United Nations Confidence Restoration Operation in Croatia The United Nations Confidence Restoration Operation in Croatia , commonly abbreviated to UNCRO , is a completed United Nations ( UN ) peacekeeping mission in Croatia . It was established under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter and approved by the UN Security Council ( UNSC ) Resolution 981 on 31 March 1995 . UNCRO inherited United Nations Protection Force ( UNPROFOR ) personnel and infrastructure . Its command was located in Zagreb while the peacekeeping troops were deployed in four sectors named North , South , East and West . Twenty different countries contributed troops to the mission . UNCRO started with more than 15 , 000 troops taken over from UNPROFOR , but it was gradually reduced to approximately 7 , 000 by the end of the mission in early 1996 . South Korean diplomat Byung Suk Min was the civilian head of the mission , while the military commanders of UNCRO were Generals Raymond Crabbe and Eid Kamal Al - Rodan . UNCRO was interlinked with UNPROFOR , which remained active under that title in Bosnia and Herzegovina , and the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force ( UNPREDEP ) deployed in the Republic of Macedonia . The mission was terminated on 15 January 1996 on the basis of UNSC Resolution 1025 of 30 November 1995 . 16 UNCRO troops were killed , including four during Operation Storm in August 1995 . UNCRO was tasked with supporting implementation of the March 1994 ceasefire in the Croatian War of Independence , an agreement on economic cooperation between Croatia and the self - declared Republic of Serbian Krajina ( RSK ) , monitoring of areas between their armies , maintenance of 25 checkpoints along Croatian international borders in between RSK - held territory on one side and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia or Bosnia and Herzegovina on the other , monitoring of the demilitarized Prevlaka Peninsula , liaison functions , and delivery of humanitarian aid . UNCRO was criticized because it did not apply the lessons learned during the UNPROFOR mission in Croatia . These included the need for sufficient troops and adequate resources to carry out the mission . As a result , fulfillment of the mission mandate proved nearly impossible . Background . In 1990 , following the electoral defeat of the Communist regime in Croatia , ethnic tensions worsened . After the elections , the Yugoslav People ' s Army ( " Jugoslovenska narodna armija " - JNA ) confiscated the weapons of Croatia ' s Territorial Defence ( " Teritorijalna obrana " - TO ) to minimize any resistance . On 17 August 1990 , the tensions escalated to an open revolt of the Croatian Serbs , centered on the predominantly Serb - populated areas of the Dalmatian hinterland around Knin , parts of the Lika , Kordun , Banovina and eastern Croatia regions . The Republic of Serbian Krajina ( RSK ) , later established in those areas , declared its intention of integration with Serbia , and was viewed by the Government of Croatia as a breakaway region . The JNA stepped in and prevented Croatian police from intervening . By March 1991 , the conflict had escalated into the Croatian War of Independence . In June , Croatia declared independence as Yugoslavia disintegrated , but implementation of the decision was postponed by a three - month moratorium , eventually taking effect on 8 October . A campaign of ethnic cleansing then began in the RSK , and most non - Serbs had been expelled by early 1993 . As the JNA increasingly supported the RSK , the Croatian police could not cope with the situation . In May 1991 the Croatian National Guard ( " Zbor narodne garde " - ZNG ) was formed as the military of Croatia , and was renamed the Croatian Army ( " Hrvatska vojska " - HV ) in November . Late 1991 saw the fiercest fighting of the war , culminating in the Battle of the Barracks , the Siege of Dubrovnik , and the Battle of Vukovar . In January 1992 , a ceasefire agreement to implement the Vance plan was signed by representatives of Croatia , the JNA and the UN , and fighting paused . The Vance plan was designed to stop hostilities in Croatia , allow negotiations by neutralizing any influence caused by fighting , and offered no political solutions in advance . The plan entailed deployment of the 10 , 000 - strong United Nations Protection Force ( UNPROFOR ) to the major conflict areas known as " UN Protected Areas " ( UNPAs ) . UNPROFOR was tasked with creating a buffer between the belligerents , disarming Croatian Serb elements of the TO , and overseeing JNA and HV withdrawal from the UNPAs and return of refugees to the area . United Nations Security Council Resolution 743 of 21 February described the legal basis of the UN mission that had been requested and agreed upon in November 1991 , and made no explicit reference to Chapter VI or Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter . Because of organizational problems and breaches of the ceasefire agreement , UNPROFOR did not start to deploy until 8 March , and took two months to fully deploy in the UNPAs . Even though UNPROFOR had placed most heavy weapons of the Army of the Republic of Serb Krajina ( ARSK ) in storage controlled jointly by the UN and the RSK by January 1993 , the force was unable to fulfil the provisions of the Vance plan , including the disarmament of the ARSK , return of refugees , restoration of civilian authority , and establishment of an ethnically mixed police . It also failed to remove ARSK forces from areas outside the designated UNPAs which were under ARSK control at the time of signing of the ceasefire . Those areas , later known as the pink zones , were supposed to be restored to Croatian control from the outset . Failure to implement this aspect of the Vance plan made the pink zones a major source of contention between Croatia and the RSK . In 1993 , worried that the situation on the ground might become permanent , Croatia launched several small - scale military offensives against the RSK to seize significant local objectives and attract international attention . In response , the ARSK retrieved their weapons from the UN / RSK controlled storage sites , reversing the only major success of UNPROFOR in Croatia . Transition from UNPROFOR . The UNPROFOR mandate was extended several times , in increments of up to six months , with consent of the government of Croatia . That changed in early 1995 , when Croatian President Franjo Tuđman wrote to the Secretary - General of the United Nations informing him that Croatia would not accept further extensions of the mission once it expired on 31 March , asking that UNPROFOR leave Croatia by the end of June . At the time , it was established UN practice to seek consent of the country where its peacekeepers were deployed , and the letter effectively required UNPROFOR to withdraw completely from Croatia . Such action would also require abolishment of the UNPAs , which had been identified as integral parts of Croatia by United Nations Security Council Resolution 815 of 30 March 1993 . Two days later , the Secretary - General reported to the United Nations Security Council ( UNSC ) that UNPROFOR was unable to implement important elements of the Vance plan , enforce a ceasefire or protect its own vehicles against hijackings in the UNPAs . On 31 January , US ambassador Peter Galbraith unsuccessfully tried to persuade Tuđman ' s aide Hrvoje Šarinić to accept another extension of the UNPROFOR mandate , explaining that the conflict would inevitably escalate once the UN force withdrew . This rebuff was followed by harsh French and UK diplomatic responses calling on the UN to ignore the Croatian decision , which resulted in Tuđman dismissing any extension of the mandate . The US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Richard Holbrooke met Tuđman and suggested to him that if UNPROFOR was permitted to stay , Croatia could count on integration into the European Union and NATO . As a way out of the diplomatic row , Holbrooke proposed that UNPROFOR be replaced by a new mission using the same personnel and organizational structure . Following Croatian agreement , the UNSC adopted Resolution 981 establishing the United Nations Confidence Restoration Operation in Croatia ( UNCRO ) , replacing UNPROFOR in the country . The new mission ' s name was devised by Under - Secretary - General of the United Nations Shashi Tharoor . Mission . Mandate and functions . The UNCRO mission was established under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter . It was initially scheduled to end on 30 November 1995 , and its mandate was to support implementation of a ceasefire arranged between Croatia and the RSK that had been concluded on 29 March 1994 , as well as an agreement on economic cooperation made on 2 December 1994 . The former entailed monitoring areas between HV and ARSK forward positions , verification that specific types of heavy weapons were at least away from the forward military positions or placed in storage , maintenance of checkpoints , chairing Joint Commissions , and performance of liaison functions . The economic agreement - related functions were facilitating and supporting activities aimed at opening of transport routes , power and water supply networks , and supporting negotiation and implementation of further economic arrangements . UNCRO was also tasked with delivery of humanitarian aid and control , monitoring and reporting of any transport of military personnel , supplies , equipment or weapons across border checkpoints manned by the force — between RSK - held parts of Croatia on one side and Bosnia and Herzegovina or the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on the other . There were 25 border checkpoints manned by the force . The mandate also directed UNCRO to monitor demilitarization of the Prevlaka Peninsula at the entrance to the Bay of Kotor , according to the UNSC Resolution 779 . Deployment of UNCRO was formally approved by the UNSC on 28 April . The mission was scheduled to be scaled down to 8 , 750 troops from the larger UNPROFOR force in the country in June . UNCRO was criticized for several reasons . The Secretary - General ' s Report to the Council described the failures of UNPROFOR , but the new mission did not address them . There were insufficient troops , having been reduced from UNPROFOR levels by the new mission mandate , and adequate human and material resources to carry out the mission tasks were not forthcoming . As a result , fulfilment of the mission mandate was nearly impossible . While Croatian sources said that the mission name was the only real difference from UNPROFOR , the RSK authorities were not satisfied with the UNCRO mission . Specifically , RSK objected to the deployment of UNCRO troops along the international borders and to the mission name . Conversely , Croats were content that the mission acronym appeared to be an abbreviation of " Croatia " . In response , Czech UNCRO troops used vehicle licence plates bearing the new mission ' s acronym when operating in HV - controlled territory and UNPROFOR plates in areas held by the ARSK due to safety concerns . Order of battle . UNCRO was commanded from UN Peace Force Headquarters ( UNPF - HQ ) established in Zagreb . UNPF - HQ controlled UNCRO , the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force ( UNPREDEP ) in the Republic of Macedonia , and UNPROFORwhich was confined to Bosnia and Herzegovina from late March . The UNPF - HQ commander was French Lieutenant General Bernard Janvier . In July , South Korean diplomat Byung Suk Min was appointed as head of UNCRO , with Major General Eid Kamal Al - Rodan of the Royal Jordanian Army as the mission ' s military commander . Before Al - Rodan , the post was held by Canadian Lieutenant General Raymond Crabbe . UNCRO was initially deployed to the same parts of Croatia as UNPROFOR , however contemporary UNSC documents no longer referred to them as UNPAs — applying the designations of Sector East , West , North and South , or " areas under the control of the local Serb authorities " instead . One group of sources refers to the areas of UNCRO deployment as UNPAs , another reflects the UNSC practice and omits the acronym , while others refer to the areas as former UNPAs . Troops from Argentina , Belgium , Canada , Czech Republic , Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Indonesia , Jordan , Kenya , Nepal , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Russia , Slovakia , Sweden , Ukraine and the United States contributed to the mission . When UNCRO replaced UNPROFOR in Croatia in March 1995 , there were 15 , 229 UN troopsincluding UNPF - HQ personnelin Croatia . By mid - November the mission had been scaled down to 7 , 041 personnel , including 164 UN Military Observers and 296 UN Civilian Police ( UNCIVPOL ) personnel . Response to Croatian offensives . On 1 May in Operation Flash , the HV overran the ARSK - held part of Sector West . Šarinić warned Crabbe of the attack hours in advance to allow UNCRO troops to seek shelter . The RSK authorities said that some ARSK units were not able to remove antitank weapons from UNCRO depots in Stara Gradiška and near Pakrac until after the offensive began . These weapons had been stored there pursuant to the March 1994 ceasefire agreement . Nonetheless , UNCRO did not stop ARSK troops from retrieving the weapons . During the fighting , ARSK troops took 15 UNCIVPOL members , two interpreters and 89 Nepalese and Argentinian troops hostage to use as human shields against the HV . HV troops hijacked an UNCRO armoured personnel carrier and Land Rover to precede HV tanks that were moving west along the A3 motorway . On 3 May , the Argentinian battalion of UNCRO facilitated the surrender of 600 ARSK troops near Pakrac , following an agreement reached between Croatia and the RSK which was mediated by the personal representative of the UN Secretary - General Yasushi Akashi . Three Jordanian UNCRO troops were wounded by HV fire . The offensive made clear that the deployment of UNCRO would not deter further Croatian offensives . On 4 August , the HV initiated Operation Storm , which was aimed at recapturing Sectors North and Southencompassing the bulk of the RSK . UNCRO was notified three hours in advance of the attack after Šarinić telephoned Janvier . In addition , each HV corps notified the UNCRO sector in the path of its planned advance , and requested written confirmation that the information had been received . UNCRO relayed the information to the RSK authorities . Two days later , UNCRO was requested to protect 35 , 000 Serb civilians accompanying the ARSK as it retreated towards Bosnia and Herzegovina . They were trapped near Topusko when HV troops captured Glina , closing the last road available to them . The UNCRO Ukrainian battalion base was used as a venue for negotiations for the surrender of the trapped ARSK Kordun Corps , which were conducted in the presence of UNCRO officers . The commander of UNCRO Sector North signed the surrender agreement as a witness . This offensive also involved actions against UN peacekeepers ; the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina , which supported the offensive from the Bihać pocket , attacked UNCRO observation posts manned by Polish troops , while HV troops used several Danish peacekeepers as human shields . During the offensive , ARSK detained five Sector East headquarters staff , several UNCRO vehicles were hijacked and UN personnel were harassed . Four UN peacekeepers were killed in the offensivethree as a result of HV actions and one as a result of ARSK fireand 16 were injured . HV troops also destroyed 98 UN observation posts . Following the two offensives and negotiations led by Akashi , UNCRO continued to supervise the ceasefire in Sector East . The role of UNCRO in Sectors North and South was limited to post - conflict peace - building following an agreement between Croatian authorities and Akashi . By November 1995 , UNCRO had withdrawn to Sector East . Even though the UN had planned to reduce UNCRO to 4 , 190 troops by the end of September and approximately 2 , 500 by October , the mission strength remained at more than 7 , 000 troops until November . Termination and aftermath . The UNCRO mission was ended by UNSC Resolution 1025 of 30 November 1995 . The resolution was passed in the wake of the Erdut Agreement between Croatia and representatives of Serbs in Sector East . It defined mechanisms for peaceful restoration of the region to Croatian control and established an interim period ending on 15 January 1996 , when authority was to be transferred from UNCRO to a new transitional force to be deployed to the area . When the interim period expired , the UNSC adopted resolutions 1037 and 1038 , which established the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia , Baranja and Western Sirmium in the former Sector East and the United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka . Commencement of the two new missions coincided with arrival of NATO to Bosnia and Herzegovina to enforce the Dayton Accords . 16 UNCRO personnel dies during the mission ; three Kenyan soldiers were killed , the Czech , Danish , French and Russian battalions lost two each , and the Argentina , Belgium , Jordan , Poland and Ukraine contingents each lost one . Four of the UNCRO peacekeepers were killed during major combat in the mission area . The United Nations Medal was awarded to troops that served with UNCRO for 90 consecutive days . The medal was issued suspended from a wide ribbon with a red stripe with a white border on a blue background , flanked by stripesolive green on the left and brown on the rightset apart from the white border .