By Dr Bertrand Ramcharan
Director of the International Peace Conference on the Former Yugoslavia (1992-1996); Former Chancellor of the University of Guyana
Wars end in one of four ways: victory; defeat; a negotiated peace; or a stalemate. Historically, the great majority of conflicts has ended in stalemates.
To end a conflict, it helps to understand its history. In the four years I participated in peace negotiations and peacekeeping operations in the former Yugoslavia, I obtained a key historical insight from the book of Nobel laureate Ivo Andric, The Bridge Over the Drina: that in Balkan history the power of the Ottoman Empire, and then the Soviet Empire, had held together the fractious nations that constituted the former Yugoslavia. Once the Soviet Empire ended, and Tito died, violence raised its head with deadly consequences. An understanding of history helped in the peace negotiations. I wrote about the negotiations in my book, International Peace Conferences.
