Republika Srpska

The Republika Srpska (????????? ??????, RS) is one of the two political entities that compose the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the other entity is the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina). Republic of Srpska comprises 49% of the land area of Bosnia, but only about 40% of the population. All data dealing with population, including ethnic distributions, are subject to considerable error because of the dislocations caused by military action and population transfers. UNHCR population census conducted throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina in the spring of 1996 (shortly after the end of the war) indicated that the Serbs were 96.8% of the overall population of the entity at that point in time.

History

Origins

For the origins and early history of Serbs in the territory of today's Republika Srpska, see History of the Serbs.

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Also see: Vrbaska banovina, History of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bosanska Krajina.

Related Topics:
Vrbaska banovina - History of Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bosanska Krajina

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Creation of Republika Srpska

During the political crisis that followed the secession of Slovenia and Croatia from the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on June 25, 1991, a separate Bosnian Serb Assembly was founded on October 24, 1991, as the representative body of Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnian Serbs claimed that this was a necessary step since the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina at that time defined that no major changes were to be granted short of a unanimous agreement from all three sides and Bosnian Muslims (now called Bosniaks) and Bosnian Croats wanted independence of Bosnia against the Bosnian Serbs's standpoints.

Related Topics:
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia - June 25 - 1991 - October 24

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A plebiscite that asked citizens whether they wanted to remain within Yugoslavia was held on November 9 and 10, 1991. The parliamentary government of Bosnia and Herzegovina with clear Bosniak and Croat majority asserted that this plebiscite was illegal, but the Bosnian Serb Assembly acknowledged its results. On November 21, 1991, the Assembly proclaimed that all those municipalities, local communities, and populated places in which over 50% of the people of Serbian nationality had voted, as well as those places where citizens of other nationalities had expressed themselves in favour of remaining in a joint Yugoslav state, would be territory of the federal Yugoslav state.

Related Topics:
November 9 - 10 - November 21

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On January 9, 1992, the Bosnian Serb Assembly adopted a declaration on the Proclamation of the Republic of the Serb people of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Republika srpskog naroda Bosne i Hercegovine). On February 28, 1992, the constitution of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was adopted and declared that the state's territory included Serb autonomous regions, municipalities, and other Serbian ethnic entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (including regions described as "places in which the Serbian people remained in the minority due to the genocide conducted against them during World War II"), and it was declared to be a part of the federal Yugoslav state.

Related Topics:
January 9 - 1992 - February 28 - Bosnia and Herzegovina

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From February 29 to March 2, 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina held a referendum on independence. The majority of Bosnian Serbs boycotted the vote on the grounds that it was unconstitutional because the referendum bypassed the veto power of the representatives of the Serbian people in the Bosnian parliament. On April 6, 1992, the European Community formally recognised the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared its independence on April 7, 1992. On August 12, 1992, the reference to Bosnia and Herzegovina was dropped from the name, and it became simply Republika Srpska.

Related Topics:
February 29 - March 2 - Bosnia and Herzegovina - April 6 - European Community - April 7 - August 12

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War in Bosnia

On May 12, 1992, at a session of the Bosnian Serb Assembly, Radovan Karad?i? announced the six "strategic objectives" of the Serbian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina:

Related Topics:
May 12 - Radovan Karad?i?

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• Establish state borders separating the Serbian people from the other two ethnic communities.
• Set up a corridor between Semberija and Krajina.
• Establish a corridor in the Drina river valley, that is, eliminate the Drina as a border separating Serbian states.
• Establish a border on the Una and Neretva rivers.
• Divide the city of Sarajevo into Serbian and Bosniak parts and establish effective state authorities in both parts.
• Ensure access to the sea for Republika Srpska.

At the same session, the Bosnian Serb Assembly voted to create the Vojska Republike Srpske (VRS) (Army of the Republika Srpska), and appointed Ratko Mladi?, the commander of the Second Military District of the Yugoslav federal army, as commander of the VRS Main Staff. At the end of May 1992, after the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Second Military District was essentially transformed into the Main Staff of the VRS. The new army immediately set out to achieve by military means the six "strategic objectives" of the Serbian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina (the goals of which were reaffirmed by an operational directive issued by General Mladi? on November 19, 1992).

Related Topics:
Ratko Mladi? - November 19

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The VRS expanded and defended the borders of Republika Srpska during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia.

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Since the beginning of the war, the VRS and the political leadership of Republika Srpska have been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, particularly with regard to the ethnic cleansing of the non-Serb population from the territory claimed by Republika Srpska, the long military seige of Sarajevo, and the massacre of Bosniak men and boys following the fall of of the United Nations-declared safe area of Srebrenica.

Related Topics:
Ethnic cleansing - Sarajevo - Srebrenica

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In 1993, the United Nations Security Council created the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague for the purpose of bringing to justice persons allegedly responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law in the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991. On July 24, 1995, the Hague Tribunal indicted Radovan Karad?i? and Ratko Mladi? on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity; on November 14, 1995, both men were indicted again on charges specific to the Srebrenica massacre (Karad?i? and Mladi? remain at large and in hiding). Many other political leaders of Republika Srpska and VRS officers have been indicted, tried, and convicted by the Hague Tribunal for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia.

Related Topics:
United Nations Security Council - Yugoslavia - Hague Tribunal - Radovan Karad?i? - Ratko Mladi? - Srebrenica massacre - 1992-1995 war in Bosnia

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Legal Status

The legal existence of Republika Srpska was postulated by the Agreed Basic Principles issued on September 8, 1995, and the Further Agreed Basic Principles issued on September 26, 1995, and was confirmed by the Dayton Peace Agreement, although Republika Srpska has never received international recognition as a state. (Under an agreement on August 29, 1995, a unified delegation composed of three delegates of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and three delegates of Republika Srpska — led by former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milo?evi? — was authorized to negotiate and sign the Dayton Peace Agreement on behalf of the Republika Srpska.)

Related Topics:
September 8 - 1995 - September 26 - Dayton Peace Agreement - August 29 - Federal Republic of Yugoslavia - Slobodan Milo?evi?

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Republika Srpska was not created by the Dayton Peace Agreement; indeed, Republika Srpska was a party to several of the annexes to the General Framework Agreement. Republika Srpska has maintained its territorial and legal continuity since it was proclaimed on January 9, 1992, and the constitution adopted on February 28, 1992 (as amended) remains in force to this day. Because of this, a revision or withdrawal of the Dayton Agreement would not cause a discontinuation of Republika Srpska (nor a number of other changes in the political makeup of Bosnia and Herzegovina possibly required to make the government more straightforward), only a democratic consensus.

Related Topics:
February 28 - 1992

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