Bosnian Civil War, 1992-1995

Summary: From April 1992 until September 1995 competing ethnic groups in Bosnia-Herzegovina fought a civil war that led to charges of genocide and other war crimes against some of the principal leaders. The war started after the government of Bosnia-Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia, the post-World War II federation that had already lost two of its constituent republics, Croatia and Slovenia. Ethnic Serbs in Bosnia resisted splitting from the remnant of Yugoslavia, which was dominated by Serbia. Bosnian Serbs declared their own republic, organized an army, and launched a program they called "ethnic cleansing" to drive out Bosnian Muslims ("Bosniaks") from at least half of Serbian territory. The war witnessed two notorious incidents; the prolonged siege of the capital, Sarajevo, and the murder of over 7,500 Muslim boys and men near the town of Srebrenica in 1995. The political and military leader of the Serbs were among over 100 people charged with war crimes by a special tribunal established by the United Nations. Eventually military pressure by NATO and economic sanctions against Serbia caused the parties to negotiate a peace agreement in 1995 that included continuation of separate governments, one a Serbian Republic and the other a federation of Bosniaks and Croatians, in a single entity called Bosnia-Herzegovina.

From 1992 through 1995 a civil war engulfed Bosnia-Herzegovina (usually referred to as simply Bosnia), an ethnically diverse constituent republic of Yugoslavia until that country disintegrated starting in 1991. While other Yugoslav republics, such as Serbia, Slovenia, Macedonia, and Montenegro, were dominated by a single ethnic group, Bosnia was ethnically diverse. It contained Muslims, known as Bosniaks, Croatians (mostly Roman Catholics), and Serbs, mostly Orthodox Christians.

The fighting in Bosnia, usually described as the bloodiest in Europe since World War II, centered around the nationalist aspirations of the republic's main ethnic groups, Croats, Bosniaks (Muslims) and Serbs. When Bosnia-Herzegovina declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1992, its government was headed by a Muslim, Alija Izetbegovic. The population of Bosnia was four million: 44% of whom were Muslims, 31% Serbs, and 17% Croatians, with the other 8% divided among other groups. Historical differences among these ethnic groups had been largely submerged under the banner of Communism during the rule of Yugoslav Federation President Josip Tito from the end of World War II until Tito's death in 1981. In the next decade, nationalist sentiments re-emerged in the Balkans. In 1991 the republics of Slovenia and Croatia both declared their independence. Serbs living in Croatia in particular did not want to be separated from "Greater Serbia" and fought to keep Croatia part of Serb-dominated Yugoslavia. Failing that, they fought to establish an independent Serbian entity out of Croatian territory.

Bosnia, however, was another matter altogether in the view of Serb nationalists. Actively supported by the president of Serbia, Slobodan Milošević, in Belgrade (simultaneously capital of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia), Serbs in Bosnia responded to the declaration of independence by the Muslim-dominated Bosnian government by declaring their own republic, forming a Serb assembly, and organizing a Bosnian Serb army. The political leader of Bosnian Serbs was Radovan Karadzic. General Ratko Mladic of the Yugoslav Peoples Army was named commander of the self-styled Bosnian Serb Army. With moral, political, and logistical support from Milošević, Karadzic and Mladic set about to implement a policy Karadzic named "ethnic cleansing"-establishing a Serb-only area of Bosnia adjacent to Serbia. This was the core issue of the civil war that lasted three years and saw the bloodiest fighting in Europe since World War II.

European states and the United States both participated in diplomatic efforts in early 1992 to head off fighting. European powers focused on proposals to turn Bosnia-Herzegovina into a confederation of three ethnic cantons. The three ethnic groups in Bosnia agreed in principle (the Bosniaks, or Bosnian Muslims, reluctantly), although they did not agree on boundaries for the ethnic areas, at a conference held in Lisbon on February 23, 1992. The U.S. administration of President George H. W. Bush, however, focused on achieving international recognition for a unified Bosnia. On March 1, 1992, a referendum in Bosnia voted in favor of independence. Serbs largely boycotted the election, while Croats and Bosniaks voted in favor of independence by a margin of 99.4%. At another conference aimed at avoiding warfare, Serb leader Radovan Karadzic declared that "Bosnia and Herzegovina should not be recognized as a unitarian, independent entity. (Serbs) want our own state." On March 16, 1992, the three sides signed an agreement to divide Bosnia into ethnic cantons, but Muslim leader Izetbegovic later renounced the agreement, saying he had been pressured to sign as a condition for European recognition of Bosnian independence. On March 27, 1992, Serbs in Bosnia established their own constitution, choosing Karadzic as their leader. A final round of negotiations, on March 30, was meant to draw boundaries of ethnic regions, but by then guerrilla fighting had already started, with Serbs driving Muslims from some towns, while in the Herzegovina area Croats (including elements of the army of independent Croatia) seized control where Croats were in the majority.

On April 5, 1992, fighting erupted between Muslims and Serbs in the center of the capital, Sarajevo. The next day 12 European Community foreign ministers announced recognition of Bosnia-Herzegovina. By then, the civil war was underway.

Course of the war. Initially the Serbs dominated the fighting. Scores of thousands of Bosnian Muslims in particular were driven from their homes in territory claimed by the Serbs. One of the most significant actions of the war was the siege of Sarajevo, the capital, which began in early April 1992 when Serb gunmen opened fire on peaceful demonstrators in the city center. The siege continued for almost four years-until February 1996-during which time about 10,000 civilians died and about 55,000 were wounded. Relieving the siege of Sarajevo became a major goal of U.N. and NATO efforts to end the war. In July 1992 the United Nations began relief flights into Sarajevo's airport. NATO launched air attacks on Serbian forces in February 1994 to relieve Sarajevo. During the course of the conflict the United Nations established several "safe havens" for refugees, and these became objects of armed conflict. The siege of Sarajevo in particular, which affected thousands of Muslim civilians trapped in the city, was the subject of indictments for war crimes leveled by the war crimes tribunal at The Hague against General Mladic of the Bosnian Serb army and political leader Radovan Karadzic.

The Bosnian War began as a three-way contest among Bosnian Muslims, Croats, and Serbs. In some cases Croats (mostly Catholic) joined Serbs (mostly Orthodox) in "ethnic cleansing" by driving Bosniaks (Muslims) out of their homes. Early on, the army of independent Croatia intervened in the Herzegovina region to help establish control by ethnic Croats. In March 1994 the Bosniaks and Croats signed a peace agreement in Washington creating a federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina that was left fighting the Serbs, who at one stage had captured about half the territory of Bosnia. The United Nations sent observers and peacekeepers into Bosnia, and these, too, were targets, particularly of the Serbs.

War Crimes and Genocide. The Bosnian civil war became notorious for attacks on civilians that were categorized as genocide by a special tribunal established by the United Nations to deal with the subject. Two incidents in particular attracted international attention: the prolonged siege of Sarajevo by Serbs, and the murder of over 7,500 Muslim men and boys near the eastern town of Srebrenica. The town was a U.N. "safe haven" that Serbs invaded, sending Bosniak women on buses out of Serb territory, keeping behind men and boys for "interrogation" in July 1995. Over an eight-day period, an estimated 7,500 Muslims were killed and quickly buried. Serb forces later returned to the area to move some bodies to unmarked graves. In both Sarajevo and Srebrenica, thousands of civilians died, a fact that led to war crimes charges against Serb leaders, and to more aggressive military action by NATO to cut off support for the Serbian army in Bosnia.

End of the Conflict. In summer 1995 the military tide turned against the Serbs as the combined Bosniak and Croatian forces recaptured some territory. More important, support for the Bosnian Serbs from Milošević in Serbia itself began fading as his country came under economic pressures from sanctions voted by the United Nations as a means of persuading him to stop supporting his fellow Serbs in Bosnia. More aggressive military actions against the Serbs by NATO, particularly the United States, also helped turn Milošević from his previous enthusiasm for the Bosnian Serb cause.

In November 1995 the three countries linked to the conflict-Bosnia-Herzegovina (the federation of Muslims and Croats negotiated the previous year), Serbia (in the form of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro), and Croatia-began negotiating terms of a peace agreement at a conference held at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. An agreement was reached, specifying that a cease-fire that began on October 15, 1995, would continue, while foreign forces (i.e. Serbian and Croatian) would withdraw from Bosnia within 30 days. The parties agreed that NATO would send forces into Bosnia to monitor the peace. The three sides agreed to mutually recognize each other and to take steps to build confidence in a lasting peace. Most important, Bosnia was divided into two entities-the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Republika Srpska (Serbian Republic). The Bosniak-Croation federation controlled about 51% of Bosnian territory; the Serbs controlled about 49%. The agreement outlined a new constitution that called for a central government in charge of foreign and fiscal policy, a rotating presidency, and a shared national legislature. Most other government responsibilities were divided between the two constituent entities, the Bosniak-Croat federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the Serb Republic.

The Dayton Peace Accords were formally signed on December 14, 1995, in Paris. By that time the two principle leaders of Bosnia's Serbs, Karadzic and Mladic, had been indicted for war crimes, including genocide, by the tribunal established by the Security Council. Both men went to live in Serbia, which did not recognize the authority of the tribunal. Karadzic was arrested in July 2008; Mladic remained at large and in hiding.

In December 1995 the United Nations voted to authorize NATO to send troops to Bosnia to monitor the peace agreement. In 2004 NATO yielded responsibility for monitoring peace to an all-European force.

Aftermath. The Dayton agreement ended fighting, but not the political divisions of Bosnia. Bosniaks largely saw the agreement as a stepping-stone to a reintegrated state of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Serbs in particular saw it as just the opposite-the stepping-stone to the permanent division of Bosnia, a position shared by many Croats. Nationalist parties representing Serbs and Croats scored victories in elections held in 1996.

A report published by the International Crisis Group in 2007 warned that more than a decade after the fighting, Bosnia-Herzegovina remained sharply divided along ethnic lines, "unready for unguided ownership of its own future."

Bibliography

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