Operation Oluja was undertaken after many years of unsuccessful efforts by Croatian political leadership and international peacekeeping forces to re-establish constitutional and legal order and security on the entire territory of the Republic of Croatia – as it was defined by the UN Resolution. Political and diplomatic means, agreements and settlements with representatives of local Serb population and the authorities in Belgrade, as well as several HV’s warning operations with limited objectives were to no avail.
Political situation prior to Oluja was marked by the incapability of the UN forces to contribute to a political solution to the conflict in Croatia. Following the rebellion of the Serbian minority in Croatia and the aggression of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) as a response to the declaration of independence of the Republic of Croatia from Yugoslavia in 1991, by signing the truce in January 1992, conditions were created for the deployment of the UN peacekeeping troops along the demarcation line. Unfortunately, the engagement of the UN forces did not yield any improvements nor did it resolve the conflict. Instead, it enabled Serbian forces to shift toward BiH and open up a new
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and the West witnessed what had happened in Bosnia and Herzegovina. US diplomacy, among others, proposed the Z-4 Plan according to which the occupied areas would be reintegrated into the Republic of Croatia while retaining elements of autonomy. Eventhough it was very favorable for them, the rebelled Serbs did not accept it. Although the cooperation and international support to Croatia gradually grew stronger, the critical point was the genocide in Srebrenica, when the Croatian government was given the US government's consent to launch an operation to reduce pressure on the Bihać enclave and prevent another massacre of innocent