70
Herzegovina over the course of the conflict, the Dayton-Paris Accord provides a particular
insight into the political, strategic and military realities which prevailed in Bosnia and
Herzegovina up to 1995, and including May 1992. The fact that from 4 August 1994 the
FRY appeared to cut off its support to the Republika Srpska because the leadership of the
former had misgivings about the authorities in the latter is not insignificant. 198 Indeed, this
“delinking” served to emphasise the high degree of overall control exercised over the
Republika Srpska by the FRY, for, soon after this cessation of support from the FRY, the
Republika Srpska realised that it had little choice but to succumb to the authority of the
FRY.199 Thus, the Dayton-Paris Accord may indirectly shed light upon the realities of the
command and control structure that existed over the Bosnian Serb army at the time the VRS
and the VJ were ostensibly delinked, and may also assist the evaluation of whether or not
control continued to be exercised over the Bosnian Serb army by the FRY army thereafter.
158.
The Appeals Chamber will now turn to examine the specific features of the Dayton
Accord that are of relevance to this inquiry.
159.
By an agreement concluded on 29 August 1995 between the FRY and the Republika
Srpska and referred to in the preamble of the Dayton-Paris Accord, it was provided that a
unified delegation would negotiate at Dayton. This delegation would consist of six persons,
three from the FRY and three from the Republika Srpska. The Delegation was to be chaired
198
See Report of the Co-Chairmen of the Steering Committee of the International Conference on the Former
Yugoslavia on the establishment and commencement of operations of an International Conference on the
Former Yugoslavia Mission to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), S/1994/1074,
19 September 1996, p. 3, where it is noted that as of 4 August 1994, the Government of the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) ordered, inter alia, the breaking off of political and economic
relations with the Republika Srpska and the closure of the border between the Republika Srpska and the FRY
to all transport towards the Republika Srpska, except food, clothing and medicine. International observers
were deployed to monitor compliance with these measures, and it was reported by the Co-Chairmen that the
Government of the FRY appeared to be “meeting its commitment to close the border between the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) and the areas of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
under the control of the Bosnian Serb forces.” (Report of the Co-Chairmen of the Steering Committee of the
International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia on the state of implementation of the border closure
measures taken by the authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro),
S/1994/1124, 3 October 1994, pp. 2-3).
199
As outlined below, this process culminated in the agreement of the Republika Srpska to be represented at
the Dayton conference by the FRY (below, at paragraph 159). This appears to have been in spite of intense
opposition, within the Republika Srpska, to the peace settlements proposed by the international community, as
is evidenced by the overwhelming rejection by the Bosnian Serbs of the international community’s peace plan
for Bosnia and Herzegovina in a referendum which took place in Bosnian Serb-held territory on 27 – 28
August 1994 (See Report of the Secretary-General on the Work of the Organization, UNGAOR, 49th sess.,
supp. no. 1 (A/49/1), 2 September 1994, p. 95).
Case No.: -94-1-A
15 July 1999