20th Anniversary of Dayton Peace Accord observed

Dayton Peace Accord: Accord that brought the most devastating Bosnian War to an end on 21 November 1995

The Dayton Peace Accord was in news on 21 November 2015 as the world commemorated 20th Anniversary of the Signing of the Dayton Peace Accords.

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also commended the efforts of the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the consolidation of peace and political stability and the socioeconomic progress achieved during the past 20 years.

About Dayton Peace Accord
• The Dayton Peace Accords were signed on 21 November 1995 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio to end the Bosnian war and laid the foundations for a sovereign Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• The process of signing of accord was led by Richard Holbrooke, the then chief US peace negotiator and Secretary of State Warren Christopher.
• The accord divided Bosnia into two autonomous entities- the Serb Republic and the mainly Bosniak-Croat Federation and created a highly decentralised and unwieldy system of ethnic quotas.
• The Bosnian war lasted for about four years, claimed over 100000 lives, displaced millions and fuelled atrocities that horrified the world.

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