In Dec. 1991, Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia and asked for recognition by the European Union (EU). In a March 1992 referendum, Bosnian voters chose independence, and President Alija Izetbegovic declared the nation an independent state. Unlike the other former Yugoslav states, which were generally composed of a dominant ethnic group, Bosnia was an ethnic tangle of Muslims (44%), Serbs (31%), and Croats (17%), and this mix contributed to the duration and savagery of its fight for independence. Ethnic Antgonism Erupts in WarBoth the Croatian and Serbian presidents had planned to partition Bosnia between themselves.
NATO proved to be a largely ineffective peacekeeping force. After the Dayton Peace Accord, Challenges RemainThe crucial priorities facing postwar Bosnian leaders were rebuilding the economy, resettling the estimated one million refugees still displaced, and establishing a working government. Progress on these goals has been minimal, and a massive corruption scandal uncovered in 1999 severely tested the goodwill of the international community. In 1994, the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia opened in The Hague, Netherlands. In Aug. 2001, Radislav Drstic, a Bosnian Serb general, was found guilty of genocide in the killing of up to 8, 000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995. It was the first genocide conviction in Europe since the UN genocide treaty was drawn up in 1951.
In 2001, the trial of former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic began. He was charged with crimes against humanity. The expensive and lengthy trial ended without a verdict when he died in March 2006. Under pressure from Paddy Ashdown, the international administrator of Bosnia authorized under the Dayton Accord, Bosnian Serb leaders finally admitted in June 2004 that Serbian troops were responsible for the massacre of up to 8, 000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995.
7, 1908. As a result, relations with Serbia, which had claims on Bosnia and Herzegovina, became embittered. The hostility between the two countries climaxed in the assassination of Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, by a Serbian nationalist. This event precipitated the start of World War I (1914–1918). Bosnia and Herzegovina were annexed to Serbia as part of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes on Oct. 26, 1918. The name was later changed to Yugoslavia in 1929.
Until then, Serb leaders had refused to acknowledge guilt in the worst civilian massacre since World War II. In Feb. 2007, the International Court of Justice ruled that the massacre was genocide, but stopped short of saying Serbia was directly responsible. The decision spared Serbia from having to pay war reparations to Bosnia. The court's president, Judge Rosalyn Higgins, however, criticized Serbia for not preventing the genocide. The court also ordered Serbia to turn over Bosnian Serb leaders, including Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karakzic, who are accused of orchestrating the genocide and other crimes. Bosnians expressed disappointment with the ruling; they had demanded that Serbia pay war reparations. 2004, the European Union officially took over NATO's peacekeeping mission in Bosnia.
In Oct. 2012, the former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic began his defence at his war crimes trial in The Hague. Karadzic stands accused of ten charges of genocide and crimes against humanity during the war in the 1990s, including the Srebrenica massacre and the siege of Sarajevo. 2014 Brings Worst Flooding in a CenturyIn May 2014, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina were hit with the heaviest rains and flooding in over a century. Electricity was lost in several towns and villages. At least 44 people were killed in the flooding, and authorities believed that the death toll could rise. Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksander Vucic declared a state of emergency for the whole country.
Bosnia and HerzegovinaHome > Countries of the World > Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Profile History News and Current Events Infoplease has everything you need to know about Bosnia and Herzegovina. Check out our country profile, full of essential information about Bosnia and Herzegovina's geography, history, government, economy, population, culture, religion and languages. If that's not enough, click over to our collection of world maps and flags. Facts & Figures Chairman of the Presidency: Sefik Dzaferovic (Bosniak, 2022)Members of the Presidency: Zeljko Komsic (Croat, 2018), Milorad Dodik (Serb, 2018)Prime Minister: Zoran Tegeltija (2019)Total area: 19, 767 sq mi (51, 197 sq km)Population (2022 est. ): 3, 816, 459 (growth rate: -0.
Radio broadcast stations: 3 public TV broadcasters: Radio and TV of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Federation TV (operating 2 networks), and Republika Srpska Radio-TV; a local commercial network of 5 TV stations; 3 private, near-national TV stations and dozens of small independent TV broadcasting stations; 3 large public radio broadcasters and many private radio stations (2019). Internet users: 2, 394, 995 (2020). Transportation: Highways: total: 22, 926 km; (2010).
On July 21, 2008, Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb president during the war in Bosnia in the 1990s, was charged with genocide, persecution, deportation, and other crimes against non-Serb civilians. Karadzic orchestrated the massacre of almost 8, 000 Muslim men and boys in 1995 in Srebrenica. He was found outside Belgrade. The arrest will likely bring Serbia closer to joining the European Union. Since the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2010, Bosnia had been in a political deadlock, without a government. 2011, the Bosniak, Serb and Croatian communities successfully produced a government, bringing the country a little closer to EU membership.
The Bosnian region in the north is mountainous and covered with thick forests. The Herzegovina region in the south is largely rugged, flat farmland. It has a narrow coastline without natural harbors stretching 13 mi (20 km) along the Adriatic Sea. GovernmentEmerging democracy, with a rotating, tripartite presidency divided between predominantly Serb, Croatian, and Bosnian political parties. HistoryCalled Illyricum in ancient times, the area now called Bosnia and Herzegovina was conquered by the Romans in the 2nd and 1st centuries B. C. and folded into the Roman province of Dalmatia. In the 4th and 5th centuries A. D., Goths overran that portion of the declining Roman Empire and occupied the area until the 6th century, when the Byzantine Empire claimed it.
They conquered Bosnia in 1463. During the roughly 450 years Bosnia and Herzegovina were under Ottoman rule, many Christian Slavs became Muslim. A Bosnian Islamic elite gradually developed and ruled the country on behalf of the Turkish overlords. As the borders of the Ottoman Empire began to shrink in the 19th century, Muslims from elsewhere in the Balkans migrated to Bosnia. Bosnia also developed a sizable Jewish population, with many Jews settling in Sarajevo after their expulsion from Spain in 1492. However, through the 19th century the term Bosnian commonly included residents of all faiths.
In Jan. 2007, Bosnian Serb Nikola Spiric took over as prime minister and formed a new government. He resigned in Nov. 2007 to protest reforms introduced by an international envoy, who was appointed under the Dayton Accords by the UN and the European Union and has the power to enact legislation and dismiss ministers. Spiric said the reforms, which the EU said would help the country's entrance into the organization, would diminish the influence of Bosnian Serbs and enhance those of other ethnic groups. Crisis was averted later in November, when Spiric and the country's Croat and Muslim leaders agreed on a series of reforms approved by Parliament.
By the end of Aug. 1992, rebel Bosnian Serbs had conquered over 60% of Bosnia. The war did not begin to wane until NATO stepped in, bombing Serb positions in Bosnia in Aug. and Sept. 1995. Serbs entered the UN safe havens of Tuzla, Zepa, and Srebrenica, where they murdered thousands. About 250, 000 died in the war between 1992 and 1995.
It is the largest peacekeeping operation the EU has undertaken. In March 2005, Ashdown, the international administrator, sacked Dragan Covic, the Croat member of the presidency, charging him with corruption and abuse of office. Covic became the third member of the Bosnian presidency forced to resign since the tripartite presidency was established. Small Steps Toward Inclusion in the EUElections in Oct. 2006 reinforced the lingering ethnic tensions in the country. The Serbian coalition, which favors an independent state, narrowly defeated the Muslim-Croat Federation that prefers moving toward a more unified country.
Waterways: 990 km (2022) (Sava River on northern border; open to shipping but use limited). Ports and harbors: Bosanska Gradiska, Bosanski Brod, Bosanski Samac, Brcko, Orasje (Sava River). Airports: 24 (2021). International disputes: Issues with Serbia regarding sections of the Drina River and the boundaries of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Major sources and definitions GeographyBosnia and Herzegovina make up a triangular-shaped republic, about half the size of Kentucky, on the Balkan peninsula.
Bosnia and Herzegovina - Human Rights Watch Bosnia and Herzegovina: Ethnic Discrimination a Key Barrier · Croatia Slams Door on Migrants · Media Freedom Under Attack in the Western
Bosnia and Herzegovina Country Profile Bosnia and Herzegovina is a diverse country made up of a mix of Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats, and people of other ethnicities who follow a mix of Muslim,
Bosnia-Herzegovina - National Democratic Institute Ethnic tensions have dominated politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the Dayton Accords ended the inter-ethnic war in 1995. Since then, the