1992-1995 - After Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia's unraveling was hastened by Slobodan Milosevic's rise to power in 1986. Milosevic's embrace of Serb nationalism led to intrastate ethnic strife. The 1990 parliamentary elections led to a national assembly dominated by three ethnically-based parties, which had formed a loose coalition to oust the communists from power. Only in Montenegro and Serbia did the communist parties win, while nationalist parties came into power in the four other federal republics. The nationalist victories were in many ways a reaction against a fear of increasing Serb power. After the elections Croats and Slovenians abandoned the idea of a unified Yugoslavia, left the FRY, and were recognized by European countries as independent states. Franjo Tudjman, the new Croatian president promised the voters "a strong, democratic and independent Croatia within its historical borders." Serb President Milosevic stated that "in case of the ruin of Yugoslavia, the borders of Serbia must be redefined, because a future Serb state must include all areas where Serbs live."
Bosnia and Herzegovina followed the lead of Slovenia and Croatia, holding a referendum on independence on February 29 and March 1. The referendum was boycotted by many of Bosnian Serbs. When the results of the referendum were announced on March 2 and the peoples' desire for an independent Bosnia and Herzegovina was officially announced, Serb paramilitary set up positions around Sarajevo. On April 6 BiH was recognized as an independent state by the European Community, and Serb paramilitary forces fired on a crowd of peaceful demonstrators. Paramilitary forces had been bombing and shooting in towns throughout Bosnia in March and April. The siege of Sarajevo, as well as the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, had begun.
Slovenia and Croatia both declared independence from Yugoslavia in June 1991. Croatia and Slovenia's declarations of independence and the warfare that ensued placed Bosnia and Herzegovina and its three constituent peoples in an awkward position. A significant split soon developed on the issue of whether to stay with the Yugoslav federation (overwhelmingly favored among Serbs) or seek independence (overwhelmingly favored among Bosniaks and Croats). By late September 1991, Bosnian Serb Radovan Karadzic's SDS had declared four self-proclaimed "Serb Autonomous Regions (SAO)" in Bosnia. In October 1991, the Bosnian Serbs announced the formation within Bosnia of a "Serbian Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina" that would have its own constitution and parliamentary assembly. In January 1992, Radovan Karadzic publicly proclaimed a fully independent "Republic of the Serbian People in Bosnia-Herzegovina." On March 1, 1992, the Bosnian Government held a referendum on independence from Yugoslavia. The referendum was boycotted by the great majority of Bosnian Serbs, so with a voter turnout of 64%, 98% of which voted in favor of the proposal, Bosnia and Herzegovina became an independent state.
Bosnia's parliament declared the republic's independence on April 5, 1992. However, this move was opposed by Serb representatives, who had voted in their own referendum in November 1991 in favor of remaining in Yugoslavia. Bosnian Serbs, supported by neighboring Serbia, responded with armed force in an effort to partition the republic along ethnic lines to create a "greater Serbia." Full recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina's independence by the United States and most European countries occurred on April 7, and Bosnia and Herzegovina was admitted to the United Nations on May 22, 1992.
While the first casualty of the war is debated, significant Serbian offensives began in March 1992 in Eastern and Northern Bosnia. Following a tense period of escalating tensions and sporadic military incidents, open warfare began in Sarajevo on April 6. International recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina meant that the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) officially withdrew from the republic's territory, although their Bosnian Serb members merely joined the Army of Republika Srpska. Armed and equipped from JNA stockpiles in Bosnia, supported by volunteers, Republika Srpska's offensives in 1992 managed to place much of the country under its control.[1] By 1993, when an armed conflict erupted between the Sarajevo government and the Croat statelet of Herzeg-Bosnia, about 70% of the country was controlled by the Serbs.
In March 1994, the signing of the Washington accords between the Bosniak Muslims and ethnic-Croatian leaders led to the creation of a joint Bosniak-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This narrowed the field of warring parties to two, and helped turn the tide of war. The conflict continued through most of 1995, and many atrocities were committed, including acts of genocide committed by members of the Army of Republika Srpska in and around Srebrenica from July 12-22, 1995, where approximately 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed.
The conflict ended with the November 21, 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, which was formally signed on December 14, 1995 in Paris. The signing of the Dayton Agreement by the presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Alija Izetbegovic), Croatia (Franjo Tudman), and Yugoslavia (Slobodan Milosevic) brought a halt to the fighting, roughly establishing the basic structure of the present-day state. The three years of war and bloodshed had left between 95,000 and 100,000 people killed and more than 2 million displaced.
Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, the political and military leaders of the Bosnian Serb separatist movement, were indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague in July 1995 on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity stemming from their role in the Srebrenica massacre. Karadzic was apprehended and transferred to the ICTY in The Hague by Serbian authorities on July 21, 2008. Mladic remained at large as of early 2010.
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