Foreign Policy Research Institute A Nation Must Think Before it Acts The Rules of Engagement for U.N. Peacekeeping Forces in Former Yugoslavia: A Response

The Rules of Engagement for U.N. Peacekeeping Forces in Former Yugoslavia: A Response

In the Fall 1994 issue of Orbis, Bruce D. Berkowitz airs several criticisms of the rules of engagement (ROEs) employed by the United Nations Protection Force UNPROFOR) in the former Yugoslavia. ROEs are indeed a vital tool for assuring the consistency of military operations with policy objectives. I agree with Berkowitz on this point. I also share his evident concern that the ROEs must always be clear and comprehensible to the soldiers, like myself, who have to follow them. Unfortunately, Berkowitz is mistaken on several other key points and falls prey to existing misconceptions about the United Nations’s role in former Yugoslavia. Let me take this opportunity to set the record straight.

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