Bosnia and Herzegovina

**Bosnia and Herzegovina**, sometimes called **Bosnia-Herzegovina**, abbreviated **BiH** or simply called informally **Bosnia**, is a country in Southeastern Europe in the Balkans Peninsula. It borders Croatia and Serbia.

## History

### Collapse of Yugoslavia

Bosnia was a constituent republic of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a socialist state comprising of 6 federal republics - Serbia, Slovenia, Montenegro Macedonia, Bosnia and Croatia. On 18 November 1990, the first multi-party parliamentary elections were held in Bosnia. A second round followed on 25 November, resulting in a national assembly where communist power was replaced by a coalition of three ethnically based parties. Croatia and Slovenia's subsequent declarations of independence and the warfare that ensued placed Bosnia and Herzegovina and its three constituent peoples in an awkward position. A significant split soon developed on the issue of whether to stay with the Yugoslav federation (overwhelmingly favored among Serbs) or seek independence (overwhelmingly favored among Bosniaks and Croats).

The Serb members of parliament, consisting mainly of the Serb Democratic Party members, abandoned the central parliament in Sarajevo, and formed the Assembly of the Serb People of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 24 October 1991, which marked the end of the tri-ethnic coalition that governed after the elections in 1990. This Assembly established the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 9 January 1992, which became Republika Srpska in August 1992.

On 18 November 1991, the party branch in Bosnia and Herzegovina of the ruling party in the Republic of Croatia, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), proclaimed the existence of the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia, as a separate "political, cultural, economic, and territorial whole", on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with Croat Defence Council (HVO) as its military part.

A declaration of the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 15 October 1991, was followed by a referendum for independence from Yugoslavia on 29 February, and 1 March 1992 which was boycotted by the great majority of the Serbs. Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence on 3 March 1992 and received international recognition the following month on 6 April 1992. The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was subsequently admitted as a member State of the United Nations on 22 May 1992.

International recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina increased diplomatic pressure for the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) to withdraw from the republic's territory which they officially did. However, in fact, the Bosnian Serb members of JNA simply changed insignia, formed the Army of Republika Srpska, and continued fighting. Armed and equipped from JNA stockpiles in Bosnia, supported by volunteers and various paramilitary forces from Serbia, and receiving extensive humanitarian, logistical and financial support from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Republika Srpska's offensives in 1992 managed to place much of the country under its control.

Gornji Vakuf was initially attacked by Croats on 20 June 1992, but the attack failed. The Graz agreement caused deep division inside the Croat community and strengthened the separation group, which led to the conflict with Bosniaks. One of the primary pro-union Croat leaders, Blaž Kraljević (leader of the Croatian Defence Forces (HOS) armed group) was killed by HVO soldiers in August 1992, which severely weakened the moderate group who hoped to keep the Bosnian Croat alliance alive. By 1993, when an armed conflict erupted between the predominantly Bosniak government in Sarajevo and the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, about 70% of the country was controlled by Republika Srpska. Ethnic cleansing and civil rights violations against non-Serbs were rampant in these areas.

In March 1994, the signing of the Washington Accords between the leaders of the republican government and Herzeg-Bosnia led to the creation of a joint Bosniak-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which absorbed the territory of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and that held by the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Federation soon liberated the small Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia.

Following the Srebrenica genocide, a NATO bombing campaign began in August 1995, against the Army of Republika Srpska. Meanwhile, a ground offensive by the allied forces of Croatia and Bosnia, based on the Split Agreement signed by Tudjman and Izetbegović, pushed the Serbs away from territories held in western Bosnia which paved the way to negotiations. In December 1995, the signing of the Dayton Agreement in Dayton, Ohio, by the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia brought a halt to the fighting, roughly establishing the basic structure of the present-day state. A NATO-led peacekeeping force was immediately dispatched to Bosnia to enforce the agreement.

### Anti-Government Protests

On 4 February 2014, the anti-government protests dubbed the Bosnian Spring, name taken from the Arab Spring, began in the northern town of Tuzla. Workers from several factories which were privatised and which have now gone bankrupt united to demand action over jobs, unpaid salaries and pensions. Soon protests spread to the rest of the country with violent clashes reported in close to 20 towns, biggest of which were in Sarajevo, Zenica, Mostar, Bihać, Brčko and Tuzla. The Bosnian news media reported that hundreds had been injured during the protests, including dozens of police officers, with bursts of violence in Sarajevo, in the northern city of Tuzla, in Mostar in the south, and in Zenica in central Bosnia. Hundreds of people also gathered in support of anti-government protests in the town of Banja Luka.

### Second Yugoslav War

*See Full Article: Second Yugoslav War*

In August 2021, Serbia called for all Serbs to unite into a signal state, once more flaring tensions between Serbia and Bosnia. As tensions escalated, Croatia recommended a solution in which Bosnia would be partitioned along ethnic lines. NATO deployed forces to Bosnia in order to reinforce Bosnian sovereignty over the Republika Srpska, while Serbian forces were invited into the Republika Srpska. On 30 September, Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro issued an ultimatum to Serbia to withdraw forces from Republika Srpska.

NATO enforced a no fly zone after the ultimatum ran out, and war broke out. Bosnian forces were unable to dislodge Serbia troops from the Republika Srpska for most of the war, and Serbian forces were able to encircle Sarajevo, leading to the Second Siege of Sarajevo. Bosnian forces were able to make an indentation in Serbian lines during the Battle of Pale-Sokolac, when NATO airstrikes weakened the Serbian positions. Despite a brief victory, Serbia forces regained control of Pale by 17 November.

Several diplomatic breakthroughs were made by NATO and the United Nations, managing to establish exclusion zones around Podgorica in Montenegro and reaching a ceasefire along the Danube between Croatia and Serbia. Furthermore, a heavy-weapon exclusion zone around Sarajevo, and a following ten mile de-militarized zone around Sarajevo brought an end to the siege of Sarajevo in June 2022. In July, a general ceasefire was declared by all sides while negotiations took place in Vienna. The Vienna Accords were agreed to on 17 August, and officially signed on 2 September. Bosnia lost control of Trebinje, Foca, Sarajevo-Romanija, Bijeljina cantons of Republika Srpska and was forced to allow the north-western cantons of Republika Srpska to reorganise into a fully autonomous republic using the same name as it's predecessor.

## Government and Politics

The Chair of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina rotates among three members (Bosniak, Serb, Croat), each elected as the Chair for an eight-month term within their four-year term as a member. The three members of the Presidency are elected directly by the people with Federation voters voting for the Bosniak and the Croat, and the Republika Srpska voters for the Serb. The Chair of the Council of Ministers is nominated by the Presidency and approved by the House of Representatives. He or she is then responsible for appointing a Foreign Minister, Minister of Foreign Trade, and others as appropriate.

The Parliamentary Assembly is the lawmaking body in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It consists of two houses: the House of Peoples and the House of Representatives. The House of Peoples consists of 15 delegates elected from the political subdivisions. The House of Representatives is composed of 42 members elected by proportional representation.

The Republika Srpska is an autonomous republic which maintains its own parliament and presidency. Foreign policy decisions are made by the Council of Foreign Relations, which is chaired by the Foreign Minister and contains five delegates - the Foreign Minister, the Chair of the Presidency, the Prime Minister, the President of the Republika Srpska and the Prime Minister of the Republika Srpska.

### Foreign Relations

After the Second Yugoslav War, Bosnia has maintained close relations with Croatia, who maintains a permanent military deployment in Bosnia to dissuade another Serbian attack. Bosnia is a member of NATO and is a potential candidate for European Union integration. Bosnia maintains close economic ties to the EU as well as relying upon their military support in the event of a third war with Serbia.

## Economy

Bosnia faces the dual-problem of rebuilding a war-torn country and introducing transitional liberal market reforms to its formerly mixed economy. One legacy of the previous era is a strong industry; under former republic president Džemal Bijedić and SFRY President Josip Broz Tito, metal industries were promoted in the republic, resulting in the development of a large share of Yugoslavia's plants; S.R. Bosnia and Herzegovina had a very strong industrial export oriented economy in the 1970s and 1980s, with large scale exports worth millions of US$.

## Military

The Bosnian military consists of the Bosnian Ground Forces and Air Force and Air Defense. The Ground Forces number 14,725 active and 7,000 reserve personnel. They are armed with a mix of American, Yugoslavian, Soviet, and European-made weaponry, vehicles, and military equipment. The Air Force and Air Defense Forces have 3,000 personnel and about 62 aircraft. The Air Defense Forces operate MANPAD hand-held missiles, surface-to-air missile (SAM) batteries, anti-aircraft cannons, and radar. The Army has recently adopted remodeled MARPAT uniforms, used by Bosnian soldiers serving with ISAF in Afghanistan. A domestic production program is now underway to ensure that army units are equipped with the correct ammunition.