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Operation Sharp Guard

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NATO intervention in
Bosnia and Herzegovina

Operation Sharp Guard was a multi-year joint naval blockade in the Adriatic Sea by NATO and the Western European Union on shipments to the former Yugoslavia. It began on June 15, 1993, was suspended on June 19, 1996, and was terminated on October 2, 1996.

Background

HMCS Algonquin

The operation replaced naval blockades Operation Maritime Guard (of NATO; begun by the U.S. in November 1992) and Sharp Fence (of the WEU). It put them under a single chain of command and control (the "Adriatic Military Committee", over which the NATO and WEU Councils exerted joint control), to address what their respective Councils viewed as wasteful duplication of effort. Some maintain that despite the nominal official joint command and control of the operation, in reality it was NATO staff that ran the operation.

Purpose

The operation's purpose was, through a blockade on shipments to the former Yugoslavia, to enforce economic sanctions and an arms embargo of weapons and military equipment against the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and rival factions in Croatia and Bosnia. The Yugoslav Wars were being waged, and the participants hoped to limit the fighting by limiting supplies to it.

Blockade; ships challenged, boarded, and inspected

NATO ships enforcing the Operation Sharp Guard blockade

Twenty-two warships from 14 countries (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the U.K., and the U.S.), and eight maritime patrol aircraft, were involved in searching for and stopping blockade runners. Most contributors to the operation supplied one or two ships. The Turkish Navy, for example, participated with frigates, submarines, and tankers.

The operational area was divided into a series of "sea boxes", each the responsibility of a single warship. Each boarding team was comprised of a "guard team" to board and wrest control of the target ship, and a "search team", to conduct the search.

The ships were authorized to board, inspect, and seize both ships seeking to break the blockade and their cargo. The Combined Task Force 440 was commanded by Admiral Mario Angeli of Italy. It marked the first time since its founding in 1949 that NATO was involved in combat operations.

The issue of differing views among nations in the coalition as to the use of force authorized by rules of engagement arose in April 1994. Faced with the Maltese tanker Lido II making its way towards a Montenegro's port, a U.S. cruiser asked the NATO commander (a British Commodore) for guidance, and received authorization to use "disabling fire" to stop the tanker, if necessary. He received confirmation that he should follow the British Commodore's guidance from his own higher authority. But as the U.S. views disabling fire as meaning firing rounds into the ship's engineering space, and the U.S. cruiser was about to pass the order along to the Dutch Kortenaer class frigate HMNLS Van Kinsberger, the fact that the Dutch definition of "disabling fire" involves launching rounds into the bridge of the target ship, with an increased risk of loss of life, became important. Ultimately, the ship was stopped on May 1 and boarded without the need to resort to violence. The Lido II undergone repairs before being diverting to Italy because the crew sabotaged the ship's engine room.

The "NATO and WEU forces challenged more than 73,000 ships, boarded and inspected almost 6,000 at sea, and diverted 1,500 suspect ships to ports for further inspection." Of those, nearly a dozen vessels were found to be blockade runners, some carrying arms in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. NATO officials said no ships were able to run the blockade successfully, and that the maritime blockade had a major effect in preventing escalation of the conflict.

Suspension

HMS Nottingham

The blockade was suspended following a UN decision to end the arms embargo, and NATO's Southern Command said that: "NATO and WEU ships will no longer challenge, board or divert ships in the Adriatic". The Independent warned at the time that "In theory, there could now be a massive influx of arms to Bosnia, Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), although senior military and diplomatic sources yesterday said that they thought this would be unlikely."

Applicable UN resolutions

The blockade was conducted in accordance with numerous United Nations Security Council Resolutions: UNSCR 713, UNSCR 757, UNSCR 787 UNSCR 820, and UNSCR 943. Resolution 787 authorized participating states to "use such measures ... as may be necessary ... to halt all inward and outward maritime shipping ... to insure strict implementation of" the arms embargo and economic sanctions against the former Yugoslavia. Over the course of the operation, the blockade was redefined in accordance with UNSCR 1021 and UNSCR 1022.

Select ships participating

See also

References

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