducted Operation Joint Guard, known from June 1998 as Operation Joint Forge.
Three sections
NATO divided Bosnia into 3 sections, each managed by a multinational division (MND). The division areas were subdivided into brigade and battalion sectors. When peace returned to the area and the predominantly military nature of the tasks shifted to a more civil character, NATO implemented a phased reduction of the force to 12.000 by the end of 2002.
Reorganisation
The Multinational Divisions were reorganised into brigades on 1 January 2003. The European Union took over the peace mission in Bosnia from NATO on 2 December 2004.