SUMMARY

In the context of the armed conflict with the Government of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and also in fighting against the Bosnian Serbs in the same country, the forces loyal to the Croatian Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina made use of one-sided violence (for further information see the Bosnia-Herzegovina: Croat and Bosnia-Herzegovina: Serb respectively).

The conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina popularised the phrase ‘ethnic cleansing’, meaning the violent and forced expulsion from homes of specific ethnic groups. In the Bosnian conflicts this strategy was used most frequently by the forces of the Bosnian Serbs, but it was also used by the Bosnian Croats and the Bosnian government, although to a lesser degree.

Many explanations for the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina by the warring parties have been put forward, ranging from the erratic behavior of undisciplined troops to actual strategic incentives for eradicating other ethnic groups.

One set of explanations holds that the outbursts of ethnic violence were the consequence of deep-rooted historic animosities and pent-up inter-group hatred between Bosnia’s ethnic groups, which surfaced when the protection of state structures crumbled as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia dissolved. Such explanations also focus on the trans-generational character of negative stereotypes.

The exclusionist nature of the nationalism that ran high amongst the groups in Bosnia-Herzegovina (in part as an effect of elite manipulation) in the conflict was another factor that may have precipitated the possibility of executing killings and expulsions on such a grand scale. Since nationalism is in essence based on perceiving one’s ethnic kindred as being allies, it follows naturally that any other persons are different, giving rise to dangerous currents of exclusion and differentiation between peoples.

Other explanations state that it is likely that many civilians were killed due to personal conflicts, local fears of the other group’s intentions, and outright material gain for individuals and communities.

Thorough studies of the ethnic cleansing in the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina have also pointed to there having been strategic and political gains to be made also from the ‘top-down’ initiation of large-scale killings of civilians. Thus, there exists evidence that the murder of civilians in Bosnia was part of the general battle-plan of the warring factions so as to reach their planned political end-state.

In the Bosnian Croat context such ‘strategic cleansing’ mainly took the form of attacking and expelling other ethnic groups in territories already held by its forces so as to alter demographics, secure strategic positions or to eliminate potentially hostile population groups that could threaten one’s rear. During the conflict the Bosnian Croat forces did not capture any significant amounts of territory and thus did not employ any large amounts of ‘offensive cleansing’, i.e. forced expulsions when on the offensive.

Regardless of which explanation for the violence one chooses to ascribe to, some notable traits of the one-sided violence can be discerned. Bosnian Croat one-sided violence targeted both Serbs and Bosniaks, as the faction battled both the Bosnian government and the Bosnian Serbs during the conflict. One-sided violence and human rights abuses took the forms of executions, murders, rape, looting, forced expulsion, and the burning of villages, towns, and cultural heritage sites belonging to the other ethnic groups.

The largest waves of one-sided violence perpetrated by the Bosnian Croats took place during 1993 and 1995. In 1993 since this was the year when fighting broke out between the Bosnian Croats and the Government of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and in 1995 since this was the year when the combined forces of the two aforementioned actors pushed back Bosnian Serb forces. In geographical terms the city of Mostar and north-central Bosnia were the hardest hit by Bosnian Croat actions. One-sided activity against Bosniaks ceased in 1994 after the signing of the Washington agreement and ceased against Serbs when the Dayton peace agreement was signed in 1995 and hostilities ended.

The Croatian Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina and their affiliated Croatian irregulars first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 1993, when the one-sided violence resulted in over 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached in April that year when at least 90 civilians were murdered in the village of Ahmici.