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From 1992
on, intensive contacts and exchanges take place between NATO countries
and the newly independent countries of Eastern Europe and independent
republics which were formally part of the Soviet Union. A Work Plan
for Dialogue, Partnership and Cooperation is drawn up. Cooperation
is already up and running in a number of essential practical fields
such as the coordination of arrangements for civil and military
air traffic control.
On the wider
stage, these countries become members of the Conference for European
Security and Cooperation (CSCE - later to become an organisation
and to be renamed the OSCE) and of the United Nations. Different
forms of regional security cooperation are established, for example
in the Baltic and in the Black Sea areas.
As 1992
progresses, the conflict in the former Yugoslavia continues to dominate
the international agenda. A significant development in NATO policy
is announced by Foreign Ministers when the NATO Council meets at
Ministerial level in Oslo in June. Under appropriate conditions,
NATO will provide assistance for peacekeeping activities undertaken
under the responsibility of the CSCE. Soon after, the NATO Council
extends its offer of support for peacekeeping activities to the
United Nations.
In another
development which will take on greater significance later on, the
Western European Union (WEU) establishes a list of humanitarian
and peacekeeping tasks (the Petersberg Missions) on which it will
focus future efforts. The WEU and NATO cooperate in monitoring compliance
with UN Resolutions designed to limit the conflict in the former
Yugoslavia by checking all shipping in the Adriatic which might
be carrying arms.
In a short
space of time, a number of further actions are undertaken by NATO
to implement decisions of the UN Security Council relating to the
Yugoslav conflict.
Escalation
of the Yugoslav conflict leads to enforcement measures by NATO and
WEU naval forces in the Adriatic towards the end of 1992. Requests
from the UN Secretary General give rise to military planning for
similar measures by NATO to enforce a no-fly zone and to provide
other forms of protection from the air.
By August
1993 air strikes are planned by NATO in order to prevent further
human suffering in Bosnia and to stop the strangulation of cities
like Sarajevo. But another three years will pass before a peace
agreement is reached and the NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR)
takes over the command of military operations in Bosnia from the
United Nations. Before this occurs, NATO finds itself taking on
increasing responsibility for ending the conflict and for imposing
military measures to support the efforts of the UN.
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