On Nov. 1, 1995, leaders from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia gathered at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Their goal: create a ceasefire agreement to end the Bosnian war.
Twenty days later, they initialized the Dayton Peace Accords; It was later signed in Paris.
Dayton City Commissioner Matt Joseph said this event should always be celebrated.
"The fact that there was a hot war going on, the parties got together with the intermediary skills of our State Department and others, and the end of the war is a rare thing," said Joseph.
He’s part of the Dayton Peace Accords Anniversary Committee, which is planning a month of free events across the city spotlighting those peace talks. The first is Saturday, Oct. 18, at the main branch of the Dayton Metro Library.
There’ll be a demonstration by a landmine detection dog followed by the documentary, "In the Land of Blood and Honey."
According to committee member and retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Colonel John McCance, elements of the Dayton Peace Accords are also used in current-day international negotiations.
"I don't think we'll ever see world peace on a global scale," reflected McCance. "But I do think that what happened in Dayton in the construct that the negotiations took and the model that it became is a tool in the toolbox, of not only the U.S., but other countries."
During the November gala, U.S. Ambassador to China Robert Nicholas Burns will receive the Dayton Peace Prize.
A list of the month-long events is at www.dpaaf.org
