Violence breaks out between Bosnian Muslims and Serbs. 1991 - Parliament announces sovereignty of the republic. There are fears that Serbia under President Slobodan Milosevic is aiming to annex those parts of Bosnia-Hercegovina inhabited by Serbs. Only Bosnian Muslims and Croats take part, Serbs boycott it. The vote for an independent, multi-ethnic republic is overwhelming.
Civil war breaks out.
The Bosnian Serbs, under Radovan Karadzic, lay siege to Sarajevo and begin a policy of 'ethnic cleansing', forcing non-Serbs out of Serb areas. There is bitter fighting, atrocities, torture and rape. 1993 - UN safe havens for Bosnian Muslim civilians created, to include Sarajevo, Gorazde and Srebrenica. 1994 - The siege of Sarajevo is lifted. The first suspect to be convicted of war crimes 1995 - The safe haven of Srebrenica is overrun by the Bosnian Serb forces of General Ratko Mladic.