Bosnia-Herzegovina, before its independence was one of the republics of the former Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was founded after the World War 1, but disintegrated in the WW2. After the war it was united again and emerged as one of the communist states in the East Europe, held together by the strength of a dictator, Josip Broz Tito. After Tito's death in 1980 the separatist and centralist movements began to arise causing big tensions.
The 1990 elections in Bosnia formed governing coalition of three ethnic-based parties. Muslims and Croats were in favor of the independence of Bosnia, while Bosnian Serbs were strongly against it and promoted Serbian entity within Bosnia. At the same time in 1990, Slovenia and Croatia held the elections and as in Bosnia, the communist party was defeated by the parties supporting national sovereignty. Bosnia's Muslim president Alija Izetbegovic did attempt to find a democratic ways which would allow Slovenia and Croatia to join reorganized union of sovereign Yugoslav states, but he stressed their desire to leave the union, if Slovenia and Croatia became independent. However, Serbia, under its leader Slobodan Milosevic, and the federal military leadership rejected the proposals for a looser union or for independence of the states. When the time for national elections for federal presidency came in the falling Yugoslavia, it was Croatia's turn, according to the constitution to nominate the president. Moderate and conciliatory Stipe Mesic was the first ever non-Communist to be nominated, but Serbs and Montenegrins rejected Mesic's conformation. Immediately following, Croatian parliament declared that they would declare independence by June 1991, if the negotiations proved fruitless.
In the fall of 1990 Serbian insurgents forcefully organized their own autonomy regions in Knin and by spring of 1992, while negotiations were held, armed guerrillas with support of Milosevic, federal army, and Serb leader, began hostilities in Croatia. Before Croatia had even declared independence from Yugoslavia, the federal army was occupying quarter of its territory.
In the referendum held in 1992, 62 percent of Bosnians voted for independence and thus were recognized as a sovereign country by the United States and the European community. Though, Serbian party protested the vote and called on Serb community to boycott, most Serbs supported independence. Following, in April of 1992 most of international community recognized the independence of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
In the spring of the same year, the Serbian offensive on Croatia came to temporary stall and instead Serbia, under the leadership of Milosevic launched an attack on Bosnia. Bosnian Serb party removed its members from the government and in March the National Army, consisting mostly of Serbians, began hostilities against non-Serbs in the eastern and northern parts of Bosnia. Later in May the National Government announced that it would withdraw from Bosnia but instead the soldiers of Serbian nationality changed uniforms and stayed to continue war and genocide. The troops, under "General" Ratko Mladic, expelled most of non-Serbs and engaged in ethnic cleansing", formed concentration camps, raped large numbers of Muslim women and turned 3.5 million into refugees (largest number since the World War 2).
Throughout the aggression the international interference has been ineffectual in the efforts to stop the violence. The UN embargo keeps Bosnians from defending themselves, who are encouraged to depend on negotiations. As all proposals for settling the conflict have been rejected by one side or another, Serbs continue to conduct the campaign of, as The State Department's 1992 annual report on human rights stated, "cruelty, brutality, and killing."
*For a more detailed acount of the history of the war and the conflict in genral, including the chronology of negotiations, link to Brief History of the War in Bosnia-Herzegovina, maintained by Caltech Bosnia Homepage.
Go To:
Role Of The US