Last Two German Soldiers in EU Peacekeeping Mission to Leave Bosnia

End of seventeen year-long mission

The last two German soldiers serving with the EU peacekeeping mission in Bosnia will fold their country's flag in Sarajevo on Thursday and wrap up their participation in 17-year-old efforts to pacify the country.

With three large ethnic groups - Muslims, Serbs and Croats - Bosnia suffered the worst of the fighting during the conflict that followed the violent disintegration of the Yugoslav federation.

Dozens of attempts to mediate a peace in the former Yugoslavia failed, as UN protection force UNPROFOR, deployed to the region since 1992, proved tragically inept at protecting civilians. The most notable atrocity took place in Srebrenica in July 1995, when Serb forces killed around 8,000 Muslim boys and men.