"Yugoslav Wars" is the generic term for a series of military campaigns in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1999. The causes are complex, generally having originated nationalism and ethnic and religious differences of the peoples of former Yugoslavia, Orthodox Serbs (including Montenegrins) on one side, Catholic Croats and Bosnian Muslims (and to a lesser extent, the Slovenes) to another. Bosniaks and Croats also fought among them-for a certain period.
Wars of the former Yugoslavia, Europe, the bloodiest clashes since the Second World War. Many crimes and massacres were committed on both sides, but the vast majority of Serbs are responsible, and most victims of Bosnians or Croats. During these conflicts, the Serbs also practiced ethnic cleansing and cleaning, that is to say the expulsion (and sometimes killing) non-Serb populations in the conquered territories.
For the first time since the trial run of the Nazis at Nuremberg, an International Criminal Tribunal met at The Hague, Netherlands, to prosecute those responsible these atrocities, it is that their ethnic or religious origin. The three main culprits are Serbs Slobodan Milosevic, then president of Yugoslavia, Radovan Karadzic, president of the Republica Serpska, the Bosnian Serbs, Ratko Mladic and finally, his military commander.
The trigger for the disintegration of Yugoslavia is held in January 1990 in Belgrade, during the famous "14th Extraordinary Congress of the Communist League of Yugoslavia." The meeting was convened to discuss the proposal to abolish the party system. However, Milosevic, who represents the Serbian Communist Party, used his influence to block or discredit the proposals of the Slovenian and Croatian delegates. The latter, enraged, decided to leave the meeting and to secede from the Yugoslav Committee. Therefore, the process of dissolution of the Yugoslav Federation has begun, and nothing can stop it.
According to the "International Center for Transitional Justice, an NGO founded in 2001, the Yugoslav conflicts have caused the deaths of at least 140 000 prersonnes. According to the "Humanitarian Law Center" (Humanitarian Law Centre, HLC), another international NGO with field offices in Belgrade and Pristina, the number of victims amounted to 130 000 dead: more than 20,000 Croats, Bosnians and 64 000 32 000 Serbs. The Yugoslav wars differ in three major conflicts: the war in Croatia (1991-1995), the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992-1995) and the Kosovo war (1998-1999).
process of disintegration of Yugoslavia.
Even before the Second World War, communal tensions afflicting Yugoslavia originate ethno-religious differences of its constituent peoples. The Croats argue for a federal model where they would have greater autonomy, and the Serbs want the opposite: a power overcentralised (led by them, although course).
During the Second World War, these tensions and differences are exploited by the Nazis, who set up a puppet Croatian state, in what is now Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The "Ustasha" practiced a policy of persecution against the Serb minority. One third of them is killed, one third deported to Serbia, and one third forced to convert to Catholicism. Simultaneously with this, the Serbian Chetniks led by Draza Mihailovic, practice their own campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Catholic Croats and Muslim Bosniaks.
To fight against the Chetniks, the Germans recruit in the Waffen-SS Croats, Muslims, but also Serbs. The Serbian side, the pro-Nazi ralient the "Serbian Volunteer Corps (SDK) Dimitri Lyotic, and Serbia, the Germans installed a collaborationist government led by Milan Nedic. The main concern of it is to hunt the Jews and Mihailovic's Chetniks.
The Yugoslav government's post-war estimates that during the Nazi occupation, more than 1.7 million people died, including 330 000-390 000 Serbs.
Despite the federal structure of the Yugoslav state established by Josip "Tito" Broz, tensions persist between Croats, Slovenes, who want more autonomy and a federal power declined, and Serbs who want a Yugoslavia of Serbia. The Yugoslav constitution of 1974 attempts to resolve these differences.
After the death of Tito in 1980, tensions that had managed to channel resurface more beautiful. In the years preceding the final collapse of Yugoslavia, the Federation consists of six republics and two autonomous provinces. And when it becomes clear that no solution is possible to solve this "puzzle", Slovenia and Croatia decided to take their destiny into their hands at the first opportunity that presents itself. This occurs at the 14th Congress Communist Yugoslavia in Belgrade in January 1990. Croats and Slovenes, furious to see their amendments rejected en bloc by the Serbian delegation, left the Assembly and want to secede.
Map below: Six federal Yugoslav republics (Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia), plus the two autonomous provinces (Kosovo and Vojvodina).
1 ° Yugoslav Constitution of 1974.
On 21 February 1974, the new Yugoslav constitution enters into force. The "Office of the President of Yugoslavia" is replaced by the "collective presidency of Yugoslavia, eight members representing the six federal republics and two provinces Serbian" autonomous "from 1945, Kosovo and Vojvodina. With this reform, the central government's influence on these two Serbian provinces is greatly diminished. In Serbia, this causes some discontent, nationalists seeing the will of the federal presidency to "divide Serbia."
2 Death Tito.
The Croatian Jozip Broz, known as "Tito", fell ill in 1979. 7 and 11 January 1980, he was rushed to hospital on two occasions, at the Hospital of Ljubljana, with serious complications and arterial circulation, and right leg be amputated left. He died of gangrene May 4, 1980, three days before his 88th birthday.
Photo below: Marshal Tito ", with Richard Nixon, photographed in 1972.
Her disappearance caused a resurgence of nationalist and ethnic divisions in the six federal republics, but also in Serbia, and particularly dans sa province du Kosovo. En septembre 1986, l'"Académie Serbe des Sciences et Arts" (SANU), dirigé par Kosta Mihailovic, contribue grandement à la montée des sentiments nationalistes dans le pays, avec la publication d'un Mémorandum controversé et rédigé par quatorze de sezs membres. Ce mémorandum est un véritable appel à la rebellion contre le gouvernement fédéral yougoslave. Ses thèmes principaux sont la décentralisation du pouvoir (qui va mener à la désintégration yougoslave) et les "discriminations" dont sont victimes les Serbes, par la Constitution de 1974.
3° Slobodan Milosevic.
Slobodan Milosevic became interested in politics in 1959, while studying at the Faculty of Law of Belgrade University, and joined the student branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia ". University during this period, he met and became one of the closest friends of Ivan Stambolic, whose uncle Petar occupies the post of prime minister communist Serbia.
In 1964, he completed his law studies. He first worked in industry ( Technogaz ), which is also used Stambolic, and became president of that company in 1973. Before specializing in finance, where he held from 1978 until 1983 the office of Director of Beogradska Banka (or Beobanka), "Bank of Belgrade."
Milosevic began his political career April 16, 1984 when he was elected for a term of two years of President Committed Communist Party in Belgrade. He fomented a coup, ousted and replaced two years later, May 28, 1986, his longtime friend Stambolic, head of the "Central Committee of Communist Party of Serbia." He was reelected to that post in 1988.
In 1987, Milosevic was sent to Kosovo to calm the unrest of the nationalist Serb minority that shook the province. As a Communist, he condemns any form of separatism and nationalism, and publicly condemn the SANU Memorandum. However, the "autonomy" of Kosovo is very unpopular in Serbian society, it ensures, at a public meeting in the face of Serb minors, he will fight to stop the ethnic violence that they are "victims" committed by the ethnic Albanian population.
Milosevic then began a campaign * against * the Serbian Communist power and calls for a reduction in the autonomy of Kosovo and Vojvodina. These actions make it extremely popular in Serbia, which will greatly contribute to its rise to power and his later fame. The
May 8, 1989, Milosevic was elected President of Serbia and advance his ideas advocating ethnic nationalism. He decides to "rein in" Kosovo canceling all the measures taken by Tito autonomy since 1945. Communism is failing in all the countries of Eastern Europe, in 1989 he transformed the Communist Party Socialist Party of Serbia. He also chairs the change in the Constitution that allows him to give himself greater powers.
In the Serbian opposition and even in his own party, some starting to speak out against the nationalist threat (1), but 20 December 1992, he was reelected to the Serbian presidency, this time direct universal suffrage.
Below: from left to right, Slobodan Milosevic, Serbian President Franjo Tudjman, President of Croatia, Alija Izetbegovic, President of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Radovan Karadzic, Bosnian Serb leader.
towards secession.
1 Dissolution of the Communist League of Yugoslavia.
In January 1990, opened in Belgrade on the 14th Extraordinary Congress of the League of Communist Yugoslavia, "or know Komunista Jugoslavije (SKJ). Delegations from the six republics meet to discuss the future of the Yugoslav Communist Party. The Serbian delegation was led by Slobodan Milosevic. It insists on the policy of "one person, one vote". Its representation is the most numerous, the proportional vote assures him every time to impose itself on others.
The Croatian and Slovenian delegates, meanwhile, want reforms to give more power to the republics, but the amendments are constantly being rejected en bloc by the Serbian motions. Furious, they eventually leave the Congress. Which leads by Following the dissolution of the CPY moribund, and the adoption of a multiparty system.
The six federal republics of Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herégovine) then organize new elections, multiparty, in 1990, and the Communists fought everywhere. The big winners are the nationalist parties, who advocate secession and the end of the Federation of Socialist Republics Yugoslavs. Therefore, Slovenia, followed by Croatia and Macedonia begin their irreversible march towards independence. Montenegro elects a pro-Milosevic, and Milosevic is president Serbia since May 8, 1989.
Milosevic, now free to do as he wishes, cancels all measures of Kosovo autonomy that Tito had taken since 1945.
2 ° Ethnic tensions in Croatia.
In Croatia, Franjo Tudjman's nationalist leader of the Croatian Democratic Union, or Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica (HDZ), which won the elections. He promises to "protect Croatia Milosevic," and champions of "historical rights of the Croatian State." He amended the constitution to raise the status of Serbs in Croatia "Nation Constitution" to "national minority".
Croatian Serbs, meanwhile, are distancing themselves from the nationalist Tudjman government. In 1990, Serb nationalists decided to train in Knin in southern Croatia, a separatist entity called "Krajina" and asking to remain attached to the Yugoslav federation if Croatia seceded.
The Serbian President Milosevic, who look for Croatia's pro-Nazi puppet state and Ustasha in World War II, is actively supporting the rebellion Serbo-Croatian. A
Knin, Croatian Serbs, led by Milan Martic, began to arm themselves and take action to protest against the Croatian government. Among the local politicians Serbo-Croat, Borislav Jovic ago, the mayor of Knin. The latter took the lead for a period of one year, the Yugoslav presidency, May 15, and pushes the Yugoslav Council to take "tough measures" to prevent Croatia to secede from the Federation.
On 17 August 1990, the Serbo-Croatians begin their "Revolution" Logs "( Balvan Revolucija ) by drawing, using trunks of trees, the checkpoints on the roads of Knin. In the BBC documentary Suicide of Yugoslavia release at this time Croatian media equate césessionistes Serbian alcoholics shooting at anything that moves, trying to discredit their rebellion.
The Croatian government refuses to negotiate with them, and decides to end the rebellion by force. It sends helicopters and special forces to remove roadblocks. The Yugoslav air force intervenes, and the pilots Croat threatened to be intercepted, must return to their base in Zagreb. For the Tudjman government, it is no longer any doubt that the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) is entirely under the control of Serbs. The Krajina
expresses officially "entitée separatist" December 21, 1990, during a meeting of the "Croatian Serb National Council, chaired by Milan Babic. At the same time, Slovenia, when référandum on independence, 93.2% of Slovenians and voting, and 88.5% were in favor.
Start conflict.
1 Secessions and response.
In January 1991, the service-cons Yugoslav espionage (KOS) provide the federal government with a videotape showing a secret meeting between the Croatian Defense Minister, Martin Spegelj, with two others. One of them is actually an agent working undercover KOS and posing as an arms dealer. During this interview, Spegejl announces plans to arm the Croatians and prepare them to secede. These are what we later nicknamed the "Spegelj bands.
Yugoslav People's Army (Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija JNA) reacted by condemning Spegelf, a former JNA officer, for high treason and illegal arms trafficking, mainly from Hungary. The discovery of the traffic of arms of Croatia, combined with the crisis of Serbs from Knin, the Bosnian independence demonstrations, Croatian, Slovenian and Macedonian, show that Yugoslavia and now disintegrating.
March 12, 1991 in Belgrade, high-ranking officers of the JNA meet members of the Yugoslav presidency to convince her it is time to declare a state of emergency, allowing the shot to army to take control of the country. The commander of the JNA, General Veeljko Kadijevic, announces that there is a conspiracy to destroy Yugoslavia " A devious plan is now, to destroy Yugoslavia. Phase I of this plan is war calendar. Phase II is the intervention of the powers Foreign. Puppet regimes are being born within the Federation. "
This statement implies that NIS bénéfécieront military aid (and secret) of the West. The Croatian delegate rails against his words, accusing Kadijevic Jovic and seek to use the federal army to create a "Greater Serbia". It says: "This means war!".
Kadijevic Jovic and then call the delegates from each republic to vote or not martial law, and warn that if it did is not passed, Yugoslavia will soon divided into several countries. The establishment of martial law would allow this fact to the JNA to intervene in the crisis and to support military Croatian minority Serbo-Croatian. This vote, however, is rejected by one vote against, the Delegate Bosnian Serb Bogic Bogicevic, who still believes that diplomacy can solve this crisis. The State Council abandons this solution just below.
May 15, 1991, after the one-year term ends in Jovic, the Yugoslav presidency. Milosevic refuses to accept the candidate of Croatia, Stjepan Mesic, and block his nomination until June 30 In the meantime, Sejdo Bajramovic, a pro-Milosevic unconditional which is chosen in his place as "Coordinator of the presidency."
May 19, 1991, in Croatia, a référandum is submitted to the people, the right to secede or not with the Yugoslav Federation. 83.56% Croats participate in the vote, but the minority boycotted the Serbo-Croatian. 94.17% of voters, or 78.69% of the population are in favor of secession, and 1.2% are against.
In Slovenia, a référandum on the country's independence was held on December 23 previous, 95% of voters being positive. Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence on the same day, June 25, 1991. The next day, the Federal Executive Council ordered the JNA, largely controlled by the Serbs, "regain control of the borders as they were recognized internationally before the crisis."
Yugoslav troops dispersed in barracks in Slovenia and Croatia are trying to come together in a seamless force. However, false information given to conscripts and militia, combined with the fact that the majority of them do not want to fight against their homeland, are the "Territorial Defense Forces" Slovenian take control of the barracks and depots JNA on their territory, a minimum of casualties on both sides. This is called the "Ten Days of War" (June 27-July 6, 1991).
Photo below: a column of tanks T-55 entering the JNA in Slovenia during the War of the Ten Days.
A cease-fire was quickly declared and respected by both camps. On July 7, 1991 held the "Brijuni Agreements" under the aegis of the international community, bringing together representatives from Croatia, Slovenia and the Yugoslav Federation (Serbia and Montenegro). A three-month moratorium on the independence of Croatia and Slovenia was accepted by parties. This ends the conflict in Slovenia, and during these three months, the JNA withdrew completely from the country.
On 7 September 1991, opened a conference in The Hague, the Netherlands, attended by European diplomats and Yugoslav. The Conference is chaired by the Englishman Peter Lord Carington. However, these negotiations do nothing and take swift end. Carington, realizing that the end of Yugoslavia was inevitable, proposes a plan where "each Republic would accept the declarations of independence, inevitable, others, with their promise that the rights of minority Serbs living there would be respected. President Serbian Slobodan Milosevic rejects this proposal, stating that the EU has no right to dismember Yugoslavia, and that his plan does not serve the interests of Serbs in the four republics (Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia).
Carington then proposes to submit its plan to vote for representatives of each republic, including Montenegro Momir Bulatovic. This is first supported in terms of English, but under heavy pressure from the Serbian and Montenegrin presidents, he changes his position and opposed the dissolution of Yugoslavia.
2 Serbian offensive in Croatia (September 1991).
On March 31, 1991, Croatian police charge to expel Serb Krajina independence of a national park near Plitvice Lakes, traveling by bus, fell into an ambush by Serbo-Croatian and paramilitaries from Serbia. During the confrontation, two people were killed, a policeman and a Croatian Serbo-Croatian, and twenty others injured. In addition, 29 Serb paramilitaries were captured by Croatian police thereafter, and among them, Goran Hadzic, the future president of the "Serbian Republic of Krajina".
Below: memorial erected in memory of Josip Jovic, considered the first casualty of war in Croatia.
After this "incident", which is considered the precursor act of rebellion Serbs in Croatia, the hostilities between Government forces and Croatian Serbo-Croatian begin in earnest. The latter are heavily backed by the JNA forces in the country.
On 1 April 1991, Krajina officially declared its secession from Croatia. Immediately after this statement, other Serbo-Croats form the Western Slavonia and the "Eastern Slavonia / Baranya / Western Syrmia" and apply to join the Krajina.
December 19, 1991, three Serb separatist regions combine to form the new "Republic of Serbian Krajina" or Republika Srpska Krajina (RSK). Milan Babic became its first president. The Serbs now control almost one third of Croatian territory.
On October 7, 1991, at the expiration of the moratorium of three months, Slobodan Milosevic ordered to commence hostilities. The Yugoslav People's Army, which it controls entirely, invaded Croatia. The Serbian artillery hounds particularly against cities like Split, Dubrovnik (although classified as a historic monument by UNESCO), Split, Ploce, Brod and Zinkovci. Milosevic also attacked by aircraft of the presidential palace in Zagreb, which are attended by Croatian and Yugoslav presidents Franjo Tudman and Stjep Mesic. They have survived with little.
In Vukovar, ethnic violence between Croats and Serbs will reach their climax. The city, defended by militia from 1800 to 2200 the Croatian-controlled Blago Zadro and Serbian Mile Zastreb "(Falcon) Dedakovic, was besieged for 87 days and is resistant to attack Serb forces, before succumbing.
This bloody battle also cost the lives of about 3000 civilians. During the siege (August 25 to November 18) were slaughtered over 600 000 shells of all calibres, a daily average of about 6900 shots, more than 15,000 homes were destroyed. The Serbs, however, paid dearly for their victory: 1103 killed and 2500 wounded, 110 armored vehicles destroyed. Vukovar is the first European city completely destroyed since the Second World War.
But the worst is yet to come. Thus begins what is called the "massacre of Vukovar Serb paramilitaries meet 264 people, all non-Serbs in a warehouse in Ovcara, and execute them. Among them, 220 injured from the municipal hospital, including a French humanitarian volunteer, Jean-Michel Nicolier, and a reporter Croatian Siniza Glavasevic. The youngest victim was 16 years old and the oldest, 77. 23 had more than 49 years, the age limit for military service in Croatia.
Here deSousa: Ovcara where the warehouse was perpetrated the massacre of Vukovar.
3 Bosnia and Macedonia.
From 1991 to 1992, ethnic tensions in Bosnia-Herzegovina are also growing in number and intensity. On October 14, 1991, the nationalist Radovan Karadzic Head of the Bosnian Serb Democratic Party, told the forum of the Bosnian parliament in Sarajevo: " Whatever you do, it's not good. This is the path you want to take Bosnia and Herzegovina, same highway of hell and death have been taken by Slovenia and Croatia. In case of conflict, the Muslims will be exterminated because they are unable to defend themselves .
On 27 August 1991, under the auspices of the European Community, will open the "Arbitration Commission for Peace in Former Yugoslavia", chaired by Robert Badinter, French. More commonly called "Badinter Commission," she makes its findings in January 1992, fifteen opinions on legal issues caused by the secession of the republics of Yugoslavia. These findings help to clarify some points as the international recognition of new states, the definition of borders, respect for international treaties, etc..
In September 1991, Macedonia also declared its independence after a référandum where 95.26% of voters have a favorable opinion. 500 U.S. soldiers are deployed under the authority of the United Nations, on the border with Serbia. But in this case, unlike the other breakaway republics, "State of Macedonia" will soon (April 1992) recognized by Yugoslavia, which is now limited to Serbia and Montenegro.
Based on the work of the Badinter Commission, 27 November 1991, the Security Council of the United Nations unanimously adopted the fifteen participating members (U.S., Great Britain, France, China, Russia, Austria, Belgium, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Ecuador, India, Romania, Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe) Resolution 721, which authorizes the deployment in the Balkans with a force of Peacekeeping (UN Peacekeeping Force) to cease hostilities and to respect the cease-fire. This was soon baptized UNPROFOR.
Map below: Boundary of the six new states of former Yugoslavia: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia.
In January 1992, Croatia and Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) signed a cease-fire under UN supervision, and open negotiations between the Croatian and Serbian lead. The military situation will not evolve more significantly in this country until June / July 1995.
On 9 January 1992, the Bosnian Serb Assembly proclaimed a "Republic of Serbian People Bosnia and Herzegovina "(SRBiH), a state separate from the rest of Bosnia, which will also be renamed the August 12 Republika Srpska, and proceeds to the creation of" autonomous regions "(SAR). SRBiH The melt soon the Vojska Republike Srpske (RSV), the Bosnian Serb Army.
In February and March 1992, the Bosnian Parliamentary Assembly holds a référandum for independence. référandum This is boycotted by the Bosnian Serbs. 67% of the total vote, and 98% of them give a positive vote.
In March 1994, the signing of the Washington Agreement between the Bosnians Muslims and Catholic Croats in Herzegovina allows the creation of the "Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina" and it will establish without delay a new army of Republika Bosne i Armija y Hercegovina (ARBiH). The ARBiH recovers some T-55 tanks and T-72 (redesignated M-84), Mig-21 and Mi-8 helicopter, taken to the Serbs, but the bulk of its weapons come from outside France (AMX -30B2), Germany (HK 33), and especially military surplus United States (M60A3 Patton , M16/AR-15, UH-1H).
Photo below: a T-72/M-84 the JNA captured and put into service by the Bosnian Croat army.
Wars of the former Yugoslavia, Europe, the bloodiest clashes since the Second World War. Many crimes and massacres were committed on both sides, but the vast majority of Serbs are responsible, and most victims of Bosnians or Croats. During these conflicts, the Serbs also practiced ethnic cleansing and cleaning, that is to say the expulsion (and sometimes killing) non-Serb populations in the conquered territories.
For the first time since the trial run of the Nazis at Nuremberg, an International Criminal Tribunal met at The Hague, Netherlands, to prosecute those responsible these atrocities, it is that their ethnic or religious origin. The three main culprits are Serbs Slobodan Milosevic, then president of Yugoslavia, Radovan Karadzic, president of the Republica Serpska, the Bosnian Serbs, Ratko Mladic and finally, his military commander.
The trigger for the disintegration of Yugoslavia is held in January 1990 in Belgrade, during the famous "14th Extraordinary Congress of the Communist League of Yugoslavia." The meeting was convened to discuss the proposal to abolish the party system. However, Milosevic, who represents the Serbian Communist Party, used his influence to block or discredit the proposals of the Slovenian and Croatian delegates. The latter, enraged, decided to leave the meeting and to secede from the Yugoslav Committee. Therefore, the process of dissolution of the Yugoslav Federation has begun, and nothing can stop it.
According to the "International Center for Transitional Justice, an NGO founded in 2001, the Yugoslav conflicts have caused the deaths of at least 140 000 prersonnes. According to the "Humanitarian Law Center" (Humanitarian Law Centre, HLC), another international NGO with field offices in Belgrade and Pristina, the number of victims amounted to 130 000 dead: more than 20,000 Croats, Bosnians and 64 000 32 000 Serbs. The Yugoslav wars differ in three major conflicts: the war in Croatia (1991-1995), the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992-1995) and the Kosovo war (1998-1999).
process of disintegration of Yugoslavia.
Even before the Second World War, communal tensions afflicting Yugoslavia originate ethno-religious differences of its constituent peoples. The Croats argue for a federal model where they would have greater autonomy, and the Serbs want the opposite: a power overcentralised (led by them, although course).
During the Second World War, these tensions and differences are exploited by the Nazis, who set up a puppet Croatian state, in what is now Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The "Ustasha" practiced a policy of persecution against the Serb minority. One third of them is killed, one third deported to Serbia, and one third forced to convert to Catholicism. Simultaneously with this, the Serbian Chetniks led by Draza Mihailovic, practice their own campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Catholic Croats and Muslim Bosniaks.
To fight against the Chetniks, the Germans recruit in the Waffen-SS Croats, Muslims, but also Serbs. The Serbian side, the pro-Nazi ralient the "Serbian Volunteer Corps (SDK) Dimitri Lyotic, and Serbia, the Germans installed a collaborationist government led by Milan Nedic. The main concern of it is to hunt the Jews and Mihailovic's Chetniks.
The Yugoslav government's post-war estimates that during the Nazi occupation, more than 1.7 million people died, including 330 000-390 000 Serbs.
Despite the federal structure of the Yugoslav state established by Josip "Tito" Broz, tensions persist between Croats, Slovenes, who want more autonomy and a federal power declined, and Serbs who want a Yugoslavia of Serbia. The Yugoslav constitution of 1974 attempts to resolve these differences.
After the death of Tito in 1980, tensions that had managed to channel resurface more beautiful. In the years preceding the final collapse of Yugoslavia, the Federation consists of six republics and two autonomous provinces. And when it becomes clear that no solution is possible to solve this "puzzle", Slovenia and Croatia decided to take their destiny into their hands at the first opportunity that presents itself. This occurs at the 14th Congress Communist Yugoslavia in Belgrade in January 1990. Croats and Slovenes, furious to see their amendments rejected en bloc by the Serbian delegation, left the Assembly and want to secede.
Map below: Six federal Yugoslav republics (Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia), plus the two autonomous provinces (Kosovo and Vojvodina).
1 ° Yugoslav Constitution of 1974.
On 21 February 1974, the new Yugoslav constitution enters into force. The "Office of the President of Yugoslavia" is replaced by the "collective presidency of Yugoslavia, eight members representing the six federal republics and two provinces Serbian" autonomous "from 1945, Kosovo and Vojvodina. With this reform, the central government's influence on these two Serbian provinces is greatly diminished. In Serbia, this causes some discontent, nationalists seeing the will of the federal presidency to "divide Serbia."
2 Death Tito.
The Croatian Jozip Broz, known as "Tito", fell ill in 1979. 7 and 11 January 1980, he was rushed to hospital on two occasions, at the Hospital of Ljubljana, with serious complications and arterial circulation, and right leg be amputated left. He died of gangrene May 4, 1980, three days before his 88th birthday.
Photo below: Marshal Tito ", with Richard Nixon, photographed in 1972.
Her disappearance caused a resurgence of nationalist and ethnic divisions in the six federal republics, but also in Serbia, and particularly dans sa province du Kosovo. En septembre 1986, l'"Académie Serbe des Sciences et Arts" (SANU), dirigé par Kosta Mihailovic, contribue grandement à la montée des sentiments nationalistes dans le pays, avec la publication d'un Mémorandum controversé et rédigé par quatorze de sezs membres. Ce mémorandum est un véritable appel à la rebellion contre le gouvernement fédéral yougoslave. Ses thèmes principaux sont la décentralisation du pouvoir (qui va mener à la désintégration yougoslave) et les "discriminations" dont sont victimes les Serbes, par la Constitution de 1974.
3° Slobodan Milosevic.
Slobodan Milosevic became interested in politics in 1959, while studying at the Faculty of Law of Belgrade University, and joined the student branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia ". University during this period, he met and became one of the closest friends of Ivan Stambolic, whose uncle Petar occupies the post of prime minister communist Serbia.
In 1964, he completed his law studies. He first worked in industry ( Technogaz ), which is also used Stambolic, and became president of that company in 1973. Before specializing in finance, where he held from 1978 until 1983 the office of Director of Beogradska Banka (or Beobanka), "Bank of Belgrade."
Milosevic began his political career April 16, 1984 when he was elected for a term of two years of President Committed Communist Party in Belgrade. He fomented a coup, ousted and replaced two years later, May 28, 1986, his longtime friend Stambolic, head of the "Central Committee of Communist Party of Serbia." He was reelected to that post in 1988.
In 1987, Milosevic was sent to Kosovo to calm the unrest of the nationalist Serb minority that shook the province. As a Communist, he condemns any form of separatism and nationalism, and publicly condemn the SANU Memorandum. However, the "autonomy" of Kosovo is very unpopular in Serbian society, it ensures, at a public meeting in the face of Serb minors, he will fight to stop the ethnic violence that they are "victims" committed by the ethnic Albanian population.
Milosevic then began a campaign * against * the Serbian Communist power and calls for a reduction in the autonomy of Kosovo and Vojvodina. These actions make it extremely popular in Serbia, which will greatly contribute to its rise to power and his later fame. The
May 8, 1989, Milosevic was elected President of Serbia and advance his ideas advocating ethnic nationalism. He decides to "rein in" Kosovo canceling all the measures taken by Tito autonomy since 1945. Communism is failing in all the countries of Eastern Europe, in 1989 he transformed the Communist Party Socialist Party of Serbia. He also chairs the change in the Constitution that allows him to give himself greater powers.
In the Serbian opposition and even in his own party, some starting to speak out against the nationalist threat (1), but 20 December 1992, he was reelected to the Serbian presidency, this time direct universal suffrage.
Below: from left to right, Slobodan Milosevic, Serbian President Franjo Tudjman, President of Croatia, Alija Izetbegovic, President of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Radovan Karadzic, Bosnian Serb leader.
towards secession.
1 Dissolution of the Communist League of Yugoslavia.
In January 1990, opened in Belgrade on the 14th Extraordinary Congress of the League of Communist Yugoslavia, "or know Komunista Jugoslavije (SKJ). Delegations from the six republics meet to discuss the future of the Yugoslav Communist Party. The Serbian delegation was led by Slobodan Milosevic. It insists on the policy of "one person, one vote". Its representation is the most numerous, the proportional vote assures him every time to impose itself on others.
The Croatian and Slovenian delegates, meanwhile, want reforms to give more power to the republics, but the amendments are constantly being rejected en bloc by the Serbian motions. Furious, they eventually leave the Congress. Which leads by Following the dissolution of the CPY moribund, and the adoption of a multiparty system.
The six federal republics of Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herégovine) then organize new elections, multiparty, in 1990, and the Communists fought everywhere. The big winners are the nationalist parties, who advocate secession and the end of the Federation of Socialist Republics Yugoslavs. Therefore, Slovenia, followed by Croatia and Macedonia begin their irreversible march towards independence. Montenegro elects a pro-Milosevic, and Milosevic is president Serbia since May 8, 1989.
Milosevic, now free to do as he wishes, cancels all measures of Kosovo autonomy that Tito had taken since 1945.
2 ° Ethnic tensions in Croatia.
In Croatia, Franjo Tudjman's nationalist leader of the Croatian Democratic Union, or Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica (HDZ), which won the elections. He promises to "protect Croatia Milosevic," and champions of "historical rights of the Croatian State." He amended the constitution to raise the status of Serbs in Croatia "Nation Constitution" to "national minority".
Croatian Serbs, meanwhile, are distancing themselves from the nationalist Tudjman government. In 1990, Serb nationalists decided to train in Knin in southern Croatia, a separatist entity called "Krajina" and asking to remain attached to the Yugoslav federation if Croatia seceded.
The Serbian President Milosevic, who look for Croatia's pro-Nazi puppet state and Ustasha in World War II, is actively supporting the rebellion Serbo-Croatian. A
Knin, Croatian Serbs, led by Milan Martic, began to arm themselves and take action to protest against the Croatian government. Among the local politicians Serbo-Croat, Borislav Jovic ago, the mayor of Knin. The latter took the lead for a period of one year, the Yugoslav presidency, May 15, and pushes the Yugoslav Council to take "tough measures" to prevent Croatia to secede from the Federation.
On 17 August 1990, the Serbo-Croatians begin their "Revolution" Logs "( Balvan Revolucija ) by drawing, using trunks of trees, the checkpoints on the roads of Knin. In the BBC documentary Suicide of Yugoslavia release at this time Croatian media equate césessionistes Serbian alcoholics shooting at anything that moves, trying to discredit their rebellion.
The Croatian government refuses to negotiate with them, and decides to end the rebellion by force. It sends helicopters and special forces to remove roadblocks. The Yugoslav air force intervenes, and the pilots Croat threatened to be intercepted, must return to their base in Zagreb. For the Tudjman government, it is no longer any doubt that the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) is entirely under the control of Serbs. The Krajina
expresses officially "entitée separatist" December 21, 1990, during a meeting of the "Croatian Serb National Council, chaired by Milan Babic. At the same time, Slovenia, when référandum on independence, 93.2% of Slovenians and voting, and 88.5% were in favor.
Start conflict.
1 Secessions and response.
In January 1991, the service-cons Yugoslav espionage (KOS) provide the federal government with a videotape showing a secret meeting between the Croatian Defense Minister, Martin Spegelj, with two others. One of them is actually an agent working undercover KOS and posing as an arms dealer. During this interview, Spegejl announces plans to arm the Croatians and prepare them to secede. These are what we later nicknamed the "Spegelj bands.
Yugoslav People's Army (Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija JNA) reacted by condemning Spegelf, a former JNA officer, for high treason and illegal arms trafficking, mainly from Hungary. The discovery of the traffic of arms of Croatia, combined with the crisis of Serbs from Knin, the Bosnian independence demonstrations, Croatian, Slovenian and Macedonian, show that Yugoslavia and now disintegrating.
March 12, 1991 in Belgrade, high-ranking officers of the JNA meet members of the Yugoslav presidency to convince her it is time to declare a state of emergency, allowing the shot to army to take control of the country. The commander of the JNA, General Veeljko Kadijevic, announces that there is a conspiracy to destroy Yugoslavia " A devious plan is now, to destroy Yugoslavia. Phase I of this plan is war calendar. Phase II is the intervention of the powers Foreign. Puppet regimes are being born within the Federation. "
This statement implies that NIS bénéfécieront military aid (and secret) of the West. The Croatian delegate rails against his words, accusing Kadijevic Jovic and seek to use the federal army to create a "Greater Serbia". It says: "This means war!".
Kadijevic Jovic and then call the delegates from each republic to vote or not martial law, and warn that if it did is not passed, Yugoslavia will soon divided into several countries. The establishment of martial law would allow this fact to the JNA to intervene in the crisis and to support military Croatian minority Serbo-Croatian. This vote, however, is rejected by one vote against, the Delegate Bosnian Serb Bogic Bogicevic, who still believes that diplomacy can solve this crisis. The State Council abandons this solution just below.
May 15, 1991, after the one-year term ends in Jovic, the Yugoslav presidency. Milosevic refuses to accept the candidate of Croatia, Stjepan Mesic, and block his nomination until June 30 In the meantime, Sejdo Bajramovic, a pro-Milosevic unconditional which is chosen in his place as "Coordinator of the presidency."
May 19, 1991, in Croatia, a référandum is submitted to the people, the right to secede or not with the Yugoslav Federation. 83.56% Croats participate in the vote, but the minority boycotted the Serbo-Croatian. 94.17% of voters, or 78.69% of the population are in favor of secession, and 1.2% are against.
In Slovenia, a référandum on the country's independence was held on December 23 previous, 95% of voters being positive. Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence on the same day, June 25, 1991. The next day, the Federal Executive Council ordered the JNA, largely controlled by the Serbs, "regain control of the borders as they were recognized internationally before the crisis."
Yugoslav troops dispersed in barracks in Slovenia and Croatia are trying to come together in a seamless force. However, false information given to conscripts and militia, combined with the fact that the majority of them do not want to fight against their homeland, are the "Territorial Defense Forces" Slovenian take control of the barracks and depots JNA on their territory, a minimum of casualties on both sides. This is called the "Ten Days of War" (June 27-July 6, 1991).
Photo below: a column of tanks T-55 entering the JNA in Slovenia during the War of the Ten Days.
A cease-fire was quickly declared and respected by both camps. On July 7, 1991 held the "Brijuni Agreements" under the aegis of the international community, bringing together representatives from Croatia, Slovenia and the Yugoslav Federation (Serbia and Montenegro). A three-month moratorium on the independence of Croatia and Slovenia was accepted by parties. This ends the conflict in Slovenia, and during these three months, the JNA withdrew completely from the country.
On 7 September 1991, opened a conference in The Hague, the Netherlands, attended by European diplomats and Yugoslav. The Conference is chaired by the Englishman Peter Lord Carington. However, these negotiations do nothing and take swift end. Carington, realizing that the end of Yugoslavia was inevitable, proposes a plan where "each Republic would accept the declarations of independence, inevitable, others, with their promise that the rights of minority Serbs living there would be respected. President Serbian Slobodan Milosevic rejects this proposal, stating that the EU has no right to dismember Yugoslavia, and that his plan does not serve the interests of Serbs in the four republics (Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia).
Carington then proposes to submit its plan to vote for representatives of each republic, including Montenegro Momir Bulatovic. This is first supported in terms of English, but under heavy pressure from the Serbian and Montenegrin presidents, he changes his position and opposed the dissolution of Yugoslavia.
2 Serbian offensive in Croatia (September 1991).
On March 31, 1991, Croatian police charge to expel Serb Krajina independence of a national park near Plitvice Lakes, traveling by bus, fell into an ambush by Serbo-Croatian and paramilitaries from Serbia. During the confrontation, two people were killed, a policeman and a Croatian Serbo-Croatian, and twenty others injured. In addition, 29 Serb paramilitaries were captured by Croatian police thereafter, and among them, Goran Hadzic, the future president of the "Serbian Republic of Krajina".
Below: memorial erected in memory of Josip Jovic, considered the first casualty of war in Croatia.
After this "incident", which is considered the precursor act of rebellion Serbs in Croatia, the hostilities between Government forces and Croatian Serbo-Croatian begin in earnest. The latter are heavily backed by the JNA forces in the country.
On 1 April 1991, Krajina officially declared its secession from Croatia. Immediately after this statement, other Serbo-Croats form the Western Slavonia and the "Eastern Slavonia / Baranya / Western Syrmia" and apply to join the Krajina.
December 19, 1991, three Serb separatist regions combine to form the new "Republic of Serbian Krajina" or Republika Srpska Krajina (RSK). Milan Babic became its first president. The Serbs now control almost one third of Croatian territory.
On October 7, 1991, at the expiration of the moratorium of three months, Slobodan Milosevic ordered to commence hostilities. The Yugoslav People's Army, which it controls entirely, invaded Croatia. The Serbian artillery hounds particularly against cities like Split, Dubrovnik (although classified as a historic monument by UNESCO), Split, Ploce, Brod and Zinkovci. Milosevic also attacked by aircraft of the presidential palace in Zagreb, which are attended by Croatian and Yugoslav presidents Franjo Tudman and Stjep Mesic. They have survived with little.
In Vukovar, ethnic violence between Croats and Serbs will reach their climax. The city, defended by militia from 1800 to 2200 the Croatian-controlled Blago Zadro and Serbian Mile Zastreb "(Falcon) Dedakovic, was besieged for 87 days and is resistant to attack Serb forces, before succumbing.
This bloody battle also cost the lives of about 3000 civilians. During the siege (August 25 to November 18) were slaughtered over 600 000 shells of all calibres, a daily average of about 6900 shots, more than 15,000 homes were destroyed. The Serbs, however, paid dearly for their victory: 1103 killed and 2500 wounded, 110 armored vehicles destroyed. Vukovar is the first European city completely destroyed since the Second World War.
But the worst is yet to come. Thus begins what is called the "massacre of Vukovar Serb paramilitaries meet 264 people, all non-Serbs in a warehouse in Ovcara, and execute them. Among them, 220 injured from the municipal hospital, including a French humanitarian volunteer, Jean-Michel Nicolier, and a reporter Croatian Siniza Glavasevic. The youngest victim was 16 years old and the oldest, 77. 23 had more than 49 years, the age limit for military service in Croatia.
Here deSousa: Ovcara where the warehouse was perpetrated the massacre of Vukovar.
3 Bosnia and Macedonia.
From 1991 to 1992, ethnic tensions in Bosnia-Herzegovina are also growing in number and intensity. On October 14, 1991, the nationalist Radovan Karadzic Head of the Bosnian Serb Democratic Party, told the forum of the Bosnian parliament in Sarajevo: " Whatever you do, it's not good. This is the path you want to take Bosnia and Herzegovina, same highway of hell and death have been taken by Slovenia and Croatia. In case of conflict, the Muslims will be exterminated because they are unable to defend themselves .
On 27 August 1991, under the auspices of the European Community, will open the "Arbitration Commission for Peace in Former Yugoslavia", chaired by Robert Badinter, French. More commonly called "Badinter Commission," she makes its findings in January 1992, fifteen opinions on legal issues caused by the secession of the republics of Yugoslavia. These findings help to clarify some points as the international recognition of new states, the definition of borders, respect for international treaties, etc..
In September 1991, Macedonia also declared its independence after a référandum where 95.26% of voters have a favorable opinion. 500 U.S. soldiers are deployed under the authority of the United Nations, on the border with Serbia. But in this case, unlike the other breakaway republics, "State of Macedonia" will soon (April 1992) recognized by Yugoslavia, which is now limited to Serbia and Montenegro.
Based on the work of the Badinter Commission, 27 November 1991, the Security Council of the United Nations unanimously adopted the fifteen participating members (U.S., Great Britain, France, China, Russia, Austria, Belgium, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Ecuador, India, Romania, Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe) Resolution 721, which authorizes the deployment in the Balkans with a force of Peacekeeping (UN Peacekeeping Force) to cease hostilities and to respect the cease-fire. This was soon baptized UNPROFOR.
Map below: Boundary of the six new states of former Yugoslavia: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia.
In January 1992, Croatia and Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) signed a cease-fire under UN supervision, and open negotiations between the Croatian and Serbian lead. The military situation will not evolve more significantly in this country until June / July 1995.
On 9 January 1992, the Bosnian Serb Assembly proclaimed a "Republic of Serbian People Bosnia and Herzegovina "(SRBiH), a state separate from the rest of Bosnia, which will also be renamed the August 12 Republika Srpska, and proceeds to the creation of" autonomous regions "(SAR). SRBiH The melt soon the Vojska Republike Srpske (RSV), the Bosnian Serb Army.
In February and March 1992, the Bosnian Parliamentary Assembly holds a référandum for independence. référandum This is boycotted by the Bosnian Serbs. 67% of the total vote, and 98% of them give a positive vote.
In March 1994, the signing of the Washington Agreement between the Bosnians Muslims and Catholic Croats in Herzegovina allows the creation of the "Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina" and it will establish without delay a new army of Republika Bosne i Armija y Hercegovina (ARBiH). The ARBiH recovers some T-55 tanks and T-72 (redesignated M-84), Mig-21 and Mi-8 helicopter, taken to the Serbs, but the bulk of its weapons come from outside France (AMX -30B2), Germany (HK 33), and especially military surplus United States (M60A3 Patton , M16/AR-15, UH-1H).
Photo below: a T-72/M-84 the JNA captured and put into service by the Bosnian Croat army.
