SUMMARY

Bosnia-Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia on 1 March 1992. The country was recognized as an independent state in early April the same year, when it received the sanction of the USA and the EU. Alija Izetbegovic, the leader of the predominantly ethnic Bosniak Party of Democratic Action (SDA), became the first president of the country.

Bosnia-Herzegovina’s secession from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) led to a series of intrastate conflicts in the country between 1992 and 1995. Bosnian Serbs, Bosnian Croats and some Bosniaks who did not accept the authority of the newly proclaimed government all attempted to secede or change their territorial status.

Alija Izetbegovic and his SDA, although in one sense nationalist (wanting to separate Bosnia-Herzegovina from the FRY), wished for Bosnia-Herzegovina to not be carved up into entities delineated along ethnic and religious lines. The government garnered support for this position from significant parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Croatian and Serb communities, in addition to the overwhelming support it had among the Bosniaks. This however changed as the conflict dragged on, with the Bosnian government becoming more and more focused on the interests of the ethnic Bosniaks.

At the outbreak of the 1992-1995 conflicts the army of the Bosnian government was very weak, formed mainly from under-armed territorial defence and police forces. During the conflict several smaller militias were formed and participated under the command of the Bosnian government, such as the “Green Berets” and the Patriotic League. Nevertheless the Bosnian government lacked heavy weapons and other powerful military hardware. The territorial defence forces and the smaller militias soon merged to create the Armed Forces of Bosnia-Herzegovina (Armija Bosne i Hercegovine) at the outbreak of the fighting. Later on in the conflict the government managed to strengthen its army with the help of financial and logistical aid from the Islamic Conference and Islamic countries around the world.

In the conflicts in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the early 1990s the Bosnian government cooperated militarily with the Bosnian Croat faction against the forces of the Bosnian Serbs, in 1992, parts of 1994 and 1995.

When the conflicts with the Bosnian Croats and the Bosnian Serbs ended in 1994 and 1995 respectively, Alija Izetbegovic went on to become part of the new Bosnia and Herzegovinan tri-partite presidency.

The government of Bosnia-Herzegovina has been involved in the intrastate and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence.