Carter was a successful peacemaker – but he was not successful in Bosnia. Opinion

Jimmy Carter was only 56 years old when he lost to Ronald Reagan in the 1980 elections. He was too young for conventional political retirement and with a purpose still in life, he soon set out to make the most of his coming years. He dedicated himself to many causes, including establishing the Carter Center and conflict resolution. Carter’s life after the presidency earned him praise and the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize. In fact, he is widely considered an exemplary former president. In the process, he reinvented himself and the presidency.

In pursuing conflict resolution, Carter opted for personal peacekeeping and, in the process, subverted established norms expected of previous presidents. His personal diplomacy included meeting and negotiating with unpleasant individuals he deemed unworthy of the former president’s approval. In 1994 alone, Carter traveled to meet and talk with Kim Il Sung of North Korea and Raoul Cedras of Haiti. Carter has been criticized for giving them face-time and even some degree of legitimacy because of his interactions with international pariahs. Perhaps the most controversial of his personal peacemaking efforts since was his 1994 meeting with Bosnian Serb rebel leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic.

Shortly before Christmas 1994, Carter traveled more than 5,000 miles from the United States to the Bosnian Serb stronghold of Pel outside Sarajevo. He was welcomed by stalwarts of the rebel leadership. The purpose of his visit was to broker a ceasefire between the rebels and the Bosnian government in the middle of winter. His meetings with Karadzic and Mladic were objected to and roundly criticized. The 39th US President met in 1994 with individuals who had been listed by the US State Department as war crimes suspects in 1992. So what did Carter set out to do and why?

By the time of Carter’s visit, Bosnia had been at war for two and a half years and much of the country was occupied by Bosnian Serb forces. The internationally recognized Bosnian government, after surviving the initial attacks, mounted serious resistance and launched attacks aimed at recapturing captured lands. In the summer of 1994 the broad outlines of an international peace plan, known as the Contact Group Plan, were accepted by the Bosnian government and rejected by the Bosnian Serbs. The winter of that year was to serve as a respite before the Bosnian government expected major military operations in the spring of the following year. It was against this background that Carter traveled to Bosnia in December 1994 to broker a ceasefire.

Carter was contacted by emissaries from the Bosnian Serb side, who had met with the former president in Plains, Georgia, with a request for his participation. The Clinton administration was ambivalent about Carter’s visit and kept its distance without openly opposing it. The Bosnian government was concerned that this was Karadžić’s public relations ploy to get the former US President to meet them, but was in no position to stop it.

When he landed in Zaragoza, Carter had a first-hand impression of the Bosnian capital under siege, which he recounts in his memoirs. Bosnian government officials were convinced that Carter had been tricked into making the trip, so he received a warm welcome. In contrast, the mood in Pale the next day was cheerful. No person of high political stature and world fame had the honor of visiting this city. A four-month ceasefire was agreed upon in the talks.

All the artists involved went along with the ceasefire but for different reasons. The main beneficiaries of Carter’s personal diplomacy were the Pale Serbs. Far more important than a temporary ceasefire was the opportunity to host a former POTUS in his stronghold and brief him on Serb grievances. Carter’s presence at Pell was simply a major publicity coup. This public relations success led Karadzic to overstate his expectations about Carter’s possible future involvement. Indeed, Karadzic sought to re-engage Carter in Bosnia in 1995 but to no avail.

The Bosnian government was unhappy with Carter’s visit but did not want to derail his mission. In any case, trying to make the most of the developing situation, Zaragoza demanded that the ceasefire be extended to the entire country and thus relieve the north-western besieged area of ​​Bihac from further attacks.

Instead of achieving peace, the Carter armistice became merely a reprieve from the war. The winter break was a prelude to major fact-altering attacks launched by Bosnian and Croatian armies in the summer of 1995, which helped pave the way to end the war. The talks resulted in the Dayton Peace Agreement in November 1995.

Although Carter’s understanding of the Bosnian War was incomplete, his determination to play the role of peacemaker – a quality often seen in former presidents – overcame any concerns that he might have had in the hands of more experienced peacekeepers. His initiatives in Bosnia are another example of his activism after his presidency.

Still, tainted by a controversy.

The image that most clearly captured the entire controversy of Carter’s visit was a photo of the former president and Bosnian Serb leader. The photo-op of the two announcing the ceasefire in Pelé in December 1994 was awkward. The former US president, who emphasized human rights in and out of office, was surrounded by the “architect of the Bosnian Genocide” – to borrow Radovan Karadzic’s description from the Bosnian American scholar, Robert J. Donia.

Today, upon his passing on December 29 at the age of 100, the world remembers former President Carter as a statesman and human rights advocate committed to building peace.

But his visit to the Pale, and meeting Amar Karadzic in a photograph taken almost 30 years ago, remains a major stain on his long and impressive post-presidency career.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.