With a single phrase – “You are now under the protection of the UN forces” – spoken in besieged Srebrenica in 1993, French General Philippe Morillon embodied the ambiguities of a period when the United Nations was tasked with attempting to resolve the world’s conflicts. As commander of the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR) peacekeepers in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1993, he entered history as “General Courage” to some, a “Don Quixote” deluding himself about his ability to shape events to others. He became a symbol of both bravery and helplessness.
Morillon died on Thursday, January 29, in Saumur (eastern France), at the age of 90. A five-star general and grand officer of the Légion d’Honneur, he was born on October 24, 1935, in Casablanca, Morocco. As a young officer during the Algerian War, he built his career in the French Army, particularly in the Armored Corps.
In the spring of 1992, he undertook his first UN mission during the war in Croatia. The UN was caught off guard by the outbreak of fighting in Bosnia while General Morillon was in Sarajevo. Under Serbian bombardment, his convoy’s departure for Belgrade became an embarrassment. At a checkpoint on the outskirts of the Bosnian capital, four Serbian militiamen, armed only with Kalashnikovs and hunting rifles, held up 80 armored vehicles for hours. “They searched my belongings so thoroughly that they even squeezed out the toothpaste from the tube,” the general recounted, both amused and shaken. When he returned to Sarajevo in September 1992, now as head of the UN peacekeepers, he worked tirelessly to help the besieged city survive, relying on the UN’s airlift.
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