The Mission become preeminent international organization in Croatia after the departure of UNTAES forces from the Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia.[1] Original Mission's was supposed to last until the 1999 and it consisted of 280 international personnel (including 120 police monitors) and 320 national staff deployed in twenty field offices and three regional coordination centers as well as the Zagreb headquarters.[1] The first mandate adopted by the Permanent Council in April 1996 authorized the Mission to "provide assistance and expertise to the Croatian authorities at all levels, as well as to interested individuals, groups and organisations, in the field of the protection of human rights and of the rights of the persons belonging to national minorities.