History of Republika Srpska - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

This is the history of Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...

, one of the two entities comprising Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

Overview

Through the history, territory of present-day Republika Srpska

Republika Srpska

Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...

was part of the Kingdom of Illyria

Kingdom of Illyria

The Kingdom of Illyria was an administrative unit of the Austrian Empire from 1816 to 1849. Its administrative centre was Ljubljana and it included the western and central part of present-day Slovenia, the present Austrian state of Carinthia, as well as some territories in north-western Croatia ...

, the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

, the Hunnic Empire

Hunnic Empire

The Hunnic Empire was an empire established by the Huns. The Huns were a confederation of Eurasian tribes from the steppes of Central Asia. Appearing from beyond the Volga River some years after the middle of the 4th century, they first overran the Alani, who occupied the plains between the Volga...

, the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths, the Kingdom of the Lombards

Lombards

The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...

, the Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

, the Kingdom of the Avars

Avars

Avar or Avars may refer to:* Eurasian Avars, a nomadic people that conquered the Hungarian Steppe in the early Middle Ages* Uar * Caucasian Avars, a modern people of the Caucasus** Avar language, the language of the Caucasian Avars...

, the medieval Serbian

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

, Croatian

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

and Bosnian states, the Bulgarian Empire

Bulgarian Empire

Bulgarian Empire is a term used to describe two periods in the medieval history of Bulgaria, during which it acted as a key regional power in Europe in general and in Southeastern Europe in particular, rivalling Byzantium...

, the Kingdom of Hungary

Kingdom of Hungary

The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...

, the Ottoman Empire, the Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

and Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

. From 1992 to 1995 it was a de facto independent country, while after 1995, it is one of two political entities that composing Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina

.

The borders of Republika Srpska are, with a few negotiated modifications, based on the front lines and situation on the ground at the time of the Dayton Peace Accords. As such, the entity is primarily a result of the Bosnian war without any direct historical precedent. Its territory encompasses a number of Bosnia and Herzegovina's numerous historical geographic regions, but (due to the above-mentioned nature of the inter-entity boundary line) it contains very few of them in entirety. Likewise, various political units existed within Republika Srpska's territory in the past, but very few existed entirely within the region.

Prior to the Bosnian War

During the political crisis that followed the secession

Secession

Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...

of Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

and Croatia

Croatia

from the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...

on June 25, 1991, a separate Bosnian Serb Assembly was founded on October 24, 1991, as the representative body of Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnian Serbs claimed that this was a necessary step since the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at that time, defined that no major changes were to be granted short of a unanimous agreement on all three sides. Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats wanted independence for Bosnia against the Bosnian Serbs’ wishes.

A plebiscite that asked citizens whether they wanted to remain within Yugoslavia was held on November 9 and 10, 1991. The parliamentary government of Bosnia and Herzegovina (with a clear Bosniak and Croat majority) asserted that this plebiscite was illegal, but the Bosnian Serb Assembly acknowledged its results. On November 21, 1991, the Assembly proclaimed that all those municipalities, local communities, and populated places in which over 50% of the people of Serbian nationality had voted, as well as those places where citizens of other nationalities had expressed themselves in favor of remaining in a joint Yugoslav state, would be territory of the federal Yugoslav state.

On January 9, 1992, the Bosnian Serb Assembly adopted a declaration on the Proclamation of the Republic of the Serb people of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Republika srpskog naroda Bosne i Hercegovine). On February 28, 1992, the constitution of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was adopted and declared that the state's territory included Serb autonomous regions, municipalities, and other Serbian ethnic entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (including regions described as "places in which the Serbian people remained in the minority due to the genocide conducted against them during World War II"), and it was declared to be a part of the federal Yugoslav state.

From February 29 to March 2, 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina held a referendum on independence. The majority of Bosnian Serbs boycotted the vote on the grounds that it was unconstitutional because the referendum bypassed the veto power of the representatives of the Serbian people in the Bosnian parliament. On April 6, 1992, the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

formally recognized the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared its independence on April 7, 1992. On August 12, 1992, the reference to Bosnia and Herzegovina was dropped from the name, and it became simply Republika Srpska.

War in Bosnia

On May 12, 1992, at a session of the Bosnian Serb Assembly, Radovan Karadžić

Radovan Karadžic

Radovan Karadžić is a former Bosnian Serb politician. He is detained in the United Nations Detention Unit of Scheveningen, accused of war crimes committed against Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats during the Siege of Sarajevo, as well as ordering the Srebrenica massacre.Educated as a...

announced the six "strategic objectives" of the Serbian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina:

Establish state borders separating the Serbian people from the other two ethnic communities.
Set up a corridor between Semberija
Semberija
Semberija is a geographical region in north-eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. The main city in the region is Bijeljina. Semberija is located between Drina and Sava rivers and Majevica mountain...

and Krajina
Bosanska Krajina
Bosanska Krajina or Bosnian Frontier is a geographical region, a subregion of Bosnia, in western Bosnia and Herzegovina enclosed by three rivers - Sava, Una and Vrbas. It is also a historic, economic and cultural entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina....

.
Establish a corridor in the Drina
Drina
The Drina is a 346 kilometer long river, which forms most of the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It is the longest tributary of the Sava River and the longest karst river in the Dinaric Alps which belongs to the Danube river watershed...

river valley, that is, eliminate the Drina as a border separating Serbian states.
Establish a border on the Una and Neretva
Neretva
Neretva is the largest river of the eastern part of the Adriatic basin. It has been harnessed and controlled to a large extent by four HE power-plants with large dams and their storage lakes, but it is still recognized for its natural beauty, diversity of its landscape and visual...

rivers.
Divide the city of Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....

into Serbian and Bosniak
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...

parts and establish effective state authorities in both parts.
Ensure access to the sea
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...

for Republika Srpska.

At the same session, the Bosnian Serb Assembly voted to create the Army of the Republika Srpska (VRS) (Vojska Republike Srpske), and appointed Ratko Mladić

Ratko Mladić

Ratko Mladić is an accused war criminal and a former Bosnian Serb military leader. On May 31, 2011, Mladić was extradited to The Hague, where he was processed at the detention center that holds suspects for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia...

, the commander of the Second Military District of the Yugoslav federal army, as commander of the VRS Main Staff. At the end of May 1992, after the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Second Military District was essentially transformed into the Main Staff of the VRS. The new army immediately set out to achieve by military means the six "strategic objectives" of the Serbian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina (the goals of which were reaffirmed by an operational directive issued by General Mladić on November 19, 1992).

The VRS expanded and defended the borders of Republika Srpska during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia. By 1993 Republika Srpska controlled about 70% of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina with final agreement (Dayton Agreement

Dayton Agreement

The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement, Dayton Accords, Paris Protocol or Dayton-Paris Agreement, is the peace agreement reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio in November 1995, and formally signed in Paris on...

) in 1995 appropriating to Republika Srpska control over 49% of the territory.

War crimes

Commander of its armed forces, is on trial for genocide

Genocide

Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...

, crimes against humanity, and violations of the laws of war

Laws of war

The law of war is a body of law concerning acceptable justifications to engage in war and the limits to acceptable wartime conduct...

. (Photograph provided courtesy of the ICTY)]]

Since the beginning of the war, the VRS (Army of Republika Srpska

Army of Republika Srpska

The Army of Republika Srpska ; Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian Vojska Republike Srpske ) also referred to as the Bosnian Serb Army, was the military of today's Republika Srpska which was then the "Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina", a self-proclaimed state within the internationally recognized...

) and the political leadership of Republika Srpska have been accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide

Genocide

, ethnic cleansing

Ethnic cleansing

Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....

of the non-Serb population, creation and running of detention camps (variably also referred to as concentration camps and prisoner camps), and the destruction of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian cultural and historical heritage.

Independent observers generally agree that Bosnian Serbs bear the overwhelming preponderance of rapes and other war crimes. Their victims were primarily Bosniaks

Bosniaks

The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...

but also Croats

Croats

Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...

.

In a highly classified report by the CIA that was leaked by the press revealed that: Serbs

Serbs

The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...

were the first to commit atrocities, carried out 90 percent of war crimes, and was the only party that systematically attempted to "eliminate all traces of other ethnic groups from their territory".

The gravest of those offenses were the Srebrenica Genocide in 1995, where nearly 8,000 Bosniak

Bosniaks

men and boys were systematically executed by the VRS, and the long military siege of Sarajevo

Siege of Sarajevo

The Siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Serb forces of the Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army besieged Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 during the Bosnian War.After Bosnia...

that resulted in 12,000 civilian casualties.

Ethnic cleansing of non-Serb population was particularly common in the territories of Bosanska Krajina

Bosanska Krajina

Bosanska Krajina or Bosnian Frontier is a geographical region, a subregion of Bosnia, in western Bosnia and Herzegovina enclosed by three rivers - Sava, Una and Vrbas. It is also a historic, economic and cultural entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina....

region and Drina

Drina

The Drina is a 346 kilometer long river, which forms most of the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It is the longest tributary of the Sava River and the longest karst river in the Dinaric Alps which belongs to the Danube river watershed...

river valley. In many instances the procedure was conducted through well organized and efficient bureaucracy set up by the Republika Srpska authorities such as in the case of Banja Luka

Banja Luka

-History:The name "Banja Luka" was first mentioned in a document dated February 6, 1494, but Banja Luka's history dates back to ancient times. There is a substantial evidence of the Roman presence in the region during the first few centuries A.D., including an old fort "Kastel" in the centre of...

. Those and other cases of ethnic cleansing dramatically changed the demographic picture of Republika Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Many Republika Srpska officials were also indicted for creation and running of detention camps, in particular Omarska

Omarska camp

Omarska camp was a concentration camp run by Bosnian Serb forces, in Omarska, a mining town near Prijedor in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, set up during the Prijedor massacre for Bosniak and Croat men and women. Functioning in the first months of the Bosnian War in 1992, it was one of 677...

, Manjaca

Manjaca camp

Manjača camp was a concentration camp on mountain Manjača near the city of Banja Luka in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Croatian War and Bosnian War from 1991 to 1995...

, Keraterm

Keraterm camp

Keraterm camp was a concentration camp near the town of Prijedor in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War and genocide from 1992 to 1995. The camp was founded by the authorities of Republika Srpska and was used to collect and confine civilians of Bosniak and Bosnian Croat...

, Uzamnica

Uzamnica camp

Uzamnica camp was a concentration camp established in 1992 by JNA forces for the Bosniak civilian prisoners during the Bosnian war.Many of the Bosniaks who were not immediately killed in the Višegrad massacre were detained at various locations in the town, including the former JNA military...

and Trnopolje

Trnopolje camp

Trnopolje camp was a concentration camp established in the village of Trnopolje near the city of Prijedor in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first months of the Bosnian War.-History:...

where thousands of detainees were held. Duško Tadić

Duško Tadic

Duško Tadić is a Bosnian Serb war criminal, former SDS leader in Kozarac and a former member of the paramilitary forces supporting the attack on the district of Prijedor...

, former SDS leader in Kozarac

Kozarac

Kozarac is a town in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, located in the Prijedor Municipality, near the city of Prijedor. It is located 10 km east of Prijedor and 45 km west of Banja Luka. The name Kozarac comes from a story saying Canyon from Kozara will make strong wind called Kozarac...

and a former member of the paramilitary forces supporting the attack on the district of Prijedor

Prijedor

Prijedor is a city and municipality in the north-western part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the Bosanska Krajina region....

, was found guilty by the ICTY of crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions

Geneva Conventions

The Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment of the victims of war...

, and violations of the customs of war at Omarska

Omarska camp

, Trnopolje

Trnopolje camp

Trnopolje camp was a concentration camp established in the village of Trnopolje near the city of Prijedor in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first months of the Bosnian War.-History:...

and Keraterm

Keraterm camp

detention camps. In Omarska region around 500 deaths have been confirmed associated with these detention facilities.

According to the findings of the State Commission for the Documentation of War Crimes on the Territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 68.67% or 789 congregational mosques were either destroyed or damaged during the Bosnian War by the VRS and other unidentified individuals from the Republika Srpska. The majority of destroyed mosques had been classified as Bosnian-Herzegovinian national monuments; some, mostly built between the 15th and 17th centuries, were listed with UNESCO as world heritage monuments. Many Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

churches in the same territory were also destroyed or damaged especially during 1995.

In addition to sacral

Sacral

Sacral may refer to:*sacred*sacrum...

monuments many secular monuments were also heavily damaged or destroyed by VRS forces such as the National Library in Sarajevo. The Library was set ablaze by shelling from VRS positions around Sarajevo during the siege in 1992.

While the individuals responsible for destruction of national heritage have not yet been found, or indicted, it has been widely reported by international human rights agencies that the "Bosnian Serb authorities issued orders or organized or condoned efforts to destroy Bosniak and Croatian cultural and religious institutions". In other cases such as the Ferhadija Mosque

Ferhadija mosque

Ferhat Pasha Mosque , also known as the Ferhadija Mosque, was a central building in the city of Banja Luka and one of the greatest achievements of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s 16th century Ottoman and Islamic architecture....

case (Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Republika Srpska) it was found that: "Banja Luka authorities had actively engaged in, or had at least passively tolerated, discrimination against Muslims on the basis of their religious and ethnic origin." and that "[...] the Serb government [Republika Srpska], had failed to meet its obligation under the Human Rights Agreement to respect and secure the right to freedom of religion without discrimination." A local magistrate ruled that the authorities of the Bosnian Serb controlled town Banja Luka must pay $42 million to its Islamic community for 16 local mosques destroyed during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war

Bosnian War

The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...

.

In 1993, the United Nations Security Council

United Nations Security Council

The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...

created the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague for the purpose of bringing to justice persons allegedly responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law in the territory of the former Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

since 1991. On July 24, 1995, the Hague Tribunal

Hague Tribunal

Hague Tribunal is a popular name for the Permanent Court of Arbitration established in 1899.*Permanent Court of Arbitration, a permanent arbitration court*Permanent Court of International Justice , superseded by:*International Court of Justice...

indicted Radovan Karadžić

Radovan Karadžic

and Ratko Mladić

Ratko Mladić

on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity; on November 14, 1995, both men were indicted again on charges specific to the Srebrenica massacre

Srebrenica massacre

The Srebrenica massacre, also known as the Srebrenica genocide, refers to the July 1995 killing, during the Bosnian War, of more than 8,000 Bosniaks , mainly men and boys, in and around the town of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by units of the Army of Republika Srpska under the command of...

. On August 2, 2001, the Hague Tribunal found General-Major Radislav Krstić, the commander of the VRS Drina Corps at the time responsible for the Srebrenica massacre, guilty of genocide. Many other political leaders of Republika Srpska and VRS officers, have been indicted, tried, and convicted by the Hague Tribunal for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia. Some of them (including Mladić) remain at large and in hiding.

In 2006, a list of nearly 28,000 individuals who, according to the Republika Srpska authorities, were involved in Srebrenica massacre

Srebrenica massacre

alone was released; 892 of those allegedly responsible still hold the positions in the local government of Republika Srpska. The arrests and trials of all war crime suspects are ongoing and their trials are planned to be held at the newly established Bosnian Herzegovinian Tribunal for the War Crimes. The trials of all suspected war criminals are expected to last for years to come.

Two days after international judges in The Hague ruled that Bosnian Serb forces had committed genocide

Genocide

in the killing of nearly 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica

Srebrenica

Srebrenica is a town and municipality in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska. Srebrenica is a small mountain town, its main industry being salt mining and a nearby spa. During the Bosnian War, the town was the site of the July 1995 massacre,...

in 1995. "The government of the Republika Srpska expressed its deepest regret for the crimes committed against non-Serbs and condemned all persons who took part in these crimes during the civil war in Bosnia" the statement said.

Controversy

Various allegations have been made particularly since 2001 with the regard to the level of ethnic cleansing

Ethnic cleansing

and killings of Serb civilians in the regions controlled by the Bosniak government and de facto Croat government of Herzeg-Bosnia during the war. These allegations claimed that ethnic Serb civilians were killed, including Serbs living in Sarajevo, by the Bosniak and Croat authorities and that Republika Srpska authorities have acted as a response to those alleged crimes.

Killings were allegedly carried out during the chaotic early months of the Siege of Sarajevo

Siege of Sarajevo

before law and order were properly established, as well as by Musan Topalović

Mušan Topalovic

Mušan "Caco" Topalović was commander of the 10th Mountain Brigade in the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Caco was also a smuggler, thief and gangster inside the besieged capital Sarajevo...

, a renegade officer outside of army control who was liquidated by the government in the second half of 1993.

As a result of Operation Storm

Operation Storm

Operation Storm is the code name given to a large-scale military operation carried out by Croatian Armed Forces, in conjunction with the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to gain back control of parts of Croatia which had been claimed by separatist ethnic Serbs, since early...

, nearly 200,000 Serbs fled from Croatia and a large portion of them found refuge in Bosnia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

(especially in Republika Srpska

Republika Srpska

Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...

). Also during and after the war (when Dayton Agreement was signed), some Serbs left Sarajevo and other parts of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the two political entities that compose the sovereign country of Bosnia and Herzegovina . The two entities are delineated by the Inter-Entity Boundary Line...

entity particularly after the territorial provisions were enforced to comply with the Dayton agreement. Also many Serbs left Sarajevo after Momčilo Krajišnik

Momcilo Krajišnik

Momčilo Krajišnik is a Bosnian Serb former politician convicted of murder and other crimes against humanity during the Bosnian war .He co-founded the Bosnian Serb nationalist Serbian Democratic Party with Radovan...

, a former president of RS, invited Serbs to live in Republika Srpska entity.

Numerous detention camps were established, and executions occurred, in the parts of Sarajevo firmly held by Serb forces (i.e. Ilidža

Ilidža

Ilidža is a town and municipality in central Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has a metro population of 157,654, making it the 7th largest city in the country. Ilidža is the chief suburb of Sarajevo. It is famous for the natural beauty of its surroundings and historical tradition dating back to...

). Furthermore, various international and state agencies have reported that most Serbs killed in Sarajevo were killed by and from the VRS positions that surrounded Sarajevo and were counted as part of the total 12,000 civilian casualties. Such reports have been backed by forensic analysis and medical records that were kept at the Sarajevo hospitals. No indictments have been filed with ICTY or any other legal agency to consider claims by the Republika Srpska government. On the other hand Stanislav Galić

Stanislav Galic

Stanislav Galić is a Bosnian Serb soldier and former commander of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps of the Army of Republika Srpska during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was convicted of war crimes....

the commander of the VRS forces responsible for the Siege of Sarajevo

Siege of Sarajevo

has been found guilty by the ICTY.

Reforms

After the war numerous laws were passed by the Republika Srpska authorities under the auspices of the international community acting through the Office of the High Representative

High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina

The High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was created in 1995 immediately after the Dayton Peace Agreement to oversee the civilian implementation of this agreement. The High Representative and the OHR represent the...

(OHR). Many laws dealt with the issues and consequences of the war and served to repair some of the problems created such as annulments of ill-fate contracts that required non-Serbs to "voluntarily" turn over their properties to the Republika Srpska including real-estates and businesses taken during the war.

Many constitutional changes were also made to change the social character of the Republika Srpska from mono-ethnic to a multi-ethnic entity and thus including Bosniaks and Croats as constituent people of Republika Srpska. Some of the names of the cities that were changed during the war by the authorities of Republika Srpska were changed back. Most of the changes were done as to retract effects of ethnic cleansing

Ethnic cleansing

and allow refugees to return, but also as a response to numerous reports of human rights abuses that were taking place in the entity.

However, most of the changes had very little effect on a return of more than a million refugees. Intimidation of returnees were quite common and occasionally escalated into violent riots as in the case of Ferhadija mosque riots in Banja Luka

Banja Luka

in 2001. Consequently, the views concerning Republika Srpska are different among various ethnic groups within the Bosnia and Herzegovina. For Serbs, the Republika Srpska is a guarantee for their survival and existence as a people within these territories. On the other hand, for some ethnic Bosniaks, who were ethnically cleansed from Republika Srpska, the creation, existence, name and insignia of this entity remains a matter of controversy.

Srebrenica

In September 2002, the Republika Srpska Office of Relations with the ICTY issued the "Report about Case Srebrenica

Report about Case Srebrenica

-Reactions:After the report was published on 3 September 2002, it was condemned by a wide variety of Bosnian and international figures. A spokesman for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia told Radio Free Europe that "any claim that the number of victims after the fall of...

". The document, authored by Darko Trifunović, was endorsed by many leading Bosnian Serb politicians. It concluded that 1,800 Bosnian Muslim soldiers died during fighting and a further 100 more died as a result of exhaustion. "The number of Muslim soldiers killed by Bosnian Serbs out of personal revenge or lack of knowledge of international law is probably about 100...It is important to uncover the names of the perpetrators in order to accurately and unequivocally establish whether or not these were isolated instances." The International Crisis Group

International Crisis Group

The International Crisis Group is an international, non-profit, non-governmental organization whose mission is to prevent and resolve deadly conflicts around the world through field-based analyses and high-level advocacy.-History:...

and the United Nations condemned the manipulation of their statements in this report.

In 2004, the international community's High Representative Paddy Ashdown

Paddy Ashdown

Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, GCMG, KBE, PC , usually known as Paddy Ashdown, is a British politician and diplomat....

had the Government of Republika Srpska

Republika Srpska

Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...

form a committee to investigate the events. The committee released a report in October 2004 with 8,731 confirmed names of missing and dead persons from Srebrenica: 7,793 between 10 July and 19 July 1995 and further 938 people afterwards.

The findings of the committee remain generally disputed by Serb nationalists, who claim it was heavily pressured by the High Representative, given that an earlier RS government report which exonerated the Serbs was dismissed. Nevertheless, Dragan Čavić

Dragan Cavic

Dragan Čavić was the President of Republika Srpska 2002-2006. He was Vice President of Republika Srpska between 2000 and 2002.-References:...

, the president of Republika Srpska

Republika Srpska

Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...

, acknowledged in a televised address that Serb forces killed several thousand civilians in violation of the international law

International law

Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...

, and asserted that Srebrenica was a dark chapter in Serb history.

On 10 November 2004, the government of Republika Srpska issued an official apology. The statement came after a government review of the Srebrenica committee's report. "The report makes it clear that enormous crimes were committed in the area of Srebrenica in July 1995. The Bosnian Serb Government shares the pain of the families of the Srebrenica victims, is truly sorry and apologises for the tragedy." the Bosnian Serb government said.

In April 2010, a resolution condemning the crimes committed in Srebrenica was rejected by representatives of parties from Republika Srpska.

In April 2010, Milorad Dodik

Milorad Dodik

Milorad Dodik , is the President of Republika Srpska, and the president of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats political party. He graduated from the Belgrade University of Political Sciences .-Political career:...

, the prime minister of Republika Srpska, initiated a revision of the 2004 report saying that the numbers of killed were exaggerated and the report was manipulated by a former peace envoy. The Office of the High Representative responded and stated that: "The Republika Srpska government should reconsider its conclusions and align itself with the facts and legal requirements and act accordingly, rather than inflicting emotional distress on the survivors, torture history and denigrate the public image of the country".

External links

A precarious peace, The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...

, 22 January 1998

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