General information
Type of Incompatibility: Territory
Comment on Type of Incompatibility: The incompatibility concerned the constitutional status of the Slovenian territory. The Slovenian republic had been part of the Yugoslavian state since 1918. In June 1991, Slovenia declared its independence from Yugoslavia. The Slovenian claim for sovereignty followed disagreement about the distribution of the Yugoslavian state funds, as well as growing ethnic awareness in the region. The Yugoslavian government did not approve of the Slovenian secession, but wanted to keep the republic of Slovenia within the Yugoslavian borders.
Territory: Slovenia
Date of first stated goal of incompatibility: 1989-09-01
Comment on date of first stated goals of incompatibility: In September 1989, the Republic of Slovenia voted to adopt amendments to its constitution, affirming its sovereignty and its right to secede from Yugoslavia. After having won the (first multiparty) republican elections in April-May 1990, Milan Kucan and the pro-independent coalition of parties called DEMOS began moving Slovenia in the direction of complete independence. In early July 1990 sovereignty was claimed and on 25 June 1991 independence was declared by the Slovenian authorities.
Date of first use of armed force: 1991-06-27
Comment on first use of armed force: The JNA units stationed in Slovenia were mobilised on full combat alert on this date. Frontier crossings were taken by the JNA amid gunfire. The Slovenes struck back, e.g. by shooting down JNA helicopters. Among other things, the JNA army aimed at seizing the airport.
Date of first battle related death: 1991-06-27
Comment on first battle related death: On the first day of war, casualties took place on both sides. The JNA sustained more deaths that the Slovenes.
Date of conflict reached 25 battle releated deaths: 1991-06-28
Comment on conflict reached 25 battle releated deaths: In the first two days of fighting, 26 battle-related deaths were reported to have taken place.
Annual information
This section contains annual information systematically collected by the UCDP.
1989
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 0 |
| Best | 0 |
| Low | 0 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
1991
Primary Parties: Government of Serbia (Yugoslavia) - Republic of Slovenia
Dimension: Internal
Comment on Dimension: The conflict was of an intra-state character, following the fact that it took place between parties who were under the Yugoslavian sovereignty. The conflict was a disagreement between two sides -one of which was the government- based on the Yugoslavian territory. Certainly, the Republic of Slovenia aspired to be a state, but was not recognised by the UN as such until 22 May 1992.
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 64 |
| Best | 64 |
| Low | 64 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
Peace agreements
Name of peace agreement: Brioni Agreement
Date when warring parties signed the agreement: 1991-07-12
Comment of peace agreement: Peace process agreement
On 7 July, the parties met to discuss the ECs proposal of a partial peace agreement. The proposal included a three-month suspension in the implementation of Slovenias dissociation from Yugoslavia. During this period, negotiations would begin on the future of all the republics. The proposal also included that the Croat Stipe Mesic should be elected as President of the Federal Presidency as well as an immediate cessation of hostilities. Furthermore, Slovenian police would be allowed to control the republics international borders, while the JNA would take control of security for the period of three months.
Up to 50 European observers would also be brought in to protect the cessation of hostilities. The peace agreement must be seen as partial as it touched upon the incompatibility but did not fully regulate or solve the matter of dispute.
The incompatibility dissolved when Slovenia seceded from Yugoslavia, and thus no comprehensive agreement followed upon this peace process agreement.
Signatories: The Slovenian government (President Milan Kucan, Prime Minister Lojze Peterle, Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel), the Yugoslavian Collective Federal Presidency, the Croatian government
Comment of signatories: Comprehensive peace agreement
The Brioni agreement was signed by the Slovenian government on 10 July, by the Yugoslavian Collective Federal Presidency on 12 July and by the Croatian government on 9 July.
Third parties: EC representatives: the foreign ministers of Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Italy, European observers.
Comment of third parties role in peace agreement: The EC representatives chaired the meeting on 7 July that outlined the peace agreement. Deployment of 30 - 50 European observers was one of the clauses of the agreement.
Comment of Duration: The peace agreement was not broken, yet, its implementation did not proceed without problems. The withdrawal of troops began almost immediately after the agreement. However, when signing the agreement, the Yugoslavian Collective Federal Presidency imposed a number of new demands, for instance the return of the Slovenian borders to the situation prior to 25 June. Slovenia ignored these demands. Negotiations on the future of Yugoslavia started on 22 July, but broke down when Croatian President Tudjman refused to cooperate with the Serbian republic. The republic of Slovenia respected the moratorium on the implementation of its independence. However, in October, when the moratorium had expired, Slovenia formally ended its association with Yugoslavia even though there had been no official conclusion of the future of the Yugoslavian republics.
Full-text peace agreement
Conflict Archive
This section contains annual information no longer systematically collected by the UCDP.
1989 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
1991 Conflict Archive
Comment on Activity: The conflict was active only in 1991, with the clashes taking place in a course of 10 days.
Comment on Yearly Battle Related Deaths: Several sources estimated that around 50 battle-related deaths occurred. One source gave the exact information that 47 JNA soldiers and 6 Slovenian soldiers died in fights. The total death figure in the conflict was around 64. It was not clear whether these extra 11 people died as a direct result of battles or not.
Negotiations: YES
Comment on Negotiation: On 29 June, the Yugoslav Prime Minister Ante Markovic met with the President of the Slovenian Republic, Milan Kucan. An agreement was reached that built on the parties separate meetings with the EC representatives the previous day (SEE THIRD PARTY). It read that the JNA troops should return to their barracks. After Milan Kucan had been elected as new President of the Federal Presidency, the parties met again for negotiations on 2 July. Subsequently, a ceasefire was initiated and the conflict de-escalated. On 7 July, talks, chaired by the EC representatives, continued between the parties. The meeting laid the foundation for the Brioni peace agreement.
Third party involvement: YES
Third party involvement names: EC representatives: foreign ministers of Luxembourg, Italy and Netherlands.
Comment on Third Party Involvement: On 28 June, the EC representatives met with first Yugoslav federal leaders and then with Slovenian (and Croatian) officials. They proposed a three-point solution to the crisis involving the return of Yugoslav troops to their barracks, a suspension of the Slovenian (and Croatian) declarations of independence, and the election of the Croat Stipe Mesic as president of the federal State Presidency. On 5 July, the EC representatives were again dispatched. The EC also decided to impose an arms embargo and to freeze EC financial aid to Yugoslavia.
Victory: NO
Comment on Victory: No official victory took place. Yet, in reality, the rapid termination of the conflict was to a great extent due to the Slovenians successful campaign of resistance.
Terminated: YES
Type of termination: Peace Agreement
Date of termination: 1991-07-12
Comment on Termination: A partial peace agreement, brought about as a result of EC pressure, terminated the armed force. The success of the Slovenian Territorial Defence Force during the fights was also a significant factor in bringing the armed force to an end.
Comment on Termination Date: The last clash took place on 4 July. The conflict officially ended with the signing of the agreement on 12 July.
