UN leadership or those controlling it
Try those controlling it. The US didn't want the atrocities of Op Storm or the plight of those "refugees" to be publicised because the US leadership was complicit in what happened during Op Storm (MPRI, clandestine arms shipments, etc, etc.) Everything was aimed at Clinton's "triumph" at Dayton, let's not forget.
The people sheltering in Knin and other UN compounds were not in fact refugees. They had not crossed an internationally-recognised border and therefore were not legally refugees -- they were IDPs or Internally Displaced Persons. The laws and mandates are different for refugees and IDPs. They were citizens of Croatia on Croatian territory. And therefore subject to Croatian law. It took a lot of negotiation on the part of the UN to continue to shelter these people (when they had no such mandate) and then to get the Croats to agree to provide transportion (yes, they were transported on Croat busses!) and protect the "Safe Passage" convoy from Knin to Lipovac.
Remember what happened in the original "Op Safe Passage" in August 1995 when Croats were beating the Serbs with pipes and throwing rocks off overpasses at them? Well, for this "Op Safe Passage (Knin)in September there were Croat police stationed at every overpass and Croat guards the whole way. Do you really think this was such an easy thing to negotiate? But we did it!
And it is to be remembered that the Croats did have rights on their own territory -- they didn't want any war criminals slipping away.
Yes, Forand was a hero. There were lots of heroes, both civilian and military. Col. Andy (I think his last name was Leslie) was also a hero. I was lead humananitarian officer for "Op Safe Passage (Knin)" and Col. Andy was terrific and had a great deal to do with it happening in the first place and it running as well as it did. Lots of other UN did, too. And it wasn't just Knin. Up in Sector North, we sheltered IDPs in Topusko and Glina in Sector North and they had their own "Op Safe Passage (SN)" not long after the one from Knin. I did that one by myself.
Of course one never reads about Sector North, only Knin, because there were no journalists there (the Croats shot the BBC guy in the head) and we didn't have the Canadian battalion. We did have a very heroic Canadian UNMO who got his legs blown off, though.
And before you slam the UN to pieces -- yes, there is a lot wrong with the UN. But there WERE UN people on the ground during Op Storm who risked their lives and stood up to it all. And you might be amazed at what we did and how many lives we saved at risk to our own. Just ask Toso Pajic, the only member of the RSK leadership who stuck around to try to help his people and negotiate some relief for them.
The Americans, who could easily have stopped it, could easily have done something, had to be arm-twisted into putting pressure on the Croats to behave. That's how things are done. The Americans call the shots.
The UN is unhappy those Serb civilians weren't killed and they got away.
That's really over the top, joan. And an insult to all of us who DID actually go out in the very middle of Op Storm to save lives. And certainly an insult to those who were injured or died in the process. Those words really make me boil. When was the last time YOU went into a minefield or stood down a red-eyed jittery soldier with a very big gun who'd been killing people? I can give you dates and times I did those things. Why didn't YOU go do something about it? (Don't use being a woman as an excuse--I'm one, too.) If you haven't done anything, you have no right to critisize those who did, especially as you have no clue what we really did.
As for the UN disarming the ARSK (Krajina Serbs), well, it didn't happen. Sorry. Unless you count the weapons buyback programme in UNTAES in 1997, per Dayton/Erdut.
thks for the clarification Sgt Major - always helpful