Historical Security Council

The breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s was one of the most violent and complex conflicts in Europe since World War II. Yugoslavia was a country in Southeastern Europe made up of six republics: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia. These republics were home to many ethnic and religious groups, including Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), Slovenes, and Albanians. Although these groups lived in the same country, they had deep divisions caused by a long history of conflict, discrimination, and mistrust.

After the death of Yugoslavia’s autocratic leader, Josip Broz Tito, in 1980, the central government began to weaken. At the same time, communist governments were falling across Eastern Europe, and nationalist movements started gaining influence. In the early 1990s, several republics, including Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, declared independence. As each one separated from the federal state, war broke out over who would control certain territories and who would hold political power. These conflicts, known as the Yugoslav Wars, involved ethnic cleansing and displaced millions.

The expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the 1990s raised serious security concerns for Eastern Europe and Russia. NATO was originally formed in 1949 as a military alliance between the United States, Canada, and several Western European countries to counter the threat of Soviet influence during the Cold War. For decades, NATO existed in direct opposition to the Warsaw Pact, a Soviet-led military alliance of Eastern European nations. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Warsaw Pact disbanded, and many former Soviet satellite states began to seek closer ties to the West.

Following the end of the Cold War, NATO began to consider admitting new members from Eastern Europe, including Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Russia perceived this expansion as a direct security threat. Russian officials argued that Western leaders had assured them NATO would not expand eastward, interpreting the alliance’s movement toward Russia’s borders as aggressive and provocative. In response, Western leaders stated that no formal agreement had been made to restrict NATO’s enlargement. They argued that each country has the sovereign right to choose its own security arrangements, and that NATO’s expansion reflected the democratic will of Eastern European nations seeking stability and protection, not an effort to threaten Russia.

After the Rwandan president was assassinated in 1994, extremist Hutu leaders launched a genocide against the Tutsi minority and moderate Hutus. In about 100 days, between 500,000 and 800,000 people were killed. As the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a mostly Tutsi rebel group based in Uganda, gained control of the country, around two million Hutus fled to nearby countries. These included civilians, former soldiers, and people accused of taking part in the genocide. Most ended up in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), Tanzania, and Burundi. Refugee camps quickly formed but were overcrowded, poorly organized, and unsafe. Armed groups took control in many of them. This mass displacement affected not only Rwanda but also created political and humanitarian problems for neighboring countries and the international community.