Safe areas were established in Bosnia, after thousands of Muslims who were escaping ethnic cleansing fled to the town of Srebrenica, doubling its population.
Attacks on Srebrenica prevented the UN from delivering much needed food supplies.
Srebrenica was declared a 'Safe area' by the UN due to this, which meant it was protected from attack by a small group of peacekeepers sent by the UN.
Subsequently 5 more Safe areas created, including Sarajevo (the capital of Bosnia)
Impact of Safe Areas
The new safe areas had mixed results, but mostly these were bad.
Over 30,000 peacekeepers were required but the security council only agreed to send 7,500
(UN members further unwilling to send troops so eventually only 5,000 were provided)
The Bosnian government used safe areas as bases to attack Serbs from, who then retaliated
This meant shelling and sniper attacks on Sarajevo continued
Safe areas also had terrible living conditions, big issues included:
Overcrowding
Unemployment
Crime
However, there was reduced violence, fewer casualties and more humanitarian aid in safe areas, so unlike no fly zones they were not a complete failure of the UN.
Labelling certain areas 'Safe' was not enough to protect them.
One attack on the Sarajevo market killed 68 people and injured 200.
UN finally agreed NATO air strikes could be used against Serbians.
Rather than stopping the Serbs, they changed tactics.
In 1994, the Serbs threatened the Safe area of Bihac.
NATO bombed Serbian airbases and military sites in Bosnia to warn them against attacking the town.
Serbia took 400 UN personnel hostage.
UN became more cautious about putting people in situations where they might be taken hostage which made the task of peacekeeping even more difficult.
