Major-General Rupert Smith, a Briton, is Commander of the United Nations troops in Bosnia. This position is for one year (January 1995-January 1996). His mission is to protect the humanitarian relief effort, and to maintain a neutral position among the warring parties.

The UN protection force (UNPROFOR) can only operate at the request and agreement of all involved. It has about 37,000 troops in Croatia and Bosnia.

Numerous countries send troops to support this effort, for example Britain (3,516 troops), France (4,603), Jordan (3,381), Pakistan (2,975), Ukraine (1,084), Canada (2,026), and the Netherlands (1,684). The numbers of troops involved are usually quite small, for example at Zepa there were only 79 Ukrainians when it was captured by Serbs. The USA has only 348 people in the region.

Smith was in command in late May 1995 when the Serbs captured over 300 UN soldiers (including 33 Britons) as hostages in retaliation for UN attacks on their headquarters in Pale.