Mediation in the Yugoslav wars

"Has any good come out of the efforts to mediate the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia? The short answer is: 'Yes, but...' Mediation has brought about agreements that halted the fighting in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia. Yet the negotiations took far too long, and their achievements came far too late. Between 1991 and 1995 some 200,000 people lost their lives, and close to 2 million were uprooted from their homes.". "Saadia Touval examines why the efforts to reach a negotiated solution have not been more effective. He calls attention to two lessons: that collective mediation faces much greater obstacles than mediation by individual states, and that a mediator's priority should be saving lives, rather than pursuing justice."--BOOK JACKET.