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Independence and Civil War
In Oct., 1991, following the secession of Slovenia, Croatia, and Macedonia, the Croats and Muslims of Bosnia and Hercegovina, fearing Serbian domination, voted for a declaration of independence from Yugoslavia. In 1992, the sovereignty of Bosnia and Hercegovina was recognized by the European Community (now the European Union) and the United States, and it entered the United Nations. Many Bosnian Serbs opposed the new republic, in which they were a minority, and Serb troops, both from Serbia and Bosnia, began to carve out the Serb-populated areas and declared the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Hercegovina. Croats in Bosnia, also fearing Muslim domination, declared their own Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna.
An arms embargo reinforced the disparity between the well-armed Serbs and their foes, and Muslims were forced from their homes and towns as part of an "ethnic cleansing" policy carried out mostly by the Serbs. Thousands were killed, many were placed in detention camps, and many more fled the country. (Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was among a number of Serbs later indicted in absentia by a United Nations tribunal for war crimes.) The major Western powers rejected military intervention but endorsed the establishment of six "safe areas" with a United Nations presence, where Muslims would supposedly not be attacked.
Fighting between Muslims and Croats intensified in 1993. Shelling, mainly by Serb forces, destroyed much of Sarajevo and laid waste to other cities throughout the country. In 1994, Yugoslavian and Croatian forces fought in support of Bosnian Serbs and Croats, respectively. The Bosnian government army launched major offensives from Bihac and elsewhere, and the balance of power among Serbs, Croats, and Muslims shifted from time to time.
In 1994, Bosnian Muslims and Croats agreed to a cease-fire and established a joint Federation of Bosnia and Hercegovina. During 1995, Serb forces shelled the besieged Sarajevo and launched attacks on the UN-proclaimed "safe areas" of Tuzla, Zepa, and Srebrenica. There were mass deportations of Muslims and widespread instances of rape and execution of civilians, especially in Srebrenica. Croat and Muslim forces later made heavy inroads against Serbs in western Bosnia.
In late 1995, the Muslim-dominated Bosnian government and the leaders of Croatia and Serbia met under U.S. auspices in Dayton, Ohio, and negotiated a peace accord. It called for a Bosnian republic with a central government and two semiautonomous regions, roughly equal in size, one dominated by Serbs, the other by Muslims and Croats in federation. The accord provided for the dispatch of NATO-led troops for peacekeeping purposes; the forces originally were to stay until June, 1998. In addition, a high representative of the Peace Implementation Council (the nations overseeing the peace process) is the final authority on the civilian aspects of the settlement. Although the accord was implemented and conditions have slowly improved, much distrust remains among members of all three communities, who now typically live in ethnically homogeneous areas. NATO-led peacekeeping forces remain in the region. Bosnian disillusionment with the moderates who had held power since 1998 resulted in electoral victories for the ethnic nationalist parties in the 2002.
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