page_title: Mate Boban
section_title: President of Herzeg-Bosnia (1991–1994)
hierarchical_section_title: Mate Boban / President of Herzeg-Bosnia (1991–1994)
caption_attribution_description: English: Street of Mate BoBan in Grude Hrvatski: Ulica Mate Bobana u Grudama
context_page_description: Mate Boban was a Herzegovinian Croat politician and one of the founders of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, an unrecognized entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina. Boban was the 1st President of Herzeg-Bosnia from 1991 until 1994. From 1992 to 1994 he was the President of Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He died in 1997.
context_section_description: In March 1991 the Croatian War of Independence began. In October 1991 the Croat village of Ravno in Herzegovina was attacked and destroyed by JNA forces before turning south towards the besieged Dubrovnik. These were the first Croat casualties in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnian president Alija Izetbegović did not react to the attack on Ravno and gave a televised proclamation of neutrality, stating that "this is not our war". The leadership of Bosnia and Herzegovina initially showed willingness to remain in a rump Yugoslavia, but later advocated for a unified Bosnia and Herzegovina.
  The Croat leadership started organizing a defense in areas with a Croat majority. On 12 November 1991, Boban chaired a meeting with local party leaders of the HDZ BiH, together with Dario Kordić. It was decided that Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina should institute a policy to bring about "our age-old dream, a common Croatian State" and should call for a proclamation of a Croatian banovina as the "initial phase leading towards the final solution of the Croatian question and the creation of sovereign Croatia within its ethnic and historical borders".
  On 18 November 1991, Croat representatives established the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia in Mostar as a "political, cultural, economic and territorial whole". Boban was chosen as its president. The decision on its establishment stated that the Community will "respect the democratically elected government of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina for as long as exists the state independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina in relation to the former, or any other, Yugoslavia". One of Boban's advisers stated that Herzeg-Bosnia was only a temporary measure and that the entire area will be an integral part of Bosnia and Herzegovina when the war ends. When asked why was Herzeg-Bosnia proclaimed, Boban answered:
  Proud Bosnia ceased to be proud. Evil is circulating through its roads, railways, air waves. It is occupied. The Croatian people, a proud people, had to do something to not participate in that, to make it clear they don't want it.
  The HDZ BiH was not unanimous regarding the political organization of the country. Its president, Stjepan Kljuić, opposed the move by Boban. On 27 December 1991, the leadership of the HDZ of Croatia and of HDZ BiH held a meeting in Zagreb chaired by Croatian president Franjo Tuđman. They discussed Bosnia and Herzegovina's future, their differences in opinion on it, and the creation of a Croatian political strategy. At the beginning of the meeting, Boban said that, in the event of Bosnia and Herzegovina's disintegration, Herzeg-Bosnia should be proclaimed "an independent Croatian territory and merged with the Croatian state, but at a time and at a moment when the Croatian leadership … decides that this time and this moment are ripe." Kljuić, on the other hand, favoured a unified Bosnia and Herzegovina on the Bosniak line. He was criticized by Tuđman for acceding to Izetbegović's policies and Bosniak interests. Largely due to the support of the Croatian leadership, Boban's branch of the party prevailed. Kljuić resigned from his position as president of HDZ BiH in February 1992, at a meeting of the party in Široki Brijeg. He was replaced with Milenko Brkić.
  Following the declaration of independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Bosnian War began. A Croat–Bosniak alliance was formed in the beginning of the war, but over time there were notable breakdowns of it. On 8 April 1992, the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) was founded as the official military of Herzeg-Bosnia. Mate Boban said that it was formed because "thirteen Croatian villages in the municipality of Trebinje—including Ravno—were destroyed and the Bosnian government did nothing thereafter".
  Boban met with Radovan Karadžić, president of Republika Srpska, on 6 May 1992 in Graz, Austria where they reached an agreement for a ceasefire. They discussed the details of the demarcation between a Croat and Serb territorial unit in Bosnia and Herzegovina and stressed the need for further negotiations together with the European 
caption: Street of Mate Boban in Grude
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