SUMMARY
The matter of dispute in the non-state conflict between the Republic of Croatia and the Serbian autonomous region of (SAO) Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Symria (will be referred to as SAO Eastern Slavonia concerned the right to the territory populated by the Serbs living in Croatia. This territory was situated along Croatia's border areas. The sense of a coming conflict between Croats and Serbs had become increasingly obvious in spring 1990, when a nationalistic campaign for greater rights for the Croatian people was conducted. The efforts to move Croatia towards independence from Yugoslavia caused concern among the Serb minority, as they feared that they would be treated as second-class citizens. Therefore, the Croatian Serbs declared autonomy for the Serb territories within Croatia. Fighting broke out as Croatia contested the Serbian claim of this area and continued to regard it as Croatian soil.
Within the Croatian borders were two Serb dominating areas that refused to accept minority status; The Serbian Autonomous Oblast of (SAO) Krajina and the Serbian Autonomous Oblast of (SAO) Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Symria. On 26 February 1992, they fused into one Serbian region called the Serbian Republic of Krajina. In the new alliance, they continued to fight the Republic of Croatia in non-state conflict (For more information see the non-state conflict between Republic of Croatia and Serbian Republic of Krajina in the database). When Croatia became independent in April 1992, the violence transformed into a state-based conflict (for more information see the conflict over territory in Croatia in the database).
The acrimony between Croats and Serbs dates back to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes between 1918-29 when Croatia was denied independence. During World War II, Croatia sided with the Axis powers and the leader of the right-wing extremist organization Ustashe, Ante Pavlic, ceased power in a military coup. During Ustashe rule, Croatia harbored concentration camps where thousands of Serbs perished.
During the communist era, the head of the state, Josip “Tito” Broz, managed to maintain the cohesiveness of Yugoslavia’s six republics despite rather significant economic differences between them. However, after Tito’s death in 1980, the different ethnic groups expressed their grievances. The increased nationalism was possible due to a democratization process in the 1980s. The nationalist wave made Kosovo Albanians, never enjoying the status as a republic within Yugoslavia, openly demonstrate as Kosovo was one of the poorest regions. The irascible response by Albanians to the situation in Kosovo reawakened a shallowly dormant Serbian nationalism. As Slobodan Milošević rose to power, he skillfully played the nationalist card in order to accumulate support and pave his way to presidency.
Like in Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatian demands for independence increased after Tito’s death. One reason was the rise of a Croat national leadership within the most prominent political party at the time, HDZ (Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, Croatian Democratic Party) led by the man who would become the first president of an independent Croatia, Franjo Tudjman. In the early 1990s, Croatia was a passive spectator of the growing tension between Belgrade and Slovenia. The early passiveness of Croatia originates from successful coercive measures taken by Belgrade against a Croatian nationalistic mass movement in 1971. Due to the reprisals, there was a lack of salient nationalistic manifestations in Croatia before the mushrooming of alternative groups in the late 1980s. However, Tudjman’s HDZ was the dominating force within Croatia and was initially organized as a movement rather than a political party. HDZ’s paramount focus was the nationalistic agenda with the purpose to “fulfill the nation’s 1000 years yearning for independence.”
Eastern Slavonia became the area of some of the bloodiest and most violent incidents in the conflict in Croatia. On 18 October 1991, Hadzic and Serbian paramilitary forces forced 50 Croats to go to a mine-field where twenty-one were killed by mine explosions and gunfire. In November the same year, 164 Croat war prisoners were captured at a hospital and were shot to death at the Ovcar farm.
The international community was reacting to the violence that stirred up in Croatia and in early 1992, the UN reached a truce. Previously, on 1 September 1991, the European community had sent Hans van den Broek as their representative. The Carrington plan from October the same year gave the Serbian population the right to use Serbian national symbols along with political autonomy within Croatia. In addition, UNPROFOR (the United Nation’s Protection Force) was deployed. At the time of the deployment, the Serbian forces had been rather successful and held 30% of the Croat territory. However, despite the Serbian success, the UN decided on status-quo. The ceasefire agreement, signed in The Netherlands, was broken by both parties through air and artillery attacks despite war prisoners being released in January 1992. The successful agreement regarding the releases was brokered by the U.S. envoy, Cyrus Vance.
The non-state conflict between the Republic of Croatia and SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Symria is first included in UCDP data in 1991. In July of the same year, clashes had resulted in over 25 battle-related deaths.
