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Bosnia |
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Bosnia and Herzegovina (locally:
Bosna i Hercegovina/Босна и Херцеговина, most
commonly abbreviated as BiH) is a country in
south-east Europe with an estimated population
of between three and four million people. The
country is the homeland of its three ethnic
constituent peoples: Bosniaks, Croats, and
Serbs. Other communities that live there are not
given the status of being "constituent"[1]. A
citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regardless of
ethnicity, is usually identified as a Bosnian.
The country borders with Croatia in the west and
Serbia and Montenegro in the east. It is
virtually landlocked save for a small strip of
land (about 20km) on the Adriatic sea, centered
around the city of Neum. The interior of the
country is heavily mountainous and divided by
various rivers, most of which are nonnavigable.
The nation's capital is Sarajevo, which is also
its largest city.
Bosnia was formerly one of the six federal units
constituting Yugoslavia. The republic gained its
independence in the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s
and, due to the Dayton Accords, is currently
administered in a supervisory role by a High
Representative selected by the UN Security
Council. It is also decentralized and
administratively divided into two entities, the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Republika Srpska.
Modern Bosnia
From 1878 to 1918, Bosnia was administered and
from the 1908 annexation directly ruled by
Austria-Hungary. Habsburg rule over the region
did much to codify laws and introduce new
political practices and modernization measures
in hopes of keeping Bosnia a stable and model
South Slav province that would resist the forces
of nationalism. However, World War I began with
the assassination in Sarajevo of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne;
the assassin was Gavrilo Princip, a member of
the "Mlada Bosna" organization. Following the
war, Bosnia was incorporated into the South Slav
kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later
renamed to kingdom of Yugoslavia).
When the kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded in
World War II, all of BH was ceded to the
Nazi-puppet state Croatia. On 25 November 1943
the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation
of Yugoslavia with Marshall Tito at its helm
held a founding conference in Jajce where Bosnia
and Herzegovina was reestablished as a republic
within the Yugoslavian federation in its Ottoman
borders. The conference's conclusions were later
confirmed by the Yugoslavian constitution. The
25th of November is considered a day of national
statehood in Bosnia today. From 1945 to 1948,
the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was
established under the leadership of Josip Broz
Tito.
The Bosnian-Herzegovinian declaration of
sovereignty in October of 1991 was followed by a
referendum for independence from Yugoslavia in
February 1992 boycotted by the Bosnian-Herzegovinian
Serbs.
Serb war ambitions:
Western Bosnia - orangeSerbia and Bosnian Serbs
responded shortly thereafter with armed attacks
on Bosnian-Herzegovinian Croats and Bosniaks
aimed at partitioning the republic along ethnic
lines and joining Serb-held areas. The UNPROFOR
(UN Protection Force) was deployed in Bosnia and
Herzegovina in mid-1992. 1992 and 1993 saw the
greatest bloodshed in Europe after 1945.
Following the peace agreement proposal by Lord
Owen in 1993, which practically intended to
divide the country into three ethnically pure
parts, an armed conflict developed between
Bosniak and Croat units in a virtual territorial
grab. It was later established that Croat
military actions were directly supported by the
government of Croatia which made this also an
international conflict [2]. At that time about
70% of the country was in Serb control, about
20% in Croat and 10% in Bosniak (which
represented 44% of the population before the
war).
Situation in 1993:
Bosniak - greenIn March 1994, Bosniaks and
Croats reduced the number of warring factions
from three to two by signing an agreement
creating a joint Bosniak-Croat Federation of
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Settlement requested by Federation in 1995:
Republika Srpska - redEach nation reported many
casualties in the three sided conflict, in which
the Bosniaks reported the highest number of
deaths and casualties. However, the only case
officially ruled by the U.N. Hague tribunal as
genocide was the Srebrenica massacre of 1995. At
the end of the war approximately 102,000 people
had been killed according to the ICTY [3] and
more than 2 million people fled their homes
(including over 1 million to neighboring nations
and the west).
On November 21, 1995, in Dayton, Ohio,
presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Alija
Izetbegović), Croatia (Franjo Tuđman), and
Serbia (Slobodan Milošević) signed a peace
agreement that brought a halt to the three years
of war in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
(the final agreement was signed in Paris on 14
December 1995). The Dayton Agreement succeeded
in ending the bloodshed in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, and it institutionalized the
division between the Bosnian-Herzegovinian
Muslim and Croat entity - Federation of Bosnia
and Herzegovina (51% of the territory), and the
Bosnian-Herzegovinian Serb entity - Republika
Srpska (49%).
The enforcement of the implementation of the
Dayton Agreement was through a UN mandate using
various multinational forces: NATO-led IFOR
(Implementation Force), which transitioned to
the SFOR (Stabilisation Force) the next year,
which in turn transitioned to the EU-led EUFOR
at end of 2004. The civil administration of
Bosnia and Herzegovina is headed by the High
Representative of the international community.
Today the Dayton agreement is considered by many
as one of the most controversial pieces of
legislature that resulted from the Bosnian War.
According to most experts while on one hand
Dayton agreement did successfully end the war on
the other it legitimized territorial gains
achieved through ethnic cleansing and genocide,
and it created enormous bureaucratic obstacles
for Bosnian Herzegovinian tendencies for
European integration. As a result many reforms
are taking place in Bosnia and Herzegovina today
as part of the revisions to the Dayton agreement
such as unifying of army and police forces and
enforcing of state level institutions. However,
the most controversial part and the main clause
of the Dayton agreement that stipulated
territorial and administrative division of the
country still remains in force and unchanged.
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Background:
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Bosnia and Herzegovina's declaration of sovereignty
in October 1991, was followed by a declaration of
independence from the former Yugoslavia on 3 March
1992 after a referendum boycotted by ethnic Serbs.
The Bosnian Serbs - supported by neighboring Serbia
and Montenegro - responded with armed resistance
aimed at partitioning the republic along ethnic
lines and joining Serb-held areas to form a "greater
Serbia." In March 1994, Bosniaks and Croats reduced
the number of warring factions from three to two by
signing an agreement creating a joint Bosniak/Croat
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 21 November
1995, in Dayton, Ohio, the warring parties signed a
peace agreement that brought to a halt the three
years of interethnic civil strife (the final
agreement was signed in Paris on 14 December 1995).
The Dayton Agreement retained Bosnia and
Herzegovina's international boundaries and created a
joint multi-ethnic and democratic government. This
national government was charged with conducting
foreign, economic, and fiscal policy. Also
recognized was a second tier of government comprised
of two entities roughly equal in size: the Bosniak/Croat
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Bosnian
Serb-led Republika Srpska (RS). The Federation and
RS governments were charged with overseeing internal
functions. In 1995-96, a NATO-led international
peacekeeping force (IFOR) of 60,000 troops served in
Bosnia to implement and monitor the military aspects
of the agreement. IFOR was succeeded by a smaller,
NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR) whose mission is
to deter renewed hostilities. SFOR remains in place
although troop levels were reduced to approximately
12,000 by the close of 2002.
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Location:
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Southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea and
Croatia |
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Geographic coordinates:
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44 00 N, 18 00 E
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Map references:
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Europe |
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Area:
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total: 51,129 sq km
water: 0 sq km
land: 51,129 sq km |
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Area - comparative:
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slightly smaller than West Virginia |
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Land boundaries:
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total: 1,459 km
border countries: Croatia 932 km, Serbia and
Montenegro 527 km |
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Nationality:
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noun: Bosnian(s)
adjective: Bosnian |
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Ethnic groups:
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Serb 37.1%, Bosniak 48%, Croat 14.3%, other 0.5%
(2000)
note: Bosniak has replaced Muslim as an
ethnic term in part to avoid confusion with the
religious term Muslim - an adherent of Islam |
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Religions:
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Muslim 40%, Orthodox 31%, Roman Catholic 15%,
Protestant 4%, other 10% |
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Languages:
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Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian |
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Currency:
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marka (BAM)
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Currency code:
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BAM |
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Exchange rates:
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marka per US dollar - 2.161 (October 2001), 2.124
(2000), 1.837 (1999), 1.760 (1998), 1.734 (1997)
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