Bosnia conflict
The Bosnia conflict, which erupted in the early 1990s, arose from deep-rooted ethnic tensions within the former Yugoslavia, primarily among its Muslim, Croat, and Serb populations. Following the death of Prime Minister Josip Broz Tito in 1980, ethnic rivalries intensified, leading to a series of declarations of independence from Yugoslavia by Croatia and Slovenia in 1991. Fearing for their political and territorial autonomy, Bosnian Serbs sought to remain aligned with Yugoslavia, which sparked a conflict after Bosnia's parliament declared independence in early 1992.
The war was characterized by brutal ethnic cleansing campaigns, particularly against Bosniaks and Croats, and included notable atrocities such as the siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre, where thousands lost their lives. International involvement included the establishment of a UN Protection Force and later NATO airstrikes aimed at curbing aggression by Bosnian Serb forces. The conflict continued until the signing of the Dayton Agreement in 1995, which effectively ended the war and laid the groundwork for peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ramifications of the conflict and the subsequent peace efforts continue to influence the region's socio-political landscape today.
Subject Terms
Bosnia conflict
The Event Ethnosectarian civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Date March 1, 1992–December 14, 1995
Place Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was a province of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia until 1992
The conflict marked the first appearance of genocidal aggression in Europe since the days of Nazi Germany (1933–1945) in which the United States made a decisive response, albeit after most of the violence had occurred.
At the start of the conflict in Bosnia, the country was divided among Muslims (43.7 percent), Croats (17.3 percent), and Serbs (32.4 percent). Born of Croatian and Slovenian parents, Yugoslavia’s Prime Minister Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980) had a multiethnic vision for his country. After his death in 1980, ethnic rivalries increased, prompting delegates in the national parliament from Serbia and allied provinces in 1989 to weaken the autonomy of the provinces. In 1991, Croatia and Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia, whereupon talk of Bosnia’s secession increased. Fearing war, in September 1991 a European Community peace conference asked Lord Peter Carrington and Portugal’s Ambassador José Cutileiro to draw up a power-sharing peace plan, which was ultimately rejected by the Bosnian state. The UN Security Council, meanwhile, authorized an arms embargo of all parties in Yugoslavia.
On October 4, 1991, Serb delegates withdrew from the Bosnian parliament to form a separate legislature on October 24. In November, some Croats declared the existence of the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia (later the Croatian Republic Herzeg-Bosnia), but Bosnian Serbs in a referendum insisted on remaining within Yugoslavia. On January 9, 1992, the Serb assembly proclaimed the independence of Bosnia, specifying certain areas of Bosnia to have seceded; the constitution for the new state, the Serb Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was proclaimed on February 28. On February 29 and March 1, Bosnia’s legislature sponsored a referendum on independence from Yugoslavia. In part because Serbs boycotted the referendum, 98 percent of the voters approved an independent Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was declared on March 5.
Meanwhile, Bosnian Serb members of the Yugoslav army and paramilitary allies organized an army with backing from the Serb-dominated Yugoslav government. Croatia also agreed to support the Bosnian Croat state. The Bosnian Serb Republic then proclaimed independence on April 7, shortening its name to Republika Srpska (or Serb Republic) on August 12. Only the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was accorded international recognition, however.
The Conflict Erupts into War
Serbs claim that the first war victim was a groom in a wedding procession who was shot on March 1, 1992. Bosniaks claim that a Serb sniper killed a peace marcher on April 5.
Militarily superior to the other forces, the army of the Republika Srpska proceeded to remove non-Serbs from territories that had been declared under its authority. Similarly, the Croatian republic sought to Croatize certain areas within Bosnia. The result was a campaign of ethnic cleansing, whereby minorities were either rounded up and placed in detention camps or killed. Srpskan forces also mounted a forty-four-month siege of Bosnia’s capital, Sarajevo, to force the Bosnian state to recognize the Republika Srpska. The Republika Srpska also carried out the Prijedor massacre, in which several thousand Bosniaks and Croats were killed in the spring of 1992.
Role of the United States
In June 1992, the United States backed a Security Council resolution to redeploy a UN Protection Force from Croatia in order to secure the Sarajevo airport and to facilitate civilian relief by the Red Cross and other agencies. In April 1993, the mandate was extended to protect various “safe havens”—that is, cities where all parties were to refrain from military attacks and to establish no-fly zones over Bosnia.
On February 5, 1994, the Army of the Republika Srpska shelled the Markale Market in Sarajevo, killing sixty-eight civilians and wounding more than one hundred. The United States then secured North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) approval to shoot down four Serbian aircraft on February 28, 1994, violating the no-fly zone, yet Srpskan forces continued to engage in ethnic cleansing. Accordingly, the Security Council approved the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), a war crimes court. Nevertheless, Srpskan forces defied both the United Nations and the ICTY in July 1995, when more than eight thousand Muslim Bosniaks were killed by the Army of the Republika Srpska under the command of Ratko Mladić in the Srebrenica massacre.
Peace Plans
Several peace plans emerged during the conflict. In January 1993, UN special envoy and former US secretary of state Cyrus Vance and European Community representative Lord David Owen offered a peace agreement, but the Republika Srpska rejected the plan on May 5. A plan by UN mediators Owen and Thorvald Stoltenberg of August 1993 was rejected by the Bosniak government. Croats and Bosniaks even fought several skirmishes over their respective division of the spoils under the Vance-Owen plan from June 1993 to February 1994, when Washington succeeded in having them agree to form an alliance against the Republika Srpska. In 1994, the Republika Srpska turned down a peace plan advanced by a Contact Group (France, Great Britain, Germany, Russia, and the United States).
In August 1995, airplanes under NATO command started bombing Srpskan military positions in concert with a Croatian military advance on the ground. Contact Group pressure, including military threats from the United States, then brought Serbian president Slobodan Milošević and others to a peace conference at Dayton, Ohio, where the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina was signed on November 21 after intense negotiations led by US secretary of state Warren Christopher. The Dayton Agreement was formally adopted at Paris on December 14.
Impact
Although several persons were tried and convicted of war crimes in Bosnia by the ICTY, the court failed to deter similar crimes in Kosovo, a Yugoslav province, during the Kosovo conflict and in Rwanda during the Rwandan genocide. The Dayton Agreement, which has worked well, later provided a model for handling Kosovo.
Bibliography
Ahmetašević, Nidžara. “Bosnia’s Unending War.” The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2015, www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/bosnias-unending-war. Accessed 23 Nov. 2016.
Borger, Julia. “Bosnian War 20 Years On: Peace Holds but Conflict Continues to Haunt.” The Guardian, 4 Apr. 2012, www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/04/bosnian-war-20-years-on. Accessed 23 Nov. 2016.
Burg, Steven L., and Paul S. Shoup. The War in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Ethnic Conflict and International Intervention. M. E. Sharpe, 2000.
Hayden, Robert M. “Bosnia: The Contradictions of ’Democracy’ Without Consent.” East European Constitutional Review, vol. 7, Spring 1998, pp. 47–51.
Mousavizadeh, Nader, ed. The Black Book of Bosnia: The Consequences of Appeasement. Basic Books, 1996.
“The War in Bosnia, 1992–1995.” Office of the Historian. US Dept. of State, history.state.gov/milestones/1993-2000/bosnia. Accessed 23 Nov. 2016.