Operation BRONZE (SFOR)

International Operation Name: Stabilization Force

International Operation Dates: 1996/12/20 – 2004/12/04

Mandating Organization: North Atlantic Council

Region Name: Europe

Location: Bosnia

Canadian Operation Name: Operation BRONZE (SFOR)

Canadian Operation Dates: 2004/09/18 – 2004/12/04

Mission Mandate:

To assist in the transition from NATO’s Stabilization Force (SFOR) to the European Union Force in Bosnia Herzegovina (EUFOR), and then to participate in EUFOR

Mission Notes:

On 14 December 1995 the General Framework Agreement for Peace (aka Dayton Accord) was signed in Paris, with the hope that this would bring peace to Bosnia Herzegovina. On 16 December NATO launched Operation JOINT ENDEAVOUR. This operation was based on UN Security Council Resolution 1031. The NATO force that deployed was given the name Implementation Force (IFOR). One year later, as events had stabilized in Bosnia Herzegovina, NATO initiated a new force, the Stabilization Force (SFOR), named by NATO Operation JOINT GUARD / Operation JOINT FORGE.

Initially, SFOR had over 32,000 troops. As Bosnia returned to normalcy, the number of forces was reduced to about 7,000 by June 2004. At the North Atlantic Council meeting in Istanbul on 28 June 2004, the members decided to end the alliance’s operation by the end of that year. The European Union agreed to deploy a force to replace NATO. SFOR began the work to transition to the European Union Force in Bosnia Herzegovina (EUFOR). The change of command date was 2 December 2004. This transition was given the blessing of the United Nations Security Council with Resolution 1575 (2004) of 22 November 2004.

Canada had participated in IFOR and the SFOR under the names Operation ALLIANCE and Operation PALLADIUM. With the transition to EUFOR, the Government of Canada approved a force of about 85 personnel to participate in the new mission. Accordingly, Rotation 15 of Operation PALLADIUM was used to close-out the mission and a new operation was created to assist in the transition from SFOR to EUFOR, and then to participate in EUFOR. This new mission was named Operation BRONZE.

Operation BRONZE started on 18 September 2004 with the organization being named Task Force Banja Luka. The force was divided into six sections, with personnel employed at SFOR Command HQ in Sarajevo, with Liaison and Observation Teams in Bihac, with Multinational Task Force (Northwest), a field HUMINT team and a national support cell in Banja Luka, and a movement detachment in Zagreb, Croatia.

With the change of command and handover to EUFOR on 2 December 2004, the 85 personnel of Operation BRONZE became part of that new mission.

The content of this webpage was prepared by the Operational Records section within the Directorate of History and Heritage (DHH).

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