37.5.3: The Bosnian War

The Bosnian War was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following a number of violent incidents in early 1992, the war started in earnest on April 6, 1992, and ended on December 14, 1995. The main belligerents were the forces of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and those of the self-proclaimed Bosnian Serb and Bosnian Croat entities within Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska, and Herzeg-Bosnia, who were led and supplied by Serbia and Croatia respectively. The war was part of the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Following the Slovenian and Croatian secession from the Socialist Federal Republic in 1991, the multi-ethnic Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina – which was inhabited by mainly Muslim Bosniaks (44%), as well as Orthodox Serbs (32.5%) and Catholic Croats (17%) – passed a referendum for independence on February 29, 1992. The turnout to the referendum was reported as 63.7%, with 92.7% in favor of independence (implying that Bosnian Serbs, who made up approximately 34% of the population, largely boycotted the referendum). Independence was formally declared by the Bosnian parliament on March 3, 1992. On March 18, 1992, representatives from the three major ethnic majorities signed the Lisbon Agreement: Alija Izetbegović for the Bosniaks, Radovan Karadžić for the Serbs, and Mate Boban for the Croats. However, on March 28, 1992, Izetbegović, after meeting with the then-U.S. ambassador to Yugoslavia Warren Zimmermann, in Sarajevo, withdrew his signature and declared his opposition to any type of ethnic division of Bosnia.

In late March 1992, fighting between Serbs and combined Croat and Bosniak forces in and near Bosanski Brod resulted in the killing of Serb villagers in Sijekovac. Serb paramilitaries committed the Bijeljina massacre, most victims of which were Bosniak, on April 1-2, 1992.

Course of the War

At the outset of the Bosnian war, Serb forces attacked the Bosnian Muslim civilian population in eastern Bosnia. Once towns and villages were securely in their hands, the Serb forces, including military, police, paramilitaries, and sometimes even Serb villagers, followed the same pattern: houses and apartments were systematically ransacked or burnt down, civilians were rounded up or captured, and many were beaten or killed in the process. Men and women were separated when captured, with many men massacred or detained in camps. Women and children were kept in detention centers that were intolerably unhygienic. Many were mistreated and raped repeatedly. The Serbs had the upper hand due to their possession of heavier weaponry (although they claimed less manpower than the Bosnians). They were supplied by the Yugoslav People’s Army and usually established control over areas where Serbs were already in the majority.

The Siege of Sarajevo started in early April 1992. The capital Sarajevo was mostly held by Bosniaks. In the 44 months of the siege, terror against Sarajevo residents varied in intensity, but the purpose remained the same: inflict suffering on civilians to force the Bosnian authorities to accept Serb demands. The Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) surrounded the city for nearly four years, deploying troops and artillery in the surrounding hills in what would become the longest siege in the history of modern warfare.

Funeral in Sarajevo, 1992: A family mourns during a funeral at the Lion’s cemetery during the Siege of Sarajevo.

The Graz agreement was signed between the Bosnian-Serb and Bosnian-Croat leaders in early May 1992, causing deep divisions within the Croat community and strengthening separatist factions, which led to conflict with the Bosniaks. One of the primary pro-union Croat leaders was Blaž Kraljević, leader of the Croatian Defence Forces (HOS), which had a Croatian nationalist agenda but unlike the Croat Defense Council (HVO), fully supported cooperation with the Bosniaks. In June 1992, focus switched to the towns of Novi Travnik and Gornji Vakuf, where HVO efforts to gain control were resisted. On June 18, 1992, the Bosnian Territorial Defence in Novi Travnik received an ultimatum from HVO that included demands to abolish existing Bosnia and Herzegovina institutions within the town and submit to the authority of HVO and the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia, as well as expel all Muslim refugees. These demands were to be met within 24 hours. The next day, as demands were not met, an attack was launched. The town’s elementary school and post office were attacked and damaged.

Vastly under-equipped Bosnian forces fighting on two fronts were able to repel Croats and gain territory. Bosnia was surrounded by Croat and Serb forces from all sides with no way to import weapons or food. What saved Bosnia at this time was its vast heavy industrial complex, which was able to switch to military hardware production. Numerous ceasefire agreements were signed and breached as advantages were gained and lost across sides. The UN repeatedly but unsuccessfully attempted to stop the war, and the much-touted Vance-Owen Peace Plan in the first half of 1993 made little impact.

On February 22, 1993, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 808, which decided “that an international tribunal shall be established for the prosecution of persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law.” On May 15-16, 96% of Serbs voted to reject the Vance-Owen peace plan. After the failure of the plan, an armed conflict sprang up between Bosniaks and Croats over the 30 percent of Bosnia the latter held. The peace plan was one of the factors leading to the escalation of the conflict as Lord Owen avoided moderate Croat authorities (pro-unified Bosnia) and negotiated directly with more extreme elements who were in favor of separation.

On May 25, 1993, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was formally established by Resolution 827 of the United Nations Security Council. In April 1993, the United Nations Security Council issued Resolution 816, calling on member states to enforce a no-fly zone over Bosnia-Herzegovina. On April 12, 1993, NATO commenced Operation Deny Flight to enforce this no-fly zone. In an attempt to protect civilians, the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), established during the Croatian War of Independence, saw its role further extended in May 1993 to protect areas declared as “safe havens” around Sarajevo, Goražde, Srebrenica, Tuzla, Žepa, and Bihać by Resolution 824. On June 4, 1993, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 836, authorizing the use of force by UNPROFOR to protect the above-named safe zones.

Sniper Alley in Sarajevo: Norwegian UN troops on their way up Sniper Alley in Sarajevo, November 1995.

The Croat-Bosniak war officially ended on February 23, 1994, when the commander of HVO, General Ante Roso, and commander of the Bosnian Army, General Rasim Delić, signed a ceasefire agreement in Zagreb. On March 18, 1994, a peace agreement — the Washington Agreement — was mediated by the U.S. between the warring Croats (represented by the Republic of Croatia) and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was signed in both Washington D.C. and Vienna. The Washington Agreement ended the war between Croats and Bosniaks and divided the combined territory held by Croat and Bosnian government forces into ten autonomous cantons, establishing the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This reduced the warring parties to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, militarily composed of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) and the HVO, and Republika Srpska, composed militarily of the VRS.

The war continued until November 1995. In July 1995, VRS forces under General Ratko Mladić occupied the UN safe area of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia. The resulting Srebrenica massacre led to the murder of more than 8,000 Muslim Bosniaks, mainly men and boys, in and around the town of Srebrenica. UNPROFOR, represented on the ground at Srebrenica by a 400-strong contingent of Dutch peacekeepers, failed to prevent the town’s capture and the subsequent massacre. The ICTY ruled this event a genocide in the Krstić case.

In line with the Croat-Bosniak Split Agreement, Croatian forces operated in western Bosnia under Operation Summer ’95 and in early August launched Operation Storm, aimed at taking over the Republic of Serb Krajina in Croatia. With this, the Bosniak-Croat alliance gained winning momentum in the war, taking much of western Bosnia from the VRS in several operations, including Operation Mistral 2 and Operation Sana. VRS forces committed several major massacres during 1995: the Tuzla massacre on May 25, the Srebrenica massacre, and the second Markale massacre on August 28 (the first Markale massacre occurred on February 5, 1994, when a 120-millimeter mortar shell landed in the center of a marketplace in Sarajevo). On August 30, the Secretary General of NATO announced the start of Operation Deliberate Force, which consisted of widespread airstrikes against Bosnian Serb positions supported by UNPROFOR rapid reaction force artillery attacks. On September 14, 1995, NATO air strikes were suspended to allow the implementation of an agreement with Bosnian Serbs for the withdrawal of heavy weapons from around Sarajevo.

Twelve days later, on September 26, an agreement of further basic principles for a peace accord was reached in New York City between the foreign ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and the Former Republic of Yugoslavia. A 60-day ceasefire came into effect on October 12, and on November 1, peace talks began in Dayton, Ohio. The war ended with the Dayton Peace Agreement signed on November 21, 1995; the final version of the peace agreement was signed December 14, 1995, in Paris.

Attributions

• The Bosnian War
  • “Peace plans proposed before and during the Bosnian War: Vance-Owen.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_plans_proposed_before_and_during_the_Bosnian_War#Vance-Owen. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “Bosnian War.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnian_War. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “Srebrenica massacre.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srebrenica_massacre. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “Split Agreement.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_Agreement. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “Opp_mot_Sniper_Alley.jpg.” https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Opp_mot_Sniper_Alley.jpg. Wikimedia Commons GNU FDL 1.2.
  • “Evstafiev-bosnia-sarajevo-funeral-reaction.jpg.” https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Evstafiev-bosnia-sarajevo-funeral-reaction.jpg. Wikimedia Commons GNU FDL 1.2.