CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VIII (1) ContemporaryEurasia81 | Page 105

BEATA BOEHM
General Boutros Boutros-Ghali’s “Agenda for Peace” and the Initiative of
the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in the United Nations
Protected Area (UNPA), Sector West. The project became known well
beyond the borders of Western Slavonia as “The Pakrac Project”.
Under the Cyrus Vance Plan, the mandate’s central points were as
follows:
- Disarming and demobilizing the Serbian and Croatian armies in the
protected area
- Transforming the local police into multi-ethnic security forces
- Protecting all UNPA inhabitants, and protecting minorities in
particular
- Returning all displaced persons
- Humanitarian support and economic development in the region
The use of the word “experiment” underlines the fact that in 1992
almost no experience with peace-building projects in conflict zones existed.
Neither the UN nor the implementing organizations had undertaken such a
project in a crisis area. The acting project participants, including local
negotiation partners and workers, proceeded on the basis of “learning by
doing”. No official final report of the entire project was ever issued.
During the period following the conflict in the former Yugoslav
region, the goal of peace consolidation efforts and peace-building measures
was to normalize inter-ethnic relationships between the conflicting parties as
quickly as possible and to contribute to the region’s economic development
through specific cooperative projects. Such projects aimed at helping to
rebuild and stabilize economic structures. Refugees and displaced persons of
both Serb and Croat origin were to be quickly repatriated in order to support
their peaceful coexistence.
United Nations Office Vienna (UNOV) was tasked with coordinating
the implementation of the “UN Social Reconstruction Programme” as
Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General.
History of the Pakrac Conflict Region
Located about 120 km southeast of Zagreb, 280 km from Knin and
300 km from Belgrade, until 1991 Pakrac was an administrative, economic
and political centre for health, education, culture and social issues. It had its
own district court, police station, banking institutions, a large modern
regional hospital and a local newspaper. There were Roman Catholic, Serb
Orthodox and Baptist religious communities and churches.
According to the 1991 census [Census of the State Statistical Institute
of the Republic of Croatia, April 1992], the political district Pakrac
comprised 68 villages and the two cities - Pakrac and Lipik. Prior to the
onset of the armed conflict in 1991, the district had a total of 27,589
inhabitants. Of these, 8,197 lived in the city of Pakrac, divided between
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