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A CHRISTIAN RELIEF organization is playing a vital peacekeeping role in moves to bring lasting peace to the war-torn country. 

        Impact Teams International is recruiting volunteers to serve as United Nations international observers as Serbs, Croats and 
Muslims forced to flee their homes by vicious "ethnic cleansing" 
attempt to return to make a new start. 

        A dozen Youth With A Mission workers have spent the past few weeks "chaperoning" the first group of displaced Serbs to 
venture back to their homes in the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina - with more expected to accompany further 
returnees in the months ahead. 

        UN officials hope that the outsiders' presence will deter 
repeats of intimidation that have thus far hampered full 
implementation of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, which brought an end to the fighting. 

        While both sides officially approved the return of displaced 
families to their homes, attempts to follow through on the treaty had until the recent initiative been stalled by threats and the burning of houses as a warning against resettlement. 

        But now around ten Serbian families are repairing their homes and rebuilding their lives, after being accompanied by two teams 
of YWAM workers in constant radio contact with nearby UN 
peacekeeping forces. 

        One early incident between members of the returning party and local people "served to show that our team's presence helped 
diffuse a situation that could have been nastier than it was," said YWAM's European director, Jeff Fountain, who helped arrange 
the observer program. 

        He was approached by a UN official for assistance with the 
resettlement project after visiting Bosnia in May to assess the 
situation firsthand. "Naturally there is a certain element of risk, which is why we have been watching this first phase very closely before deciding how many more people we can deploy in this project," he commented. 

        "However, someone has to be prepared to step into the breach in situations like this, as agents of reconciliation. Without this resettlement of displaced persons, 'ethnic cleansing' will be the de facto outcome of the war," he added. 

        As well as acting as the "eyes and ears" of the UN in the 
program - codenamed Operation Emmaus -  the volunteers who 
accompanied the returning Serbs  have also been helping clean 
and refurbish the homes, damaged and looted in their owners' 
absence. 

        Plans are to extend the project to include Muslims and Croats returning to homes abandoned in Serb-dominated areas, resettling 
several hundred people over the next few months. 

        Recruitment of volunteers for further phases of the program is 
being coordinated by ITI from its headquarters in Hawaii, USA. 
Affiliated with YWAM, the organization has involved hundreds of 
Christians in relief and development work in projects in northern Iraq, over the past six years. 
 

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