The Bosnian War

Overview of the War

The War took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina starting on 6th April 1992 and ended with the signing of the Dayton Accords on 14 December 1995. 

Belligerents included the forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Herzeg-Bosnia, and Republika Srpska, supported by Croatia and Serbia. 

The War followed Bosnia and Herzegovina’s independence declaration in 1992 amidst the dissolution of Yugoslavia, triggering tensions among its ethnically diverse population. 

Serb and Croat forces pursued ethnically homogeneous territories, resulting in widespread atrocities such as ethnic cleansing and genocide between 1992 to 1995. 

Peace negotiations concluded in Dayton, Ohio, leading to the signing of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

The conflict resulted in over 100,000 deaths and displaced 2.2 million people, with widespread war crimes including mass rape.

Background of the War

Established in 1943 during World War II, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia comprised six republics in southeast and central Europe namely, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia. 

Under the leadership of Marshal Josip Tito, the Federation fostered coexistence among Muslims Bosniaks (44%), Orthodox Serbs (32.5%), and Catholics Croats (17%) residents until his death (1980). 

By 1991, ethnic divisions had already deepened when Slovenia and Croatia declared independence. 

Serbia and Montenegro sought to replace Yugoslavia, and in March 1992, Bosnia-Herzegovina held an independence referendum, in which 99.7% of people, with a 63.4% turnout, voted in favour of separating from Yugoslavia.

Bosnian Serbs boycotted the referendum and rejected its outcome but independence was declared in March, gaining recognition from the US and the ECC by April.

The Bosnian Serbs, led by Radovan Karadžić and General Ratko Mladić supported by Slobodan Milošević and the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA), mobilised their forces inside Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to secure ethnic Serb territory leading to the siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre.

Despite initially superior military strength, Serb forces lost momentum as Bosniaks and Croats united against Republika Srpska in 1994, forming the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina per the Washington Agreement. 

A UN embargo on arms sales to the whole of the Yugoslav federation was put in place by the UNSC Resolution 713 in 1991, leaving the Bosnians defenceless against Serbian and Croatian forces whereas Serbia, on the other hand, had inherited military infrastructure and arms from the JNA.

Pakistan breached the UN’s arms embargo, supplying anti-tank missiles to Bosnian Muslims. 

NATO intervened in 1995, conducting Operation Deliberate Force and targeting Republika Srpska positions.

The War

Ethnonationalism played a key role in the Bosnian War, with Serbia and Croatia violating Bosnia’s borders to advance their nationalist agendas.

Under the command of General Mladić, Bosnian-Serb forces initiated shootings and shelling in May 1992, targeting vital institutions and civilian areas in the city. 

The UNSC through Resolution 757 imposed sanctions on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) for backing rebels in Bosnia and Croatia in May 1992.

In October 1992 Croat forces carried out a surprise attack on Bosniaks in the municipality of Prozor, marking the beginning of the Croat-Bosniak War in Bosnia, often referred to as a “war within a war”.

Seeking refuge, thousands of Bosniaks fled to the UN-designated “Safe Areas” in Srebrenica and Žepa. 

These areas were established by the UN in April 1993, but in March 1995, Karadžić issued “Directive 7,” instructing to create an intolerable situation of insecurity for those within the safe zones.

Between 11th and 19th July 1995, more than 7,000 Bosniak were massacred and approximately 50,000   women were raped by the Serbs. This is later ruled a genocide by the international courts in The Hague in 2005.

From August to November 1995, Bosnian Serb Forces undertook a coordinated effort to conceal the massacres and genocide by relocating and reburial of bodies from mass graves in remote areas.

On 14th December 1995, The Dayton Peace Accords were signed in Paris. 

The agreement divided the country into two administrative entities:  the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a predominantly Bosniak and Croat population, and the entity of Republika Srpska (Serbian Republic) with a majority Serb population – seen by some as a direct result of ethnic cleansing.

The Aftermath

The UN established the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 1993 under UNSC Resolution 827 and Chapter VII of the UN Charter to address war crimes committed during Balkan conflicts. It operated until 2017. 

Witnesses and victims testified to atrocities, resulting in 161 indictments; 90 individuals were convicted, 19 acquitted, 20 had their indictments withdrawn, 17 died before conviction, 13 were referred to other courts, and two were retried.

Four types of crime were recorded at the tribunal:  genocide, crimes against humanity, war law violations, and breaches of the Geneva Convention. 

Key figures prosecuted included Slobodan Milosevic, whose proceedings ceased upon his death, and Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, both sentenced to life imprisonment.

On 26th February 2007, the ICJ declared the Srebrenica massacre a genocide.

n 2017, the Hague Court of Appeal held the Dutch government partly accountable for the deaths of 350 Bosniak men and boys during the Srebrenica genocide.

The Netherlands’ battalion known as ‘Dutchbat III’ were stationed as UN peacekeepers at a nearby base at Potocari. The battalion has been accused of not doing enough to protect the Bosniaks, and of handing over 350 of the Bosniaks who sought refuge at the UN base to Bosnian Serb troops and police, who later killed them.

The Dutch Supreme Court ruled in July 2019 that the Netherlands was 10 per cent responsible for the deaths of those 350 men.

More than two million people became refugees during the conflict, according to the UNHCR, making it the largest displacement of people in Europe at that time since the end of World War II.