View source for Bosnian War

{{Short description|1992–1995 armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{about|the 1992–1995 armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina|other wars in the region|List of wars involving Bosnia and Herzegovina}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Bosnian War
| partof            = the [[Yugoslav Wars]]
| image             = {{multiple image|border=infobox|perrow=2/2/2|total_width=300
| image1=Evstafiev-sarajevo-building-burns.jpg
| alt1=
| image2=Krupa_nakon_rata.JPG
| alt2=
| image3=Evstafiev-bosnia-sarajevo-un-holds-head.jpg
| alt3=
| image4=Emotioneel_weerzien_van_Bosnische_vluchtelingen_in_de_Ripperda_kazerne._NL-HlmNHA_54033997.JPG
| image5=Evstafiev-mladic-sarajevo1993w.jpg
| image6=Serbisk_T-34_85_trekkes_tilbake.jpg
| alt6=}}
'''Clockwise from top left:'''<br>The Executive Council Building burns after being hit by tank fire in [[Sarajevo]]; [[Bosanska Krupa]] in 1992; Bosnian refugees reunited in a military camp; Serbian [[T-34]] tank being drawn away from the frontline near [[Doboj]] in spring of 1996; [[Ratko Mladić]] with [[Army of Republika Srpska]] officers; A Norwegian [[UN peacekeeper]] in Sarajevo during [[siege of Sarajevo|the siege]] in 1992
| date              = 6 April 1992 – [[Dayton Accords|21 November 1995]] <br />({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=04|day=1|year1=1992|month2=11|day2=21|year2=1995}})
| place             = [[Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
| result            = {{Tree list}}
*Military stalemate
** [[Dayton agreement]]
** Over 101,000 dead, largely [[Bosniaks]].
** Deployment of [[NATO]]-led forces to oversee the peace agreement.
** Establishment of the [[Office of the High Representative]] to oversee the civilian implementation of the peace agreement.
{{Tree list/end}}
| combatant1        = '''Until October 1992''':<br />{{flagcountry|Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina}}<br />{{flag|Herzeg-Bosnia}}<br />{{flag|Croatia}}
| combatant3        = '''Until May 1992''':<br />{{flagcountry|Republika Srpska (1992–95)}}<br />{{flagcountry|Republic of Serbian Krajina}}<br />{{flagcountry|SFR Yugoslavia|name=SFR Yugoslavia}}{{efn|After all former Yugoslav federal republics except Serbia and Montenegro declared independence, the two declared the creation of a new country – the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia – on 27 April 1992, disbanding the JNA soon afterwards.<ref name="LATimes-FRY-Created">{{cite news|newspaper=The Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-04-28-mn-977-story.html|title=Two Republics Transform Selves Into a New, Smaller Yugoslavia|agency=[[Associated Press]]|date=28 April 1992|access-date=7 January 2011|archive-date=March 5, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305212312/http://articles.latimes.com/1992-04-28/news/mn-977_1_yugoslavia-republic-transform|url-status=live}}</ref> Serb-controlled units of the JNA participated in combat operations throughout 1991 and up to May 1992 in support of the Republic of Serbian Krajina.<ref name="NYTimes-Jan3-Ceasefire">{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/03/world/yugoslav-factions-agree-to-un-plan-to-halt-civil-war.html?ref=croatia|title=Yugoslav Factions Agree to U.N. Plan to Halt Civil War|author=Chuck Sudetic|date=3 January 1992|access-date=16 December 2010|archive-date=May 18, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518210925/http://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/03/world/yugoslav-factions-agree-to-un-plan-to-halt-civil-war.html?ref=croatia|url-status=live}}</ref>|name="SFR-Yugoslavia"}}
| combatant1a       = '''October 1992–94''':<br />{{flag|Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina}}
| combatant2a       = '''October 1992–94''':<br />{{flag|Herzeg-Bosnia}}<br />{{flag|Croatia}}
| combatant3a       = '''May 1992–94''':<br />{{flagcountry|Republika Srpska (1992–95)}}<br />{{flagcountry|Republic of Serbian Krajina}}<br />{{flagicon image|Flag of the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia.svg}} [[Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia|Western Bosnia]]
| combatant1b       = '''1994–95''':<br />{{flagcountry|Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina}}{{ref|2|b}}<br />{{flag|Herzeg-Bosnia}}<br />{{flag|Croatia}}
| combatant3b       = '''1994–95''':<br />{{flagcountry|Republika Srpska (1992–95)}}<br />{{flagcountry|Republic of Serbian Krajina}}<br />{{flagicon image|Flag of the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia.svg}} [[Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia|Western Bosnia]]
| commander1        = {{Unbulleted list 
|{{flagicon|Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina}} [[Alija Izetbegović]]<br />{{flagicon|Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina}} [[Haris Silajdžić]]<br />{{flagicon|Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina}} [[Sefer Halilović]]
<br />{{flagicon|Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina}} [[Rasim Delić]]<br />{{flagicon|Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina}} [[Enver Hadžihasanović]]
}}
[[Leaders of the Yugoslav Wars|...''and others'']]
| commander2        = {{Unbulleted list 
|{{flagicon|Croatia}} [[Franjo Tuđman]]
|{{flagicon|Croatia}} [[Gojko Šušak]]
|{{flagicon|Croatia}} [[Janko Bobetko]]<br />
----
|{{flagicon|Herzeg-Bosnia}} [[Mate Boban]]<br />
{{flagicon|Herzeg-Bosnia}} [[Milivoj Petković]]
}}
[[Leaders of the Yugoslav Wars|...''and others'']]
| commander3        = {{Unbulleted list
|{{flagicon|Republika Srpska (1992–95)}} [[Radovan Karadžić]]
|{{flagicon|Republika Srpska (1992–95)}} [[Ratko Mladić]]
----
|{{flagicon|FR Yugoslavia}}{{flagicon|Republic of Serbia (1992–2006)}} [[Slobodan Milošević]]
}}
[[Leaders of the Yugoslav Wars|...''and others'']]
| strength1         = {{flagicon image|Flag of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.svg}} '''[[Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina|ARBiH]]''':<br />110,000 troops<br />110,000 reserves<br />40 tanks<br />30 [[Armoured personnel carrier|APCs]]{{sfn|Ramet|2010|p=130}}
| strength2         = {{flagicon image|Flag of the Croatian Defence Council.svg}} '''[[Croatian Defence Council|HVO]]''':<br />45,000–50,000 troops{{sfn|Christia|2012|p=154}}{{sfn|CIA|1993|p=28}}{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=22}}<br />75 tanks<br />50 [[Armoured personnel carrier|APCs]]<br />200 artillery pieces{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=450}}<br />{{flagicon image|Flag of Croatian Army.svg}} '''[[Croatian Army|HV]]''':<br />15,000 troops{{sfn|Mulaj|2008|p=53}}
| strength3         = '''1992:'''<br/>'''{{flagicon image|border=|Emblem of the Yugoslav People's Army (1991-1992).svg|size=23px}} [[Yugoslav People's Army|JNA]]'''<br />'''1992–95''':<br />'''{{flagicon image|border=|Patch of the Army of Republika Srpska.svg|size=23px}} [[Army of Republika Srpska|VRS]]''':<br />80,000 troops<br />300 tanks<br />700 [[Armoured personnel carrier|APCs]]<br />800 artillery pieces<ref>[[#Finlan|Finlan 2004]], p. 21</ref><br />''' {{flagicon image|border=|Logo of the National Defense Of Western Bosnia.png|size=23px}} [[National Defence of the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia|NOZB]]''':<br />4,000–5,000 troops{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=451}}
| casualties1       = {{flagicon|Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina}} 30,906 soldiers killed<br />{{flagicon|Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina}} 31,107 civilians killed<ref name="RDC 2012" />
| casualties2       = {{flagicon|Herzeg-Bosnia}} 5,919 soldiers killed<br />{{flagicon|Herzeg-Bosnia}} 2,484 civilians killed<ref name="RDC 2012" />
| casualties3       = {{flagicon|Republika Srpska (1992–95)}} 20,775 soldiers killed<br />{{flagicon|Republika Srpska (1992–95)}} 4,178 civilians killed<ref name="RDC 2012" />
| notes             = <sup>'''a'''</sup> {{note|1||The Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was mainly staffed by Bosniaks. Notable non-Bosniak high-ranking individuals included [[Jovan Divjak]], a Bosnian Serb.}}<br />
----
<sup>'''b'''</sup> {{note|2||In 1994, the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina joined cause with the Bosnian Croat forces owing to the [[Washington Agreement]].}}
| casualties4       = additional 5,100 killed whose ethnicity and status are unstated<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bosnia-dead-idUSBRE91E0J220130215|title=After years of toil, book names Bosnian war dead|newspaper=Reuters|date=15 February 2013|access-date=30 June 2017|archive-date=21 July 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130721183902/http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-bosnia-dead-idUSBRE91E0J220130215|url-status=live}}</ref>
| territory         = {{Tree list}}
*International recognition of [[Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnia and Herzegovina]] as a sovereign state
** Internal partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina according to the [[Dayton Accords]].
** [[Republika Srpska]] is recognised as one of two entities that form [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
{{Tree list/end}}
}}
{{Campaignbox Yugoslav Wars}}
{{Campaignbox Bosnian War}}
The '''Bosnian War'''{{efn|name=nm}} ({{langx|sh|Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini}} / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international [[armed conflict]] that took place in [[Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnia and Herzegovina]] between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incidents, the war is commonly seen as having started on 6 April 1992 when the newly independent [[Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina]] was internationally recognized. It ended on 21 November 1995 when the [[Dayton Accords]] were initialed.<ref name=StateD/> The main belligerents were the forces of the government of the [[Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina]], and those of the breakaway [[proto-state]]s of the [[Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia|Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia]] and the [[Republika Srpska (1992–1995)|Republika Srpska]] which were led and supplied by [[Croatia]] and [[Republic of Serbia (1992–2006)|Serbia]], respectively.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hrw.org/reports/2004/ij/icty/2.htm|title=ICTY: Conflict between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|access-date=25 April 2015|archive-date=7 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107224919/https://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/ij/icty/2.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/91/13685.pdf|title=ICJ: The genocide case: Bosnia v. Serbia – See Part VI – Entities involved in the events 235–241|access-date=25 April 2015|archive-date=1 March 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110301032417/http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/91/13685.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The war was part of the [[breakup of Yugoslavia]]. Following the [[Slovenia]]n and Croatian secessions from the [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]] in 1991, the multi-ethnic [[Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina]] – which was inhabited by mainly [[Muslims (ethnic group)|Muslim]] [[Bosniaks]] (44%), [[Serbian Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] [[Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Serbs]] (32.5%) and [[Catholic]] [[Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Croats]] (17%) – passed a referendum for independence on 29 February 1992. Political representatives of the Bosnian Serbs boycotted the referendum and rejected its outcome. Anticipating the outcome of the referendum, the Bosnian Serb leadership proclaimed the ”Republic of the Serb People of Bosnia and Herzegovina” on 9 January 1992 ({{lang|sr-Latn|Republika srpskoga naroda Bosne i Hercegovine}}),<ref>{{cite press release |date=27 January 1992 |title=The Declaration of Proclamation of the Republic of the Serb People of Bosnia and Herzegovina |publisher=Official Bulletin of the Serb People in Bosnia and Herzegovina |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=13–14 |language=sr}}</ref> effectively laying the foundation of today's [[Republika Srpska]].
 
Following the [[independence]] declaration of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 1 March 1992, the [[Bosnian Serbs]], led by [[Radovan Karadžić]] and supported by the government of [[Slobodan Milošević]] while supplied by the [[Yugoslav People's Army]] (JNA), mobilized their forces inside Bosnia and Herzegovina and over the following months seized control of approximately 70% of the country's territory in a campaign characterized by widespread [[ethnic cleansing]] of [[Bosnian Croats]] and [[Bosniaks]].{{efn|Also known as Bosnian Muslims.}}

The conflict was initially between Yugoslav Army units in Bosnia which later transformed into the [[Army of Republika Srpska]] (VRS) on the one side, and the [[Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina]] (ARBiH), predominantly composed of Bosniaks, and the Croat forces in the [[Croatian Defence Council]] (HVO) on the other side. Tensions between Croats and Bosniaks increased throughout late 1992, resulting in the escalation of the [[Croat–Bosniak War]] in early 1993.{{sfn|Christia|2012|p=172}} The Bosnian War was characterised by bitter fighting, indiscriminate [[shell (projectile)|shelling]] of cities and towns, ethnic cleansing, and [[Wartime sexual violence|systematic mass rape]], mainly perpetrated by Serb,{{sfn|Wood|2013|pp=140, 343}} and to a lesser extent, Croat<ref>[[#Forsythe|Forsythe 2009]], p. 145</ref> and Bosniak<ref name="fas.org">{{Cite web|url=https://fas.org/irp/cia/product/bosnia_handout.html|title=Bosnia Handout|website=fas.org|access-date=14 May 2016|archive-date=19 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019032856/https://fas.org/irp/cia/product/bosnia_handout.html|url-status=live}}</ref> forces. Events such as the [[siege of Sarajevo]] and the July 1995 [[Srebrenica massacre]] later became iconic of the conflict. The massacre of over 8,000 Bosniak males by Serb forces in [[Srebrenica]] is the only incident in Europe to have been recognized as a genocide since [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite web|title='It's getting out of hand': genocide denial outlawed in Bosnia|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/24/genocide-denial-outlawed-bosnia-srebrenica-office-high-representative|date=24 July 2021|work=The Guardian|access-date=24 July 2021|archive-date=24 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724042604/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/24/genocide-denial-outlawed-bosnia-srebrenica-office-high-representative|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Serbs, although initially militarily superior due to the weapons and resources provided by the JNA, eventually lost momentum as the Bosniaks and Croats allied against the Republika Srpska in 1994 with the creation of the [[Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina]] following the [[Washington Agreement]]. [[Pakistan]] ignored the [[United Nations|UN]]'s ban on the supply of arms and airlifted [[Anti-tank guided missile|anti-tank missiles]] to the Bosnian Muslims, while after the Srebrenica and [[Markale massacre|Markale]] massacres, [[NATO]] intervened in 1995 with [[Operation Deliberate Force]], targeting the positions of the Army of the Republika Srpska, which proved key in ending the war.<ref>{{cite news|first=Roger|last=Cohen|author-link=Roger Cohen|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/31/world/conflict-balkans-overview-nato-presses-bosnia-bombing-vowing-make-sarajevo-safe.html|title=Conflict in the Balkans: The overview; NATO presses Bosnia bombing, vowing to make Sarajevo safe|work=The New York Times|date=31 August 1995|access-date=5 May 2011|archive-date=19 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919211646/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/31/world/conflict-balkans-overview-nato-presses-bosnia-bombing-vowing-make-sarajevo-safe.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=To End a War|last=Holbrooke|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Holbrooke|publisher=Modern Library|year=1999|page=[https://archive.org/details/toendwar00holb_0/page/102 102]|isbn=978-0-375-75360-2|oclc=40545454|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/toendwar00holb_0/page/102}}</ref> After cease-fires had previously been agreed on September 14 and October 5, 1995, peace negotiations were held in [[Dayton, Ohio]], and the war ended when the [[Dayton Accords]] were initialed on 21 November 1995.<ref name=StateD>{{cite web|date=30 March 1996|url=https://1997-2001.state.gov/www/regions/eur/bosnia/bosagree.html|title=Dayton Peace Accords on Bosnia|publisher=US Department of State|access-date=19 March 2006|archive-date=22 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522194450/http://1997-2001.state.gov/www/regions/eur/bosnia/bosagree.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

By early 2008, the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]] had convicted forty-five Serbs, twelve Croats, and four Bosniaks of war crimes in connection with the war in Bosnia.<ref name="Convictions">{{Cite news |last=Bilefsky |first=Dan |date=2008-07-30 |title=Karadzic Sent to Hague for Trial Despite Violent Protest by Loyalists |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/world/europe/30serbia.html |access-date=2022-09-25 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=24 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170624210754/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/world/europe/30serbia.html |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Update inline|date=July 2015}} Estimates suggest over 100,000 people were killed during the war.<ref>{{cite news|publisher=BBC|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6228152.stm|title=Bosnia war dead figure announced|date=21 June 2007|access-date=16 February 2013|archive-date=9 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409155521/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6228152.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|publisher=CBC|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/bosnia-s-dark-days-a-cameraman-reflects-on-war-of-1990s-1.1224463|title=Bosnia's dark days – a cameraman reflects on war of 1990s|date=6 April 2012|access-date=16 February 2013|archive-date=15 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120615181216/http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/04/05/f-bosnia-video-louis-deguise-camerman.html|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Logos|2019|p=265, 412}} Over 2.2&nbsp;million people were displaced,<ref name=Jolie>{{cite web|url=http://www.unhcr.org/4bbb422512.html|publisher=[[UNHCR]]|title=Jolie highlights the continuing suffering of the displaced in Bosnia|date=6 April 2010|access-date=19 October 2010|archive-date=29 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129080939/http://www.unhcr.org/4bbb422512.html|url-status=live}}</ref> making it, at the time, the most violent conflict in Europe since the end of World War II.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crimesofwar.org/a-z-guide/bosnia/|title=Bosnia|first=Florence|last=Hartmann|publisher=Crimes of War|access-date=30 April 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150509083402/http://www.crimesofwar.org/a-z-guide/bosnia/|archive-date=9 May 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Power of Dependence: NATO-UN Cooperation in Crisis Management|first=Michael F.|last=Harsch|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2015|page=37|isbn=978-0-19-872231-1}}</ref> In addition, an estimated 12,000–50,000 [[Rape during the Bosnian War|women were raped]], mainly carried out by Serb forces, with most of the victims being Bosniak women.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|2015|p=222}}<ref name="Palgrave Macmillan">{{cite book|last1=Crowe|first1=David M.|title=War Crimes, Genocide, and Justice: A Global History|date=2013|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0-230-62224-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aynFAgAAQBAJ|page=343|access-date=14 May 2016|archive-date=23 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123234220/https://books.google.com/books?id=aynFAgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{TOC limit|3}}

== Chronology ==
Clashes between Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs in Bosnia started in late February 1992, and "full-scale hostilities had broken out by 6 April",{{sfn|Mulaj|2008|p=53}} the same day the US{{sfn|Bose|2009|p=124}} and [[European Economic Community]] (EEC)<ref>{{cite book|title=Women and Civil War: Impact, Organizations, and Action|first=Martha|last=Walsh|pages=57; ''The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was recognised by the European Union on 6 April. On the same date, Bosnian Serb nationalists began the siege of Sarajevo, and the Bosnian war began.''|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZNKlZh3FwRUC&pg=PA57|publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers|year=2001|isbn=9781588260468}}</ref> recognised Bosnia and Herzegovina.{{sfn|Hammond|2007|p=51}}<ref>{{cite book|title=The Breakup of Yugoslavia and Its Aftermath|first=Carole|last=Rogel|pages=59; ''Neither recognition nor UN membership, however, saved Bosnia from the JNA; the war there began on April 6.''|url=https://archive.org/details/breakupofyugosla00roge_0|url-access=registration|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2004|isbn=9780313323577}}</ref> [[Misha Glenny]] gives a date of 22 March, [[Thomas Gerard Gallagher|Tom Gallagher]] gives 2 April, while [[Mary Kaldor]], and [[Laura Silber]] and [[Allan Little]] give 6 April.{{sfn|Mulaj|2008|p=76}} Philip Hammond claimed the most common view is that the war started on 6 April.{{sfn|Hammond|2007|p=51}}

Serbs consider the [[Sarajevo wedding shooting]], when a groom's father was killed on the second day of the [[1992 Bosnian independence referendum|Bosnian independence referendum]], 1 March 1992, as the first death of the war.{{sfn|Donia|2006|p=291}} The [[Sijekovac killings]] of Serbs took place on 26 March and the [[Bijeljina massacre]] on 1–2 April. On 5 April, after protesters approached a barricade, a demonstrator was killed by Serb forces.{{sfn|Donia|2006|p=284}}

The war was formally brought to an end by the [[Dayton Agreement|General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina]], negotiated at [[Wright-Patterson Air Force Base]] in [[Dayton, Ohio]] between 1 and 21 November 1995 when the Agreement was initialed, and was formally signed in Paris on 14 December.<ref name=StateD/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/news_69290.htm|title=15 years ago, Dayton Peace Accords: a milestone for NATO and the Balkans|publisher=NATO|date=14 December 2010|access-date=18 July 2015|archive-date=17 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217163011/https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/news_69290.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Cease-fire agreements had previously been agreed on September 14 and October 5, 1995.<ref name="StateD" />

== Background ==

=== Breakup of Yugoslavia ===
{{Main|Breakup of Yugoslavia|Timeline of Yugoslav breakup}}
The war came about as a result of the breakup of the [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]]. A crisis emerged in Yugoslavia as a result of the weakening of the confederation system at the end of the [[Cold War]]. In Yugoslavia, the national [[communist party]], the [[League of Communists of Yugoslavia]], lost ideological potency. Meanwhile, ethnic nationalism experienced a renaissance in the 1980s after violence in [[Kosovo]].<ref name=Pavkovic>{{cite book|last=Pavkovic|first=Aleksandar|title=The fragmentation of Yugoslavia: nationalism and war in the Balkans|publisher=MacMillan Press|year=1997|page=85|isbn=978-0-312-23084-5}}</ref> While the goal of [[Serbian nationalist]]s was the centralisation of Yugoslavia, other nationalities aspired to the federalisation and the decentralisation of the state.<ref name=Crnobanja>{{cite book|last=Crnobrnja|first=Mihailo|title=The Yugoslav drama |publisher=I.B. Tauris & Co|year=1994|page=107|isbn=978-1-86064-126-8}}</ref>

Bosnia and Herzegovina, a former [[Ottoman Bosnia and Herzegovina|Ottoman province]], has historically been a multi-ethnic state. According to the 1991 census, 44% of the population considered themselves Muslim (Bosniak), 33% Serb, and 17% Croat, with 6% describing themselves as Yugoslav.<ref name=Sourcebook>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ORSMBFwjAKcC&pg=PA311|title=The former Yugoslavia's Diverse Peoples: A Reference Sourcebook|first1=Matjaž|last1=Klemenčič|first2=Mitja|last2=Žagar|year=2004|location=Santa Barbara, California|publisher=ABC-CLIO|page=311|isbn=978-1-57607-294-3}}</ref>

In March 1989, the crisis in Yugoslavia deepened after the adoption of amendments to the Serbian Constitution allowing the government of Serbia to dominate the provinces of [[Kosovo]] and [[Vojvodina]].<ref name="Bethlehem1997p20">{{harvnb|Bethlehem|Weller|1997|p=20}}</ref> Until then, Kosovo and Vojvodina's decision-making was independent, and each autonomous province had a vote at the Yugoslav federal level. Serbia, under newly elected President [[Slobodan Milošević]], gained control over three out of eight votes in the Yugoslav presidency. With additional votes from Montenegro, Serbia was thus able to heavily influence the decisions of the federal government. This situation led to objections from the other republics and calls for the reform of the Yugoslav federation.

At the 14th Extraordinary Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, on 20 January 1990, the delegations of the republics could not agree on the main issues facing the Yugoslav federation. As a result, the Slovene and Croatian delegates left the Congress. The Slovene delegation, headed by [[Milan Kučan]], demanded democratic changes and a looser federation, while the Serbian delegation, headed by Milošević, opposed it.<ref>{{Citation |title=The Death Of Yugoslavia Part 1 Enter Nationalism 5 | date=May 2015 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hqDqwLqFJg |access-date=2022-10-16 |archive-date=16 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016222359/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hqDqwLqFJg |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the [[1990 Bosnian general election|first multi-party election]] in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in November 1990, votes were cast largely according to ethnicity, leading to the success of the Bosniak [[Party of Democratic Action]] (SDA), the [[Serb Democratic Party (Bosnia and Herzegovina)|Serb Democratic Party]] (SDS), and the [[Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Croatian Democratic Union]] (HDZ BiH).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/nationaldeconstr0000camp|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/nationaldeconstr0000camp/page/220 220]|title=National deconstruction: Violence, identity, and justice in Bosnia|publisher=U of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0-8166-2937-4|last1=Campbell|first1=David|year=1998}}</ref>

Parties divided power along ethnic lines, so the president of the Presidency of the [[Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina]] was a Bosniak, the president of the Parliament was a [[Serb]], and the prime minister was a Croat. Separatist nationalist parties attained power in other republics, including Croatia and Slovenia.<ref>{{cite book|author1=S. Lobell|author2=P. Mauceri|title=Ethnic Conflict and International Politics: Explaining Diffusion and Escalation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_fvFAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA79|date=2004|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US|isbn=978-1-4039-8141-7|pages=79–}}</ref>

=== Beginning of the Yugoslav Wars ===
[[File:Bosnia Herzegovina Ethnic 1991.png|thumb|Ethnic map of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1991<br />{{Legend2|#048404|[[Bosniaks]]}} {{Legend2|#049CFC|[[Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Serbs]]}} {{Legend2|#FC9904|[[Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Croats]]}}]]
[[File:Srpske autonomne oblasti u Bosni i Hercegovini u studenome 1991.png|thumb|Serbian Autonomous Oblasts in November 1991]]
Meetings were held in early 1991 between the leaders of the six Yugoslav republics, and the two autonomous regions, to discuss the crisis.{{sfn|Sadkovich|2007|p=239}} The Serbian leadership favoured a federal solution, whereas the Croatian and Slovenian leadership favoured an alliance of sovereign states. Bosnian leader [[Alija Izetbegović]] proposed an asymmetrical federation in February, where Slovenia and Croatia would maintain loose ties with the four remaining republics. Shortly after, he changed his position and opted for a sovereign Bosnia as a prerequisite for such a federation.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=386}}

On 25 March, Croatian President [[Franjo Tuđman]] and Serbian President [[Slobodan Milošević]] held a [[Milošević-Tuđman Karađorđevo meeting|meeting in Karađorđevo]].{{sfn|Lučić|2008|p=72}} The meeting was controversial due to claims by some Yugoslav politicians that the two presidents agreed to the partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina.{{sfn|Lučić|2008|pp=74–75}} On 6 June, Izetbegović and Macedonian president [[Kiro Gligorov]] proposed a weak confederation between Croatia, Slovenia, and a federation of the other four republics. That was rejected by the Milošević administration.{{sfn|Tanner|2001|p=248}}

On 25 June 1991, Slovenia and Croatia declared independence. An [[Ten-Day War|armed conflict]] in Slovenia ensued, while clashes in [[Republic of Serbian Krajina|areas of Croatia with substantial ethnic Serb]] populations escalated into a [[Croatian War of Independence|full-scale war]].{{sfn|CIA|2002|pp=58, 91}} The [[Yugoslav People's Army]] (JNA) abandoned efforts to reassert control over Slovenia in July while fighting in Croatia intensified until a [[Vance plan#Implementation Agreement|ceasefire]] was agreed in January 1992. The JNA also attacked Croatia from Bosnia and Herzegovina.{{sfn|Lukic|Lynch|1996|p=206}}

In July 1991, representatives of the [[Serbian Democratic Party (Bosnia and Herzegovina)|Serb Democratic Party]] (SDS), including SDS president [[Radovan Karadžić]], [[Muhamed Filipović]], and [[Adil Zulfikarpašić]] from the [[Muslim Bosniak Organisation]] (MBO), drafted an agreement known as the [[Zulfikarpašić–Karadžić agreement]]. This would leave SR Bosnia and Herzegovina in a state union with SR Serbia and SR Montenegro. The agreement was denounced by Croat political parties. Although initially welcoming the initiative, the Izetbegović administration later dismissed the agreement.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=426}}{{sfn|Schindler|2007|p=71}}

Between September and November 1991, the SDS organised the creation of six "[[Serb Autonomous Regions]]" (SAOs).{{sfn|Caspersen|2010|p=82}} This was in response to the Bosniaks' steps toward seceding from Yugoslavia.{{sfn|Trbovich|2008|p=228}} Similar steps were taken by the Bosnian Croats.{{sfn|Trbovich|2008|p=228}}

In August 1991, the [[European Economic Community]] hosted [[Arbitration Commission of the Peace Conference on Yugoslavia|a conference]] in an attempt to prevent Bosnia and Herzegovina from sliding into war. On 25 September 1991, the [[United Nations Security Council]] passed [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 713|Resolution 713]], imposing an arms embargo on all former Yugoslav territories. The embargo had little effect on the JNA and Serb forces, while Croat forces had already built up a considerable arsenal from seized JNA equipment and could smuggle other weaponry across its borders with neighboring countries. The embargo had a significant impact in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the start of the Bosnian War.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=85}} The Serb forces inherited the armaments and the equipment of the JNA, while the Croat and Bosniak forces obtained arms through Croatia in violation of the embargo.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|pp=59–61}}

On 19 September 1991, the JNA moved extra troops to the area around the city of [[Mostar]]. This was protested by the local government. On 20 September 1991, the JNA transferred troops to [[battle of Vukovar|the front at Vukovar]] via the [[Višegrad]] region of northeastern Bosnia. In response, local Croats and Bosniaks set up barricades and machine-gun posts. They halted a column of 60 JNA tanks, but were dispersed by force the following day. More than 1,000 people had to flee the area. This action, nearly seven months before the start of the Bosnian War, caused the first casualties of the Yugoslav Wars in Bosnia. In the first days of October, the JNA attacked and leveled the Croat village of [[Ravno, Bosnia and Herzegovina|Ravno]] in eastern Herzegovina, on their way to [[Siege of Dubrovnik|attack Dubrovnik]] in southern Croatia.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=416}}

On 6 October 1991, Bosnian president [[Alija Izetbegović]] gave a televised proclamation of neutrality, it included the statement "it is not our war".{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=25}} Izetbegović made a statement before the Bosnian parliament on 14 October with regard to the JNA: "Do not do anything against the Army. (...) the presence of the Army is a stabilizing factor to us, and we need that Army... Until now, we did not have problems with the Army, and we will not have problems later." Izetbegović had a testy exchange with Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić in parliament on that day. After Karadžić wagered that the Bosnian Muslims could not defend themselves if a state of war developed, Izetbegović observed that he found Karadžić's manner and speech offensive and it explained why the Bosniaks felt unwelcome, that his tone might explain why the others federated by Yugoslavia felt repelled, and that the threats of Karadžić were unworthy of the Serbian people.<ref>Tape record of the BiH Parliament, 88/3. – 89/2. AG, 89/3. – 90/4.</ref>

Throughout 1990, the [[RAM Plan]] was developed by [[State Security Administration|SDB]] and a group of selected Serb officers of the [[Yugoslav People's Army]] (JNA) with the purpose of organizing Serbs outside Serbia, consolidating control of the fledgling [[Serb Democratic Party (Bosnia and Herzegovina)|SDS]] parties and the positioning of arms and ammunition.<ref name="Judah1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KxQaCAAAQBAJ&pg=PT273|title=The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia|first=Tim|last=Judah|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2008|isbn= 9780300147841|page=273}}</ref> The plan was meant to prepare the framework for a third Yugoslavia in which all Serbs with their territories would live together in the same state.{{sfn|Lukic|Lynch|1996|p=204}}

Journalist Giuseppe Zaccaria summarised a meeting of Serb army officers in Belgrade in 1992, reporting they had adopted an explicit policy to target women and children as the vulnerable portion of the Muslim social structure.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/confrontingevils0000card|url-access=registration|title=Confronting Evils: Terrorism, Torture, Genocide|first=Claudia|last=Card|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2010|isbn= 9781139491709|page=[https://archive.org/details/confrontingevils0000card/page/269 269]}}</ref> According to some sources, the RAM plan was crafted in the 1980s.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8b_HAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA76|title=Genocide at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century: Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Darfur|first=Dale C.|last=Tatum|publisher=Springer Science+Business Media|year= 2010|isbn= 9780230109674|page=76}}</ref> Its existence was leaked by [[Ante Marković]], the [[Prime Minister of Yugoslavia]], an ethnic Croat from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The existence and possible implementation of it alarmed the Bosnian government.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AcgyAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA426|title=Down with Big Brother: The Fall of the Soviet Empire|first=Michael|last=Dobbs|publisher=A&C Black|year=1997|isbn= 9780747533948|pages=426–27}}</ref><ref name=Reneo>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WPhhLfp8huIC&pg=PA204|title=Europe from the Balkans to the Urals: The Disintegration of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union|first1=Reneo|last1=Luki|first2=Allen|last2=Lynch|publisher=SIPRI, Oxford University Press|year=1996|isbn= 9780198292005|page=204}}</ref>

=== Final political crisis ===
On 15 October 1991, the parliament of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in [[Sarajevo]] passed a "''Memorandum on the Sovereignty of Bosnia-Herzegovina''" by a simple majority.{{sfn|Trbovich|2008|p=221}}<ref name="cook140">{{cite book|title=Europe Since 1945|first=Bernard A.|last=Cook|page=140|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ox_gXq2jpdYC&pg=PA140|publisher=Taylor and Francis|year=2001|isbn=978-0-8153-4057-7|volume=1|access-date=14 May 2016|archive-date=23 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123234340/https://books.google.com/books?id=ox_gXq2jpdYC&pg=PA140|url-status=live}}</ref> The Memorandum was hotly contested by the Bosnian Serb members of parliament, arguing the Constitution required procedural safeguards and [[supermajority|a two-thirds majority]] for such issues. The Memorandum was debated anyway, leading to a boycott of the parliament by the Bosnian Serbs, and the legislation was passed.{{sfn|Trbovich|2008|pp=220–224}} The Serb political representatives proclaimed the [[National Assembly of Republika Srpska|Assembly of the Serb People of Bosnia and Herzegovina]] on 24 October 1991, declaring that the Serb people wished to remain in Yugoslavia.{{sfn|Trbovich|2008|p=228}} The [[Party of Democratic Action]] (SDA), led by Alija Izetbegović, was determined to pursue independence and was supported by Europe and the US{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=103}} The SDS made it clear that if independence was declared, Serbs would secede as it was their right to exercise self-determination.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=103}}

The HDZ BiH was established as a branch of the ruling party in Croatia, the [[Croatian Democratic Union]] (HDZ). While it called for the independence of the country, there was a split in the party with some advocating secession of Croat-majority areas.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=48}} In November 1991, the Croat leadership organised autonomous communities in areas with a Croat majority. On 12 November 1991, the [[Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia|Croatian Community of Bosnian Posavina]] was established in [[Bosanski Brod]]. It covered 8 municipalities in northern Bosnia.{{sfn|Tomas|Nazor|2013|p=281}} On 18 November 1991, the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia was established in Mostar. [[Mate Boban]] was chosen as its president.{{sfn|Krišto|2011|p=44}} Its founding document said: "The Community will respect the democratically elected government of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina for as long as exists the state independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina in relation to the former, or any other, Yugoslavia".{{sfn|Marijan|2004|p=259}}

[[Borisav Jović]]'s memoirs show that on 5 December 1991 Milošević ordered the JNA troops in BiH to be reorganised and its non-Bosnian personnel to be withdrawn, in case recognition would result in the perception of the JNA as a foreign force; Bosnian Serbs would remain to form the nucleus of a Bosnian Serb army.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=101}} Accordingly, by the end of the month only 10–15% of the personnel in the JNA in BiH were from outside the republic.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=101}} Silber and Little note that Milošević secretly ordered all Bosnian-born JNA soldiers to be transferred to BiH.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=101}} Jović's memoirs suggest that Milošević planned for an attack on Bosnia well in advance.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=101}}

On 9 January 1992, the Bosnian Serbs proclaimed the "Republic of the Serbian People in Bosnia-Herzegovina" (SR BiH, later [[Republika Srpska]]), but did not officially declare independence.{{sfn|Trbovich|2008|p=228}} The [[Arbitration Commission of the Peace Conference on Yugoslavia]] in its 11 January 1992 Opinion No. 4 on Bosnia and Herzegovina stated that the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina should not be recognised because the country had not yet held a referendum on independence.<ref name="rich">{{cite journal|author=Roland Rich |title=Recognition of States: The Collapse of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union |journal=European Journal of International Law |year=1993 |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=48–51 |url=http://www.ejil.org/pdfs/4/1/1207.pdf |access-date=12 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120421143955/http://www.ejil.org/pdfs/4/1/1207.pdf |archive-date=21 April 2012}}</ref>

On 25 January 1992, an hour after the session of parliament was adjourned, the parliament called for a referendum on independence on 29 February and 1 March.{{sfn|Trbovich|2008|p=221}} The debate had ended after Serb deputies withdrew after the majority Bosniak–Croat delegates turned down a motion that the referendum question be placed before the not yet established Council of National Equality.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=105}} The referendum proposal was adopted in the form as proposed by Muslim deputies, in the absence of SDS members.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=105}} As Burg and Shoup note, "the decision placed the Bosnian government and the Serbs on a collision course".{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=105}} The upcoming referendum caused international concern in February.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=108}}
[[File:Later carrington cutillero.png|thumb|Carrington-Cutillero plan: Serbian cantons shown in red, Bosniak cantons in green, Croat cantons in blue]]
The Croatian War would result in [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 743]] on 21 February 1992, which created the [[United Nations Protection Force]] (UNPROFOR). During talks in [[Lisbon]] on 21–22 February a [[Peace plans proposed before and during the Bosnian War#Carrington–Cutileiro plan|peace plan]] was presented by EC mediator [[José Cutileiro]], which proposed the independent state of Bosnia to be divided into three constituent units. Agreement was denounced by the Bosniak leadership on 25 February.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=108}} On 28 February 1992, the Constitution of the SR BiH declared that the territory of that Republic included "the territories of the Serbian Autonomous Regions and Districts and of other Serbian ethnic entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the regions in which the Serbian people remained in the minority due to the genocide conducted against it in World War II", and it was declared to be a part of Yugoslavia.<ref name="sim.law.uu.nl">{{cite web|url=http://sim.law.uu.nl/sim/caselaw/tribunalen.nsf/db2e2884b11f7cbbc125720a007af60b/8cc6f2501fe7c551c12571fe004d31cd?OpenDocument |title=ICTY/ ZUPLJANIN, Stojan/ Indictment (Amended) |access-date=12 March 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526165938/http://sim.law.uu.nl/sim/caselaw/tribunalen.nsf/db2e2884b11f7cbbc125720a007af60b/8cc6f2501fe7c551c12571fe004d31cd?OpenDocument |archive-date=26 May 2011 }}</ref>

The Bosnian Serb assembly members advised Serbs to boycott the referendums held on 29 February and 1 March 1992. The turnout to the referendums was reported as 64%, with 93% of voters voting in favour of independence (implying that Bosnian Serbs, who made up approximately 34% of the population, largely boycotted the referendum).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://csce.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=UserGroups.Home&ContentRecord_id=250&ContentType=G&ContentRecordType=G&UserGroup_id=5&Subaction=ByDate |title=The Referendum on Independence in Bosnia-Herzegovina: 29 February–1 March 1992 |year=1992 |publisher=Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe |page=19 |access-date=28 December 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522132353/http://csce.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=UserGroups.Home&ContentRecord_id=250&ContentType=G&ContentRecordType=G&UserGroup_id=5&Subaction=ByDate |archive-date=22 May 2011}}</ref> The Serb political leadership used the referendums as a pretext to set up roadblocks in protest. Independence was formally declared by the Bosnian parliament on 3 March 1992.{{sfn|Bose|2009|p=124}}

===March 1992 unrest===

[[File:Carrington-Cutileiro plan.PNG|thumb|The 1992 Carrington-Cutillero plan: Serbian cantons shown in red, Bosniak cantons in green, Croat cantons in blue; Bosniak and Serb cantons would have each covered 44% of the country's territory, with the Croat canton covering the remaining 12%]]

During the referendum on 1 March, Sarajevo was quiet except for a [[Sarajevo wedding attack|Serbian wedding being fired upon.]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KxQaCAAAQBAJ&pg=PT320| title= The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia|first=Tim |last=Judah|publisher=Yale University Press|year= 2008|isbn= 9780300147841|pages=320}}</ref> The brandishing of Serbian flags in the [[Baščaršija]] was seen by Muslims as a deliberate provocation on the day of the referendum.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wHEXb81jRMcC&pg=PA38| last=Kumar| first=Radha| title=Divide and Fall? Bosnia in the Annals of Partition| publisher=Verso |year=1999| isbn=978-1-85984-183-9| page=38}}</ref> [[Nikola Gardović]], the bridegroom's father, was killed, and a [[Serbian Orthodox Church|Serbian Orthodox priest]] was wounded. Witnesses identified the killer as [[Ramiz Delalić]], a gangster who had become a brazen criminal since the fall of communism and was stated to have been a member of the Bosniak paramilitary group the "[[Green Berets (Bosnian paramilitary)|Green Berets]]". Arrest warrants were issued against him and another suspected assailant. SDS denounced the killing and claimed the failure to arrest him was due to SDA or Bosnian government complicity.<ref>{{Cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FrpUBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA162 | title= Radovan Karadzic: Architect of the Bosnian Genocide|first=Robert J. |last=Donia|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year= 2014|isbn= 9781107073357|pages=162}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|publisher=Glas Srpske|title=Godišnjica ubistva srpskog svata na Baščaršiji|date=1 March 2009|url=http://www.glassrpske.com/vijest/2/novosti/18496/cir/Godisnjica-ubistva-srpskog-svata-na-Bascarsiji.html|access-date=20 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503041429/http://www.glassrpske.com/vijest/2/novosti/18496/cir/Godisnjica-ubistva-srpskog-svata-na-Bascarsiji.html|archive-date=3 May 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> A SDS spokesman stated it was evidence that Serbs were in mortal danger and would be further so in an independent Bosnia, which was rejected by [[Sefer Halilović]], founder of the [[Patriotic League (Bosnia and Herzegovina)|Patriotic League]], who stated it was not a wedding but a provocation and accused the wedding guests of being SDS activists. Barricades appeared the following morning at key transit points across the city and were manned by armed and masked SDS supporters.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s2FBDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA88| title= Sarajevo's Holiday Inn on the Frontline of Politics and War|first=Kenneth |last=Morrison|publisher=Springer|year= 2016|isbn= 9781137577184|page=88}}</ref>

Following Bosnia and Herzegovina's declaration of independence from Yugoslavia on 3 March 1992, sporadic fighting broke out between Serbs and government forces all across the territory.<ref>Cannon, P., The Third Balkan War and Political Disunity: Creating A Cantonal Constitutional System for Bosnia-Herzegovina, Jrnl. Trans. L. & Pol., Vol. 5-2</ref> On 18 March 1992, all three sides signed the [[Peace plans offered before and during the Bosnian War#Carrington–Cutileiro plan|Lisbon Agreement]]: [[Alija Izetbegović]] for the Bosniaks, [[Radovan Karadžić]] for the Serbs and [[Mate Boban]] for the Croats. However, on 28 March 1992, Izetbegović, after meeting with the US ambassador to Yugoslavia [[Warren Zimmermann]] in Sarajevo, withdrew his signature and declared his opposition to any type of ethnic division of Bosnia.<ref name="z785">{{cite web | title=News Article | website=ETH Zurich | date=2016-10-25 | url=https://css.ethz.ch/en/services/digital-library/articles/article.html/9d2d0261-16db-43d5-877a-5401abf6e016 | access-date=2024-09-09}}</ref><ref name="q227">{{cite web | title=Bosniaks 'Could Have Stopped Years of Bloodshed' | website=Balkan Insight | date=2013-02-22 | url=https://balkaninsight.com/2013/02/22/karadzic-calls-former-peace-mediator/ | access-date=2024-09-09}}</ref>
{{blockquote|What was said and by whom remains unclear. Zimmerman denies that he told Izetbegovic that if he withdrew his signature, the United States would grant recognition to Bosnia as an independent state. What is indisputable is that Izetbegovic, that same day, withdrew his signature and renounced the agreement.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://inthenationalinterest.com/Articles/Vol2Issue41/Vol2Issue41dkm.html|title=Alija Izetbegović, 1925–2003|publisher=In the National Interest|access-date=28 August 2008|last=de Krnjevic-Miskovic|first=Damjan|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040627192417/http://inthenationalinterest.com/Articles/Vol2Issue41/Vol2Issue41dkm.html|archive-date=27 June 2004}}</ref>}}

In late March 1992, there was fighting between Serbs and combined Croat and Bosniak forces in and near [[Bosanski Brod]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/28/world/bosnia-asking-un-for-peace-forces.html|title=Bosnia asking for U.N. peace forces|work=The New York Times|first=Chuck|last=Sudetic|date=28 March 1992|access-date=18 July 2015|archive-date=10 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810074324/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/28/world/bosnia-asking-un-for-peace-forces.html|url-status=live}}</ref> resulting in the [[Sijekovac killings|killing of Serbs in Sijekovac]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2010/05/30/croatian_president_honors_serb_victims_in_bosnia/|title=Croatian president honors Serb victims in Bosnia|first=Irena|last=Knezevic|agency=Associated Press|date=30 May 2010|access-date=18 July 2015|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924154426/http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2010/05/30/croatian_president_honors_serb_victims_in_bosnia/|url-status=live}}</ref> Serb paramilitaries committed the [[Bijeljina massacre]], most of the victims were Bosniaks, on 1–2 April 1992.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/krajisnik/tjug/en/kra-jud060927e.pdf|title=Prosecutor v. Momčilo Krajišnik: Judgement|publisher=International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia|date=27 September 2006|pages=113–118|access-date=18 July 2015|archive-date=18 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518033410/http://www.icty.org/x/cases/krajisnik/tjug/en/kra-jud060927e.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Factions ==
There were three factions in the Bosnian War:
*Bosnian (mainly ethnically [[Bosniak]]), loyal to the [[Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
*Croat, loyal to the [[Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia]] and [[Croatia]]
*Serb/Yugoslav, loyal to the [[Republika Srpska]] and [[FR Yugoslavia|Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]]

The three ethnic groups predominantly supported their respective ethnic or national faction: Bosniaks mainly the [[Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina|ARBiH]], Croats the [[Croatian Defence Council|HVO]], Serbs the [[Army of Republika Srpska|VRS]]. There were [[Foreign fighters in the Bosnian War|foreign volunteers]] in each faction.

===Bosnian===
[[File:Alija Izetbegovic.jpg|thumb|[[Alija Izetbegović]] during his visit to the United States in 1997]]

The Bosnians mainly organised into the [[Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina]] (''{{transliteration|bs|Armija Republike Bosne i Hercegovine}}'', ARBiH) as the armed forces of the [[Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina]]. Forces of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina were divided into five Corps. 1st Corps operated in the region of Sarajevo and Goražde, while the stronger 5th Corps was positioned in the western [[Bosanska Krajina]] pocket, which cooperated with HVO units in and around [[Bihać]]. The Bosnian government forces were poorly equipped and unprepared for war.<ref name="ICTY: Naletilić and Matinović verdict">{{Cite web|url=https://www.icty.org/x/cases/naletilic_martinovic/cis/en/cis_naletilic_martinovic_en.pdf|title=ICTY: Naletilić and Matinović verdict|access-date=14 December 2021|archive-date=7 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607124434/https://icty.org/x/cases/naletilic_martinovic/cis/en/cis_naletilic_martinovic_en.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Sefer Halilović]], Chief of Staff of the Bosnian Territorial Defense, claimed in June 1992 that his forces were 70% Muslim, 18% Croat and 12% Serb.<ref name=Kozar>{{cite news|url=http://www.ex-yupress.com/oslob/oslob7.html|title=Croats and Serbs are (un)suitable|work=Oslobodenje-Svijet|first=Duro|last=Kozar|date=August 2, 1996|access-date=November 21, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100828161826/http://www.ex-yupress.com/oslob/oslob7.html|archive-date=August 28, 2010}}</ref> The percentage of Serb and Croat soldiers in the Bosnian Army was particularly high in Sarajevo, Mostar and Tuzla.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=04zV4pqEhLkC&pg=PA86|title=Through Bosnian Eyes: The Political Memoir of a Bosnian Serb|first=Mirko|last=Pejanović|year=2004|location=West Lafayette|publisher=Purdue University Press|isbn=978-1-55753-359-3|page=86}}</ref> The deputy commander of the Bosnian Army's Headquarters, was general [[Jovan Divjak]], the highest-ranking ethnic Serb in the Bosnian Army. General [[Stjepan Šiber]], an ethnic Croat was the second deputy commander. Izetbegović also appointed [[colonel]] [[Blaž Kraljević]], commander of the [[Croatian Defence Forces]] in [[Herzegovina]], to be a member of Bosnian Army's Headquarters, seven days before Kraljević's assassination, in order to assemble a multi-ethnic pro-Bosnian defense front.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hsp1861.hr/vijesti4/030513zp.htm|title=Vjesnik: 13.5.2003|website=www.hsp1861.hr|access-date=21 October 2007|archive-date=29 June 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120629080104/http://www.hsp1861.hr/vijesti4/030513zp.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> This diversity was to reduce over the course of the war.<ref name=Kozar/>{{sfn|Nettelfield|2010a|p=37}}

The Bosnian government lobbied to have the arms embargo lifted, but that was opposed by the United Kingdom, France and Russia. U.S. proposals to pursue this policy were known as [[Lift and strike (Bosnia)|lift and strike]]. The U.S. Congress passed two resolutions calling for the embargo to be lifted, but both were vetoed by President [[Bill Clinton]] for fear of creating a rift between the US and the aforementioned countries. Nonetheless, the United States used both "[[black operation|black]]" C-130 transport planes and [[back channel]]s, including [[Islamist]] groups, to smuggle weapons to Bosnian-Muslim forces, as well as allowed Iranian-supplied arms to transit through Croatia to Bosnia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/apr/22/warcrimes.comment|title=Richard J Aldrich: America used Islamists to arm Bosnian Muslims|first=Richard J.|last=Aldrich|date=April 22, 2002|website=The Guardian|access-date=20 September 2020|archive-date=2 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802124030/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/apr/22/warcrimes.comment|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-05-mn-55275-story.html|title=U.S. OKd Iranian Arms for Bosnia, Officials Say|date=April 5, 1996|website=Los Angeles Times|access-date=20 September 2020|archive-date=16 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190116142800/http://articles.latimes.com/1996-04-05/news/mn-55275_1_iranian-arms-shipments|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-105hrpt804/html/CRPT-105hrpt804.htm|title=House Report 105-804 – INVESTIGATION INTO IRANIAN ARMS SHIPMENTS TO BOSNIA|website=www.govinfo.gov|access-date=14 December 2021|archive-date=10 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310005203/https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-105hrpt804/html/CRPT-105hrpt804.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> However, in light of widespread NATO opposition to American (and possibly Turkish) endeavors in coordinating the "black flights of [[Tuzla]]", the United Kingdom and Norway expressed disapproval of these measures and their counterproductive effects on NATO enforcement of the arms embargo.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/audio_video/programmes/correspondent/transcripts/1402591.txt|title=BBC Correspondent: Allies and Lies transcript|access-date=11 September 2014|archive-date=29 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729022002/http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/audio_video/programmes/correspondent/transcripts/1402591.txt|url-status=live}}</ref>

During 1992–1995, Pakistan's [[Inter-Services Intelligence]] secretly supplied the Muslim fighters with arms, ammunition and guided anti-tank missiles to give them a chance against the Serbs. Pakistan was thus defying the UN arms embargo. General [[Javed Nasir]] later claimed that the ISI had airlifted anti-tank guided missiles to Bosnia, which ultimately turned the tide in favour of Bosnian Muslims and forced the Serbs to lift the siege.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TINpAAAAMAAJ&q=isi+bosnia|title=Intelligence and the War in Bosnia, 1992–1995: Volume 1 of Studies in intelligence history|last=Wiebes|first=Cees|publisher=LIT Verlag|year=2003|isbn=9783825863470|pages=195|quote=Pakistan definitely defied the United Nations ban on supply of arms to the Bosnian Muslims and sophisticated anti-tank guided missiles were airlifted by the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI, to help Bosnians fight the Serbs.|access-date=16 May 2020|archive-date=16 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230116113902/https://books.google.com/books?id=TINpAAAAMAAJ&q=isi+bosnia|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FHKsBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA148|title=Pakistan's Drift into Extremism: Allah, the Army, and America's War on Terror|last=Abbas|first=Hassan|publisher=Routledge|year=2015|isbn=9781317463283|pages=148|quote=Javed Nasir confesses that despite the U.N. ban on supplying arms to the besieged Bosnians, he successfully airlifted sophisticated antitank guided missiles which turned the tide in favour of Bosnian Muslims and forced the Serbs to lift the siege.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c8Xb6x2XYvIC&pg=PA154|title=Unholy Terror|last=Schindler|first=John R.|publisher=Zenith Imprint|isbn=9781616739645|pages=154|quote=Pakistan's notorious Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate [...] violated the UN embargo and provided Bosnian Muslims with sophisticated antitank guided missiles.}}</ref>

In his book ''The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President'' from 2009, historian and author [[Taylor Branch]], a friend of U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]], made public more than 70 recorded sessions with the president during his presidency from 1993 through 2001.<ref>{{cite news|title=Presidential Confidential: Bill Clinton After Hours|access-date=April 25, 2015|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=24 September 2009|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/books/25bookready.html|last1=Kakutani|first1=Michiko|archive-date=17 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217163852/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/books/25bookready.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title='The Clinton Tapes,' a New Book|date=September 21, 2009|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/21/the-clinton-tapes-a-new-book|access-date=10 December 2013|archive-date=2 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802123807/https://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/21/the-clinton-tapes-a-new-book|url-status=live}}</ref> According to a session taped on 14 October 1993, it is stated that:{{blockquote|text=Clinton said U.S. allies in Europe blocked proposals to adjust or remove the embargo. They justified their opposition on plausible humanitarian grounds, arguing that more arms would only fuel the bloodshed, but privately, said the president, key allies objected that an independent Bosnia would be "unnatural" as the only Muslim nation in Europe. He said they favored the embargo precisely because it locked in Bosnia's disadvantage. [..] When I expressed shock at such cynicism, reminiscent of the blind-eye diplomacy regarding the plight of Europe's Jews during World War II, President Clinton only shrugged. He said President [[François Mitterrand]] of France had been especially blunt in saying that Bosnia did not belong, and that British officials also spoke of a painful but realistic restoration of Christian Europe. Against Britain and France, he said, German chancellor Helmut Kohl among others had supported moves to reconsider the United Nations arms embargo, failing in part because Germany did not hold a seat on the U.N. Security Council.|sign=Taylor Branch|source=''The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President''<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/clintontapeswres00bran|url-access=registration|title=The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President|author=Taylor Branch|year=2009|publisher=Simon and Schuster|page=[https://archive.org/details/clintontapeswres00bran/page/31 31]|isbn=9781416594345}}</ref>}}

===Croat===
The Croats started organizing their military forces in late 1991. On 8 April 1992, the [[Croatian Defence Council]] ({{lang|hr|Hrvatsko vijeće obrane}}, HVO) was founded as the "supreme body of Croatian defence in Herzeg-Bosnia".{{sfn|Marijan|2004|p=262}} The HVO was organised in four Operative Zones with headquarters in Mostar, Tomislavgrad, Vitez and Orašje.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=27}} In February 1993, the HVO Main Staff estimated the strength of the HVO at 34,080 officers and men.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=22}} Its armaments included around 50 main battle tanks, mainly T-34 and T-55, and 500 various artillery weapons.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|pp=62–63}}

At the beginning of the war, the Croatian government helped arm both the Croat and Bosniak forces.{{sfn|Marijan|2004|p=266}} Logistics centres were established in Zagreb and Rijeka for the recruitment of soldiers for the ARBiH.{{sfn|Marijan|2004|p=267}} The [[Croatian National Guard]] (Zbor Narodne Garde, ZNG), later renamed officially to [[Croatian Army]] ({{lang|hr|Hrvatska vojska}}, HV) was engaged in Bosnian Posavina, Herzegovina and Western Bosnia against the Serb forces.<ref>Blic, N1, Srna: Hrvatski pukovnik Vinko Štefanek: "Ja sam komandovao HVO na području Orašja", 5. studenoga 2016. (pristupljeno 26. studenoga 2016.)</ref> During the [[Croat–Bosniak War|Croat-Bosniak conflict]], the Croatian government provided arms for the HVO and organised the sending of units of volunteers, with origins from Bosnia and Herzegovina, to the HVO.{{sfn|Marijan|2004|pp=280–281}}

The [[Croatian Defence Forces]] (HOS), the paramilitary wing of the [[Croatian Party of Rights]], fought against the Serb forces together with the HVO and ARBiH. The HOS was disbanded shortly after the death of their commander [[Blaž Kraljević]] and incorporated into the HVO and ARBiH.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|pp=46–48}}

===Serb===
The [[Army of Republika Srpska]] (''{{transliteration|sr|Vojska Republike Srpske}}'', VRS) was established on 12 May 1992. It was loyal to [[Republika Srpska (1992–95)|Republika Srpska]], the Serbian-populated portion of Bosnia which did not wish to break away from [[Serbia and Montenegro|Yugoslavia]]. Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadžić stated "Our optimum is a [[Greater Serbia]], and if not that, then a Federal Yugoslavia".<ref>{{harvnb|Karadžić Trial Chamber Judgement|2016|p=1023}}</ref>

Throughout the war, the VRS was involved in numerous military operations, many of which were marked by severe human rights violations. The most infamous of these was the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995, where more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed. This event has been classified as genocide by international courts and is emblematic of the VRS's broader campaign against Bosniak civilians, which included systematic ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, and other war crimes.<ref name="ICTYundercount" />

Serbia provided logistical support, money and supplies to the VRS. Bosnian Serbs had made up a substantial part of the JNA officer corps. Milošević relied on the Bosnian Serbs to win the war themselves, but most of the command chain, weaponry, and higher-ranked military personnel, including General [[Ratko Mladić]], were from the JNA.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=102}}

===Paramilitary and volunteers===
{{main|Foreign fighters in the Bosnian War}}
Various paramilitary units operated during the Bosnian War: the Serb "[[White Eagles (paramilitary)|White Eagles]]" (''Beli Orlovi'') and "[[Serbian Volunteer Guard]]" (''Srpska Dobrovoljačka Garda''), also known as "Arkan's Tigers"; the Bosnian "[[Patriotic League (Bosnia and Herzegovina)|Patriotic League]]" (''Patriotska Liga'') and "[[Green Berets (Bosnian paramilitary)|Green Berets]]" (''Zelene Beretke''); and Croat "[[Croatian Defence Forces]]" (''Hrvatske Obrambene Snage''), etc. The Serb and Croat paramilitaries involved volunteers from Serbia and Croatia, and were supported by nationalist political parties in those countries.

The war attracted foreign fighters<ref>Cerwyn Moore & Paul Tumelty (2008) Foreign Fighters and the Case of Chechnya: A Critical Assessment, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 31:5, 412–433, DOI: 10.1080/10576100801993347
</ref><ref name="bos">{{Cite web|title=Bosnian Muslim Ex-Commander Jailed 10 Years Over War Crimes by Islamist Fighters|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2021-01-22/bosnian-muslim-ex-commander-jailed-10-years-over-war-crimes-by-islamist-fighters|access-date=16 November 2021|website=usnews|archive-date=16 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211116173048/https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2021-01-22/bosnian-muslim-ex-commander-jailed-10-years-over-war-crimes-by-islamist-fighters|url-status=live}}</ref> and mercenaries from various countries. Volunteers came to fight for a variety of reasons, including religious or ethnic loyalties and in some cases for money. As a general rule, Bosniaks received support from Islamic countries, Serbs from Eastern Orthodox countries, and Croats from Catholic countries. The presence of foreign fighters is well documented, however none of these groups comprised more than 5 percent of any of the respective armies' total manpower strength.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Deyam |first=Abu |title=Foreign fighters in the Bosnian War |url=https://www.academia.edu/25982162 |website=Academia |date=8 June 2016 |access-date=26 September 2022 |archive-date=23 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123234221/https://www.academia.edu/25982162 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Bosnian Serbs received support from Christian Slavic fighters from various countries in Eastern Europe,<ref name=thomas>{{cite book|title=The Yugoslav Wars: Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia 1992–2001|last1=Thomas|first1=Nigel|last2=Mikulan|first2=Krunoslav|last3=Pavlović|first3=Darko|publisher=[[Osprey Publishing]]|year=2006|isbn=978-0-19-517429-8|page=13}}</ref><ref name=niod>{{cite web|url=http://srebrenica.brightside.nl/srebrenica/toc/p6_c04_s001_b01.html|title=Srebrenica – a 'safe' area|date=10 April 2002|publisher=[[Dutch Institute for War Documentation]]|access-date=17 February 2010}}{{dead link|date=August 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> including volunteers from other [[Eastern Orthodox|Orthodox Christian]] countries. These included hundreds of Russians,{{sfn|Lukic|Lynch|1996|p=333}} around 100 Greeks,{{sfn|Koknar|2003}} and some Ukrainians and Romanians.{{sfn|Koknar|2003}} Some estimate as many as 1,000 such volunteers.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/ruski-i-grcki-dobrovoljci-u-ratu-u-bih/25290398.html|quote=<!--Haški tribunal procjenjuje kako je u redovima VRS bilo je između 529 i 614 ratnika iz Rusije, Grčke, Rumunije.-->|title=Uloga pravoslavnih dobrovoljaca u ratu u BiH|newspaper=Radio Slobodna Evropa |date=12 April 2017 |access-date=12 July 2018|archive-date=2 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802131404/https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/ruski-i-grcki-dobrovoljci-u-ratu-u-bih/25290398.html|url-status=live|last1=Halimović |first1=Dženana }}</ref> [[Greece|Greek]] volunteers of the [[Greek Volunteer Guard]] were reported to have taken part in the [[Srebrenica Massacre]], with the [[Greek flag]] being hoisted in Srebrenica when the town fell to the Serbs.<ref>Helena Smith, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jan/05/balkans.warcrimes "Greece faces shame of role in Serb massacre"] , ''[[The Observer]]'', 5 January 2003; retrieved 25 November 2006.</ref>

Some individuals from other European countries volunteered to fight for the Croat side, including [[Neo-Nazism|Neo-Nazis]] such as [[Jackie Arklöv]], who was charged with war crimes upon his return to [[Sweden]]. Later he confessed he committed [[war crimes]] on Bosnian Muslim civilians in the [[Heliodrom camp|Heliodrom]] and [[Dretelj camp]]s as a member of Croatian forces.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nacional.hr/articles/view/29027 |title=Šveđanin priznao krivnju za ratne zločine u BiH |last=Karli |first=Sina |date=11 November 2006 |work=[[Nacional (weekly)]] |access-date=17 February 2010 |trans-title=Swede confesses to war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina |language=hr |archive-date=18 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120418224408/http://www.nacional.hr/clanak/29027/svedanin-priznao-krivnju-za-ratne-zlocine-u-bih |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Bosnians received support from Muslim groups. Pakistan supported Bosnia while providing technical and military support.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/07/26/Pakistan-sends-more-troops-to-Bosnia/9114806731200/|title=Pakistan sends more troops to Bosnia|work=UPI|access-date=2017-05-06|archive-date=15 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615034450/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/07/26/Pakistan-sends-more-troops-to-Bosnia/9114806731200/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/05/31/Pakistan-says-it-will-stay-in-Bosnia/3592801892800/|title=Pakistan says it will stay in Bosnia|work=UPI|access-date=2017-05-06|archive-date=16 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316214519/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/05/31/Pakistan-says-it-will-stay-in-Bosnia/3592801892800/|url-status=live}}</ref> Pakistan's [[Inter-Services Intelligence]] (ISI) allegedly ran an active [[Inter-Services Intelligence activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina|military intelligence]] program during the Bosnian War which started in 1992 lasting until 1995. Executed and supervised by Pakistani [[Lieutenant-General|General]] [[Javed Nasir]], the program provided logistics and ammunition supplies to various groups of [[Bosnian mujahideen]] during the war. The ISI Bosnian contingent was organised with [[Saudi foreign assistance|financial assistance provided by Saudi Arabia]], according to the British historian [[Mark Curtis (British author)|Mark Curtis]].<ref name="Profile">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QfFrZ2_KnnwC&pg=PA212|title=Secret Affairs Britain's Collusion with Radical Islam|last=Curtis|first=Mark|publisher=Profile|isbn=978-1847653017|edition=New updated|location=London|page=212|year=2010|access-date=16 May 2020|archive-date=23 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123234224/https://books.google.com/books?id=QfFrZ2_KnnwC&pg=PA212|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to [[The Washington Post]], Saudi Arabia provided $300&nbsp;million in weapons to government forces in Bosnia with the knowledge and tacit cooperation of the United States, a claim denied by US officials.<ref>Molotsky, Irvin. ''[https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/02/world/us-linked-to-saudi-aid-for-bosnians.html U.S. Linked To Saudi Aid For Bosnians ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413222017/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/02/world/us-linked-to-saudi-aid-for-bosnians.html |date=13 April 2020 }}''. ''[[The New York Times]]'', 2 February 1996</ref> Foreign Muslim fighters also joined the ranks of the Bosnian Muslims, including from the Lebanese guerrilla organisation [[Hezbollah]],<ref name="Fisk">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/after-the-atrocities-committed-against-muslims-in-bosnia-it-is-no-wonder-today-s-jihadis-have-set-9717384.html|title=After the atrocities committed against Muslims in Bosnia, it is no wonder today's jihadis have set out on the path to war in Syria|first=Robert|last=Fisk|work=The Independent|date=7 September 2014|access-date=25 March 2016|archive-date=17 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180717080303/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/after-the-atrocities-committed-against-muslims-in-bosnia-it-is-no-wonder-today-s-jihadis-have-set-9717384.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and the global organization [[al-Qaeda]].<ref name="Atwan">{{Cite book|first=Abdel Bari|last=Atwan|year=2012|title=The Secret History of al Qaeda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EDshBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT155|publisher=Saqi|page=155|isbn=9780863568435|access-date=17 November 2020|archive-date=23 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123234221/https://books.google.com/books?id=EDshBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT155|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|first=Frank|last=Clements|year=2003|title=Conflict in Afghanistan: A Historical Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bv4hzxpo424C&pg=PA153|publisher=ABC-CLIO|page=153|isbn=9781851094028|access-date=17 November 2020|archive-date=23 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123234224/https://books.google.com/books?id=bv4hzxpo424C&pg=PA153|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|first=Steven|last=Woehrel|year=2007|chapter=Islamic Terrorism and the Balkans|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHFHe7Rf0JsC&pg=PA75|editor-first=Cofie D.|editor-last=Malbouisson|title=Focus on Islamic Issues|publisher=Nova Publishers|page=75|isbn=9781600212048|access-date=17 November 2020|archive-date=23 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123234413/https://books.google.com/books?id=HHFHe7Rf0JsC&pg=PA75|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|first=Michael|last=Freeman|year=2016|title=Financing Terrorism: Case Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZvkFDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA186|publisher=Routledge|page=186|isbn=9781317135074|access-date=17 November 2020|archive-date=23 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123234341/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZvkFDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA186|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Prelude==
From July 1991 to January 1992, during the [[Croatian War of Independence]], the JNA and Serb paramilitaries used Bosnian territory to mount attacks on Croatia.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lukic |first1=Renéo |title=Europe from the Balkans to the Urals: the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union |last2=Lynch |first2=Allen |date=1999 |publisher=SIPRI Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-829200-5 |location=Solna, Sweden Oxford New York |pages=206}}</ref>{{sfn|Marijan|2004|p=252}} The JNA armed Bosnian Serbs, and the Croatian Defence Force armed Herzegovinian Croats during the war in Croatia.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=74}} The Bosnian Muslim Green Berets were already established in the autumn of 1991, and drew up a defense plan in February 1992.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=74}} It was estimated that 250–300,000 Bosnians were armed, and that some 10,000 were fighting in Croatia.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=75}} By March 1992, perhaps three-quarters of the country were claimed by Serb and Croat nationalists.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=75}} On 4 April 1992, Izetbegović ordered all reservists and police in Sarajevo to mobilise, and SDS called for evacuation of the city's Serbs, marking the "definite rupture between the Bosnian government and Serbs".{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=129}} Bosnia and Herzegovina received international recognition on 6 April 1992.{{sfn|Bose|2009|p=124}} The most common view is that the war started that day.<ref>{{harvnb|Mulaj|2008|p=53}}, {{harvnb|Hammond|2007|p=51}}</ref>

== Course of the war ==
===1992 ===
{{Main|Prijedor ethnic cleansing|Operation Vrbas '92|Operation Corridor 92|Siege of Sarajevo|Bijeljina massacre|Siege of Žepa}}
[[File:Evstafiev-bosnia-SARAJEVO.jpg|thumb|A victim of a mortar attack delivered to a [[Sarajevo]] hospital in 1992]]

The war in Bosnia escalated in April.{{sfn|CIA|2002|p=136}} On 3 April, the [[Battle of Kupres (1992)|Battle of Kupres]] began between the JNA and a combined HV-HVO force that ended in a JNA victory.{{sfn|CIA|2002b|pp=355–356}} On 6 April, Serb forces began shelling [[Sarajevo]], and in the next two days crossed the [[Drina]] from [[Serbia proper]] and besieged Bosniak-majority [[Zvornik]], [[Višegrad]] and [[Foča]].{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=129}} After the capture of Zvornik, Bosnian Serb troops killed several hundred Bosniaks and forced tens of thousands to flee.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/serbian/lat/balkan-53805419|title=Kako su Ukrajinci u Bosni spasili hiljade ljudi od masakra|date=18 August 2020|website=BBC News na srpskom|access-date=18 August 2020|archive-date=3 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103204350/https://www.bbc.com/serbian/lat/balkan-53805419|url-status=live}}</ref> All of Bosnia was engulfed in war by mid-April.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=129}} On 23 April, the JNA evacuated its personnel by helicopter from the barracks in [[Čapljina]],<ref>Niške Vesti "Izvedena za samo 75 minuta", 24-Apr-15, accessed on 13-Nov-17 http://niskevesti.info/izvedena-za-samo-75-minuta-godisnjica-operacije-spasavanja-vojnika-iz-opkoljene-kasarne-u-capljini/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406105047/http://niskevesti.info/izvedena-za-samo-75-minuta-godisnjica-operacije-spasavanja-vojnika-iz-opkoljene-kasarne-u-capljini/ |date=6 April 2020 }}</ref> which had been blockaded since 4 March.{{sfn|CIA|2002b|p=262}} There were efforts to halt violence.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|pp=129–131}} On 27 April, the Bosnian government ordered the JNA to be put under civilian control or expelled, which was followed by conflicts in early May between the two.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=131}} Prijedor was taken over by Serbs on 30 April.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bridging the Gap in Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina {{!}} International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia |url=https://www.icty.org/en/outreach/bridging-the-gap-with-local-communities/prijedor |access-date=2022-08-24 |website=www.icty.org |archive-date=23 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220923161147/https://www.icty.org/en/outreach/bridging-the-gap-with-local-communities/prijedor |url-status=live }}</ref> On 2 May, the Green Berets and local gang members fought back a disorganised Serb attack aimed at cutting Sarajevo in two.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=131}} On 3 May, Izetbegović was kidnapped at the Sarajevo airport by JNA officers, and used to gain safe passage of JNA troops from downtown Sarajevo.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=131}} However, Bosnian forces [[1992 Yugoslav People's Army column incident in Sarajevo|attacked the departing JNA convoy]], which embittered all sides.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=131}} A ceasefire and agreement on evacuation of the JNA was signed on 18 May, and on 20 May the Bosnian presidency declared the JNA an occupation force.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=131}}

The [[Army of Republika Srpska]] was newly established and put under the command of General [[Ratko Mladić]], in a new phase of the war.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=131}} Shellings on Sarajevo on 24, 26, 28 and 29 May were attributed to Mladić by UN Secretary-General [[Boutros Boutros-Ghali]].{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=132}} Civilian casualties of [[Sarajevo bread line massacre|a 27 May shelling]] led to Western intervention, in the form of sanctions imposed on 30 May through [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 757]].{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=132}} Bosnian forces attacked JNA barracks in the city, which was followed by heavy shelling.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=132}} On 5 and 6 June the last JNA personnel left the city during street fighting and shelling.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=132}} The 20 June ceasefire, executed in order for UN takeover of the Sarajevo airport for humanitarian flights, was broken as both sides battled for the territory between the city and airport.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=132}} The airport crisis led to Boutros-Ghali's ultimatum on 26 June, that the Serbs stop attacks on the city, allow the UN to take the airport, and place their heavy weapons under UN supervision.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=132}} Meanwhile, media reported that Bush considered the use of force in Bosnia.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=132}} World public opinion was "decisively and permanently against the Serbs" following media reports on the sniping and shelling of Sarajevo.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=133}}

[[File:Goran Jelisić committing murder.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|[[Goran Jelisić]] shooting a Bosniak in [[Brčko]] in 1992]]

Outside of Sarajevo, the combatants' successes varied greatly in 1992.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=133}} Serbs had seized Bosniak-majority cities along the Drina and Sava rivers and expelled their Muslim population within months.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=133}} A joint Bosnian–HVO offensive in May, having taken advantage of the confusion following JNA withdrawal, reversed Serb advances into [[Posavina]] and central Bosnia.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=133}} The offensive continued southwards, besieging Doboj, thereby cutting off Serb forces in [[Bosanska Krajina]] from [[Semberija]] and Serbia.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=133}} In mid-May, Srebrenica was retaken by Bosnian forces under [[Naser Orić]].{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=133}} Serb forces suffered a costly defeat in eastern Bosnia in May, when according to Serbian accounts Avdo Palić's force was ambushed near Srebrenica, killing 400.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=133}} From May to August, [[Siege of Goražde|Goražde was besieged]] by the VRS, until the siege was broken by the ARBiH on 1 September.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Washington Post – SERB FORCES VACATE GORAZDE AFTER 4-MONTH SIEGE |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/09/02/serb-forces-vacate-gorazde-after-4-month-siege/89e89289-d5be-4eae-8b7a-e5a21ce73096/}}</ref> In April 1992, the [[Croatian Defence Council]] (HVO) entered Orašje and, according to Croatian sources, began a campaign of harassment against Serb civilians, including torture, rape and murder.<ref>Portal Novosti: "Kako su "harali" nasi dečki", accessed on 21-Nov017 (in Croatian) https://www.portalnovosti.com/kako-su-harali-nasi-decki {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200426102415/https://www.portalnovosti.com/kako-su-harali-nasi-decki |date=26 April 2020 }}</ref><ref>Večernji.hr: "Potvrđena optužnica protiv deset pripadnika HVO s područja Orašja", accessed on 21=Nov-17 (in Croatian) https://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/potvrdena-optuznica-protiv-deset-pripadnika-hvo-s-podrucja-orasja-1146287 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804191908/https://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/potvrdena-optuznica-protiv-deset-pripadnika-hvo-s-podrucja-orasja-1146287 |date=4 August 2020 }}</ref>

On 15 May 1992, [[1992 Yugoslav People's Army column incident in Tuzla|a JNA column was ambushed in Tuzla]]. 92nd Motorised JNA Brigade received orders to leave Tuzla and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and enter Serbia. An agreement was made with the Bosnian government that JNA units would be allowed until 19 May to leave Bosnia peacefully. Despite the agreement, the convoy was attacked in Tuzla's Brčanska Malta district with rifles and rocket launchers; mines were placed along its route. 52 JNA soldiers were killed and over 40 were wounded, most ethnic Serbs.<ref>Nezavisne novine "Tuzlanska kolona teška mrlja na obrazu Tuzle" retrieved on 21 August 2016 http://www.nezavisne.com/novosti/bih/Tuzlanska-kolona-teska-mrlja-na-obrazu-Tuzle/192218 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406105102/https://www.nezavisne.com/novosti/bih/Tuzlanska-kolona-teska-mrlja-na-obrazu-Tuzle/192218 |date=6 April 2020 }}</ref><ref>RTS "Dve decenije od napada na Tuzlansku kolonu", retrieved on 21 August 2016 http://www.rts.rs/page/stories/sr/story/11/region/1102510/dve-decenije-od-napada-na-tuzlansku-kolonu.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804192236/https://www.rts.rs/page/stories/sr/story/11/region/1102510/dve-decenije-od-napada-na-tuzlansku-kolonu.html |date=4 August 2020 }}</ref>
[[File:Manjača Camp.jpg|thumb|right|Bosniak civilian detainees mainly from the [[Prijedor]] region, in [[Manjača camp]].]]
The [[Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina]] was admitted as a member state of the UN on 22 May 1992.<ref>{{cite book|title=Admission to the United Nations: Charter Article 4 and the Rise of Universal Organization|first=Thomas|last=D. Grant|page=226|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Uuv0NLNdZQC&pg=PA226|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers|year=2009|isbn=978-9004173637|access-date=14 May 2016|archive-date=23 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123234415/https://books.google.com/books?id=5Uuv0NLNdZQC&pg=PA226|url-status=live}}</ref> World public opinion was shaken by the existence of concentration camps established by the [[Yugoslav People's Army]] (JNA) and the authorities of [[Republika Srpska]] (RS), where thousands of Bosniak and Croat civilians were tortured, and killed.<ref>{{cite web |author=Mark Danner |title=Concentration Camps - The Horrors Of A Camp Called Omarska and the Serb Strategy - The World's Most Wanted Man |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/karadzic/atrocities/omarska.html|website=www.pbs.org - FRONTLINE - PBS |publisher=excerpt from Danner's, "America and the Bosnia Genocide," The New York Review of Books, 12/4/97}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=27 May 1994|title=Final report of the United Nations commission of experts established pursuant to Security Council Resolution 780 (1992), S/1994/674 , p. 40,41|url=https://www.icty.org/x/file/About/OTP/un_commission_of_experts_report1994_en.pdf}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> 
Following the [[Prijedor ethnic cleansing|occupation of the Prijedor]] region, Muslim civilians were captured and transported to camps such as [[Omarska camp|Omarska]], [[Trnopolje camp|Trnopolje]], [[Keraterm camp|Keraterm]], [[Manjača camp|Manjača]], where they endured months of inhumane treatment and torture.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.icty.org/en/outreach/bridging-the-gap-with-local-communities/prijedor|title=ICTY: Bridging the Gap in Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina|access-date=23 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Roy Gutman|date=2 August 1992|title=Serbs Have Slain Over 1,000 in 2 Bosnia Camps, Ex-Prisoners Say|website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-08-02-mn-5646-story.html}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> 
A significant number were killed or disappeared, marking the gravest crime in the war until the [[Srebrenica massacre|Srebrenica genocide]] 3 years later.<ref>{{cite news|title=Bosnian Serbs voice grievances|date=10 December 2004|newspaper=[[BBC]]|url= https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4083273.stm|quote=In three months that year, nearly 2,000 Muslim and Croat men died in detention camps in this area.|access-date=23 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/witnesstogenocid0000gutm|title=A Witness to Genocide|first=Roy|last=Gutman|publisher=Lisa Drew Books|year=1993|isbn=978-0020329954 |pages=90–101}}</ref>
Other camps for non-Serbs were established throughout Bosnia in the [[Ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War|campaign of ethnic cleansing]], including [[Luka camp|Luka]], [[Liplje camp|Liplje]], [[Batković camp|Batković]], [[Sušica camp|Sušica]], [[Uzamnica camp|Uzamnica]],<ref>{{cite news|title=Bosnian Camp Survivors Describe Random Death|date=2 August 1994|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/02/world/bosnian-camp-survivors-describe-random-death.html |quote=Susica (pronounced sue-SEE-chah), where about 3,000 Bosniaks died and thousands more were imprisoned before exile, began its work in June 1992|access-date=23 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.icty.org/x/cases/milan_lukic_sredoje_lukic/cis/en/cis_lukic_lukic_en.pdf|title=ICTY: Milan Lukić & Sredoje Lukić, case information sheet|access-date=23 December 2023}}</ref> as well as camps for the rape of women in [[Foča ethnic cleansing|Foča]] and [[Vilina Vlas|Višegrad]]. Bosniaks and Croats set up camps, with significantly fewer prisoners.<ref>{{harvnb|Nettelfield|2010a|p=189}}: "The essential difference was that many of those sent to camp run by the Bosnian Serbs never made it out, whereas the Bosnian government released or exchanged their prisoniers|access-date=23 December 2023"</ref> The ICTY convicted about 20 individuals for crimes in these camps.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.icty.org/x/cases/stakic/cis/en/cis_stakic.pdf|title=ICTY: Milomir Stakić, case information sheet|access-date=23 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.icty.org/x/cases/dragan_nikolic/cis/en/cis_nikolic_dragan.pdf|title=ICTY: Dragan Nikolić, case information sheet|access-date=23 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.icty.org/x/cases/kvocka/cis/en/cis_kvocka_al_en.pdf|title=ICTY: Kvoĉka et all.., case information sheet|access-date=23 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.icty.org/x/cases/mejakic/cis/en/cis_mejakic_al_en.pdf|title=ICTY: Mejakić et all.., case information sheet|access-date=23 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.icty.org/x/cases/sikirica/cis/en/cis_sikirica_al_en.pdf|title=ICTY: Sikirica et all.., case information sheet|access-date=23 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.icty.org/x/cases/banovic/cis/en/cis_banovic_en.pdf|title=ICTY: Predrag Banović, case information sheet|access-date=23 December 2023}}</ref>

[[File:Čelebići camp model.jpg|thumb|Model of the [[Čelebići camp]], near [[Konjic]], presented as evidence in the Mucić et al. trial]]

From May to December 1992, the [[Bosnian Ministry of the Interior]] (BiH MUP), HVO and later the [[Territorial Defence Force of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnian Territorial Defence Forces]] (TO RBiH) operated the [[Čelebići camp]]. It was used to detain Bosnian Serb [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]], many were elderly, arrested during operations intended to de-block routes to Sarajevo and [[Mostar]] in May 1992 which had earlier been blocked by Serb forces.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mojzes |first1=Paul |title=Balkan Genocides: Holocaust and Ethnic Cleansing in the Twentieth Century |date=2011 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9781442206632 |page=176 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KwW2O7v7CUcC&pg=PA176}}</ref> Of the 700 prisoners, at least 13 died while in captivity.{{sfn|Nettelfield|2010a|p=174}} Detainees were subjected to torture, sexual assaults, beatings and other cruel and inhuman treatment. Certain prisoners were shot, or beaten to death.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/icty/celebici/trialc2/judgement/index.htm |title=Delalic et al. – Judgement |access-date=2013-01-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016042438/http://www.un.org/icty/celebici/trialc2/judgement/index.htm |archive-date=16 October 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/p561-e.htm |title=Appeals Chamber to render its Judgement in the Celebici Case on 20 February 2001 |access-date=2013-01-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090324044908/http://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/p561-e.htm |archive-date=24 March 2009}}</ref>

On 6 May 1992, Mate Boban met with Radovan Karadžić in [[Graz]], Austria, where they reached [[Graz agreement|an agreement]] for a ceasefire and discussed a demarcation between a Croat and Serb territorial unit, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.{{sfn|Krišto|2011|pp=49–50}}<ref>{{Citation |title=Croat-Bosniak War (1993–94) | date=23 March 2011 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItSQFf0oW7k |access-date=2022-09-26 |archive-date=26 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220926225047/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItSQFf0oW7k |url-status=live }}</ref> However, the ceasefire was broken the following day, when the JNA and Bosnian Serb forces mounted an attack on Croat-held positions in Mostar.{{sfn|CIA|2002|p=156}} In June 1992, Bosnian Serb forces attacked and pounded the Bosnian village of Žepa, which would lead to the 3-year long [[siege of Žepa]].

By June 1992, refugees and internally displaced persons had reached 2.6 million.<ref>{{cite journal|page=782|title=UNHCR and ICRC in the former Yugoslavia: Bosnia-Herzegovina|first=Kirsten|last=Young|journal=[[International Review of the Red Cross]]|date=September 2001|volume=83|number=843|url=https://www.icrc.org/ara/assets/files/other/781_806_young.pdf|access-date=25 April 2015|archive-date=17 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217162902/https://www.icrc.org/ar/doc/assets/files/other/781_806_young.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> By September 1992, Croatia had accepted 335,985 refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina, mostly Bosniak civilians (excluding men of military age).{{sfn|Meznaric|Zlatkovic Winter|1993|pp=3–4}} The number of refugees significantly strained the Croatian economy and infrastructure.<ref name="Guardian-BosnianRefugees-1992">{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/1992/jun/09/warcrimes|title=Croatian coast straining under 200,000 refugees: Yigan Chazan in Split finds room running out for the many escaping from war in Bosnia|author=Yigan Chazan|date=9 June 1992|access-date=31 December 2014|archive-date=6 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406110957/https://www.theguardian.com/world/1992/jun/09/warcrimes|url-status=live}}</ref> Then-U.S. Ambassador to Croatia, [[Peter Galbraith]], put the number of refugees in Croatia into a proper perspective in an interview on 8 November 1993. He said the situation would be the equivalent of the US taking in 30,000,000 refugees.<ref>{{cite book|last=Blaskovich|first=Jerry|url=https://archive.org/details/anatomyofdeceita00blas|url-access=registration|title=Anatomy of Deceit: An American Physician's First-Hand Encounter with the Realities of the War in Croatia|year=1997|location=New York City|publisher=Dunhill Publishing| isbn=978-0-935016-24-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/anatomyofdeceita00blas/page/103 103]}}</ref> The number of Bosnian refugees in Croatia, was surpassed only by the number of the internally displaced persons within Bosnia and Herzegovina itself, at 588,000.{{sfn|Meznaric|Zlatkovic Winter|1993|pp=3–4}} Serbia took in 252,130 refugees from Bosnia, while other former Yugoslav republics received a total of 148,657 people.{{sfn|Meznaric|Zlatkovic Winter|1993|pp=3–4}}

[[File:Map 10 - Bosnia - Posavina Corridor - June-July 1992.jpg|thumb|Map of [[Operation Corridor 92]], fought between the VRS and the HV-HVO]]

In June 1992, the Bosnian Serbs started [[Operation Corridor 92|Operation Corridor]] in northern Bosnia against HV–HVO forces, to secure an open road between Belgrade, Banja Luka, and Knin.{{sfn|Tanner|2001|p=287}} The reported deaths of 12 newborn babies in Banja Luka hospital due to a shortage of [[bottled oxygen]] for [[Incubator (neonatal)|incubators]] was cited as an immediate cause for the action,{{sfn|Večernje novosti|16 June 2011}} but the veracity of these deaths has been questioned. Borisav Jović, a contemporary high-ranking Serbian official and member of the [[Presidency of Yugoslavia|Yugoslav Presidency]], has claimed the report was [[Role of the media in the Yugoslav Wars|propaganda]], stating that Banja Luka had 2 bottled oxygen production plants in its immediate vicinity and was self-reliant in that respect.{{sfn|Vreme|23 January 1999}} Operation Corridor began on 14 June 1992, when the [[16th Krajina Motorized Brigade]] of the VRS, aided by a VRS tank company from [[Doboj]], began the offensive near [[Derventa]]. The VRS captured [[Modriča]] on 28 June, [[Derventa]] on 4–5 July, and [[Odžak]] on 12 July. The HV–HVO forces were reduced to isolated positions around [[Brod, Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosanski Brod]] and [[Orašje, Bosnia|Orašje]], which held out during August and September. The VRS managed to break through their lines in early October and capture Bosanski Brod. Most remaining Croat forces withdrew north to Croatia. The HV–HVO continued to hold the Orašje enclave and were able to repel an VRS attack in November.{{sfn|CIA|2002b|pp=315–318}} On 21 June 1992, Bosniak forces entered the Bosnian Serb village of Ratkovići near Srebrenica and murdered 24 Serb civilians.<ref>Nezavisne novine: "Služen parastos za 24 ubijenih Srba iz Ratkovića", accessed on 06-Apr-17 http://www.nezavisne.com/novosti/drustvo/Sluzen-parastos-za-24-ubijenih-Srba-iz-Ratkovica/311230 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804192554/https://www.nezavisne.com/novosti/drustvo/Sluzen-parastos-za-24-ubijenih-Srba-iz-Ratkovica/311230 |date=4 August 2020 }}</ref>

In June 1992, the UNPROFOR, originally deployed in Croatia, had its mandate extended into Bosnia and Herzegovina, initially to protect the Sarajevo International Airport.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=8 January 2017 |title=Sarajevo International Airport |url=https://sarajevo.travel/en/text/sarajevo-international-airport/560#:~:text=On%20the%20night%20of%20April%205%2C%201992%2C%20the,in%20modern%20history%2C%20lasting%20an%20unbelievable%201%2C425%20days.?adlt=strict&toWww=1&redig=48472935B41D4AB8A7A3807319867D05 |website=Destanation Sarajevo |access-date=26 September 2022 |archive-date=22 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922121009/https://sarajevo.travel/en/text/sarajevo-international-airport/560#:~:text=On%20the%20night%20of%20April%205%2C%201992%2C%20the,in%20modern%20history%2C%20lasting%20an%20unbelievable%201%2C425%20days.?adlt=strict&toWww=1&redig=48472935B41D4AB8A7A3807319867D05 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Burns |first=John |date=30 June 1992 |title=CONFLICT IN THE BALKANS; U.N. Takes Control of Airport At Sarajevo as Serbs Pull Back |pages=A10 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/30/world/conflict-balkans-un-takes-control-airport-sarajevo-serbs-pull-back.html?adlt=strict&toWww=1&redig=A764DF8A71724215A1E476D17126691A |access-date=26 September 2022 |archive-date=22 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922082146/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/30/world/conflict-balkans-un-takes-control-airport-sarajevo-serbs-pull-back.html?adlt=strict&toWww=1&redig=A764DF8A71724215A1E476D17126691A |url-status=live }}</ref> In September, the role of UNPROFOR was expanded to protect humanitarian aid and assist relief delivery in the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as to help protect civilian refugees when required by the [[International Committee of the Red Cross|Red Cross]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 December 2018 |title=United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) |url=https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/military-history/history-heritage/past-operations/europe/canengbat-mandarin-harmony-cavalier-medusa-panorama.html?adlt=strict&toWww=1&redig=1A93EC14EF3B440DBC57B387EEAD0FA1 |website=Government of Canada |access-date=25 September 2022 |archive-date=25 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925212607/https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/military-history/history-heritage/past-operations/europe/canengbat-mandarin-harmony-cavalier-medusa-panorama.html?adlt=strict&toWww=1&redig=1A93EC14EF3B440DBC57B387EEAD0FA1 |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 12 August 1992, the name of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was changed to Republika Srpska (RS).<ref name="sim.law.uu.nl" /><ref>{{cite book|last1=McDonald|first1=Gabrielle Kirk|title=Documents and cases|isbn=978-90-411-1134-0|date=June 1999|publisher=BRILL |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZzYznOEiZmcC&pg=PP1137|access-date=14 May 2016|archive-date=23 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123234223/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZzYznOEiZmcC&pg=PP1137|url-status=live}}</ref> By November 1992, {{convert|400|sqmi|km2|order=flip}} of eastern Bosnia was under Muslim control.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=133}}

==== Croat–Bosniak relations in late 1992 ====
The Croat–Bosniak alliance, formed at the beginning of the war, was often not harmonious.{{sfn|Christia|2012|p=154}} The existence of two parallel commands caused problems in coordinating the two armies against the VRS.{{sfn|Marijan|2004|p=272}} An attempt to create a joint HVO and TO military headquarters in mid-April failed.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=66}} On 21 July 1992, the [[Agreement on Friendship and Cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia|Agreement on Friendship and Cooperation]] was signed by Tuđman and Izetbegović, establishing a military cooperation between the two armies.{{sfn|Krišto|2011|p=50}} At a session held on 6 August, the Bosnian Presidency accepted HVO as an integral part of the Bosnian armed forces.{{sfn|Marijan|2004|p=270}}

Despite these attempts, tensions steadily increased throughout the second half of 1992.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=66}} An armed conflict occurred in Busovača in early May and another one on 13 June. On 19 June, a conflict between the units of the TO on one side, and HVO and HOS units on the other side broke out in Novi Travnik. Incidents were also recorded in Konjic in July, and in Kiseljak and the Croat settlement of Stup in Sarajevo during August.{{sfn|Marijan|2004|pp=276–277}} On 14 September, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared the proclamation of Herzeg-Bosnia unconstitutional.{{sfn|Prlic et al.|2013|p=150}}

On 18 October, a dispute over a petrol station near [[Novi Travnik]] that was shared by both armies escalated into armed conflict in the town centre. The situation worsened after HVO Commander Ivica Stojak was killed near Travnik on 20 October.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=68}} On the same day, fighting escalated on an ARBiH roadblock set on the main road through the Lašva Valley. Spontaneous clashes spread throughout the region and resulted in almost 50 casualties until a ceasefire was negotiated by the UNPROFOR on 21 October.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=69}} On 23 October, a major battle between the ARBiH and the HVO started in the town of [[Prozor, Bosnia and Herzegovina|Prozor]] in northern Herzegovina and resulted in an HVO victory.{{sfn|Marijan|2004|p=277}}

On 29 October, the [[Operation Vrbas '92|VRS captured Jajce]]. The town was defended by both the HVO and the ARBiH, but the lack of cooperation, as well as an advantage in troop size and firepower for the VRS, led to the fall of the town.{{sfn|CIA|2002|p=148}}{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=3}} Croat refugees from Jajce fled to Herzegovina and Croatia, while around 20,000 Bosniak refugees settled in Travnik, Novi Travnik, Vitez, Busovača, and villages near Zenica.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=3}} Despite the October confrontations, and with each side blaming the other for the fall of Jajce, there were no large-scale clashes and a general military alliance was still in effect.{{sfn|Malcolm|1995|p=327}} Tuđman and Izetbegović met in Zagreb on 1 November 1992 and agreed to establish a Joint Command of HVO and ARBiH.{{sfn|Marijan|2004|p=271}}

=== 1993 ===
{{Main|Operation Neretva '93|Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia|Inter-Bosnian Muslim War|Siege of Mostar|Operation Deny Flight}}
[[File:Vance-Owen Peace Plan.png|thumb|First version of the [[Peace plans proposed before and during the Bosnian War#Vance-Owen plan|Vance-Owen plan]], which would have established 10 provinces
{{legend|#027B3F|[[Bosniaks|Bosniak]] province}}
{{legend|#334C60|[[Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Croat]] province}}
{{legend|#9F0F14|[[Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Serb]] province}}
{{legend|#AF8E35|[[Sarajevo]] district}}
{{legend|#EBB626|Present-day administrative borders}}]]

On 7 January 1993, Orthodox [[Christmas Day]], 8th Operational Unit Srebrenica, a unit of the ARBiH under the command of [[Naser Orić]], [[Kravica attack (1993)|attacked the village of Kravica]] near [[Bratunac]]. 46 Serbs died in the attack: 35 soldiers and 11 civilians.<ref name="Bratunac: Parastos ubijenim Srbima">{{cite web|publisher=B92|url=http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?yyyy=2013&mm=01&dd=06&nav_category=64&nav_id=675116|title=Bratunac: Parastos ubijenim Srbima|date=6 January 2013|access-date=23 March 2013|archive-date=6 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406113933/https://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?yyyy=2013&mm=01&dd=06&nav_category=64&nav_id=675116|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="hrw-oric">Ivanisevic, Bogdan. [http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/12/serbia13761.htm "Orić's Two Years"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081111231519/http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/12/serbia13761.htm |date=11 November 2008 }}, ''Human Rights Watch''. Retrieved 31 July 2008.</ref><ref name="Myth of Bratunac">{{cite web|url=http://www.idc.org.ba/project/the_myth_of_bratunac.html |title=The Myth of Bratunac: A Blatant Numbers Game |access-date=22 December 2010 |url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090508095038/http://www.idc.org.ba/project/the_myth_of_bratunac.html |archive-date=8 May 2009 |publisher=Research and Documentation Center}}</ref> 119 Serb civilians and 424 Serb soldiers died in [[Bratunac]] during the war.<ref name="Myth of Bratunac"/> Republika Srpska claimed that the ARBiH forces torched Serb homes and massacred civilians. However, this could not be verified during the ICTY trials, which concluded that many homes were already destroyed and that the [[siege of Srebrenica]] caused hunger, forcing Bosniaks to attack nearby Serb villages to acquire food to survive. In 2006, Orić was found guilty by the ICTY on the charges of not preventing murder of Serbs, but was acquitted of all charges on appeal.<ref>{{cite news| publisher=UN News Centre| url=http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=27263| title=Former commander of Bosnian Muslim forces acquitted by UN tribunal| date=3 July 2008| access-date=25 August 2017| archive-date=19 October 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019033002/http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=27263| url-status=live}}</ref>

On 8 January 1993, Serb forces killed the deputy prime minister of the RBiH [[Hakija Turajlić]] after stopping the UN convoy transporting him from the airport.<ref name="lebor35">{{cite book|title=Complicity With Evil|first=Adam|last=LeBor|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0-300-11171-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fySibOaurVsC&pg=PA35}}</ref> On 16 January 1993, soldiers of the ARBiH [[Skelani massacre|attacked the Bosnian Serb village of Skelani]], near [[Srebrenica]].<ref name="auto">http://www.novosti.rs {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110225033100/http://www.novosti.rs/ |date=25 February 2011 }}: [http://www.novosti.rs/vesti/planeta.300.html:362216-Skelani-Zlocin-jos-bez-kazne Skelani Zlocin jos bez kazne] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220415131947/https://www.novosti.rs/vesti/planeta.300.html:362216-Skelani-Zlocin-jos-bez-kazne |date=15 April 2022 }}</ref> 69 people were killed, 185 were wounded.<ref name="auto"/> Among the victims were 6 children.<ref name="novosti.rs">{{Cite web|url=https://www.novosti.rs/vesti/naslovna/reportaze/aktuelno.293.html:553963-Ni-da-prebolimo-ni-da-oprostimo|title=Ni da prebolimo ni da oprostimo|website=NOVOSTI|access-date=16 January 2023|archive-date=6 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406114017/https://www.novosti.rs/vesti/naslovna/reportaze/aktuelno.293.html:553963-Ni-da-prebolimo-ni-da-oprostimo|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Peace plans offered before and during the Bosnian War|Peace plans]] were proposed by the UN, US and European Community (EC), but they had little impact on the war. These included the [[Peace plans offered before and during the Bosnian War#Vance-Owen plan|Vance-Owen Peace Plan]], revealed in January 1993.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=13}} The plan was presented by UN Special Envoy [[Cyrus Vance]] and EC representative [[David Owen]]. It envisioned Bosnia and Herzegovina as a decentralised state with ten autonomous provinces.{{sfn|Tanner|2001|p=288}}

On 22 February 1993, the [[United Nations Security Council]] passed [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 808|Resolution 808]] "that an international tribunal shall be established for the prosecution of persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law".{{sfn|Bethlehem|Weller|1997|p=42}} On 15–16 May, the Vance-Owen peace plan was [[1993 Republika Srpska Vance-Owen Peace Plan referendum|rejected in a referendum]].{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|2015|p=249}}<ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-05-16-mn-36201-story.html Serbian Voters Express Contempt for Peace Plan : Bosnia: In two-day referendum, they are expected to defy outside pressure and continue the deadly struggle]  Los Angeles Times, 16 May 1993</ref> The peace plan was viewed by some as one of the factors leading to the escalation of the Croat–Bosniak conflict in central Bosnia.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=4}}

[[File:Oven_stoltenberg.png|thumb|Owen–Stoltenberg plan]]
On 31 March 1993, the Security Council issued [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 816|Resolution 816]], calling on member states to enforce a no-fly zone over Bosnia-Herzegovina.{{sfn|Bethlehem|Weller|1997|p=33}} On 12 April 1993, NATO commenced [[Operation Deny Flight]] to enforce this no-fly zone.{{sfn|CIA|2002b|p=402}} On 25 May 1993 the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]] (ICTY) was formally established by [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 827]].{{sfn|Bethlehem|Weller|1997|p=42}}

In late July, representatives of Bosnia's three warring factions entered into a new round of negotiations. On 20 August, UN mediators [[Thorvald Stoltenberg]] and [[David Owen]], showed a map that would set the stage for Bosnia to be partitioned into 3 ethnic states. Bosnian-Serbs would be given 52% of Bosnia's territory, Muslims 30% and Bosnian-Croats 18%. Alija Izetbegović rejected the plan on 29 August.

==== Outbreak of the Croat–Bosniak War ====
{{Main|Croat–Bosniak War}}
[[File:Vitez massacre.jpg|thumb|Bodies of Croats killed in April 1993 around [[Vitez]].]]
[[File:Novi travnik u ratu.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|[[Novi Travnik]] in 1993, during the [[Croat–Bosniak War]]]]

Much of 1993 was dominated by the [[Croat–Bosniak War]].{{sfn|Marijan|2004|p=271}} In early January, the HVO and the ARBiH clashed in [[Gornji Vakuf]] in central Bosnia. A temporary ceasefire was reached after days of fighting, with UNPROFOR mediation.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|pp=74–75}} The war spread from Gornji Vakuf into [[Busovača]] in the second half of January.{{sfn|Marijan|2004|p=279}} Busovača was the main intersection point of the lines of communication in the [[Lašva Valley]]. By 26 January, the ARBiH seized control of villages in the area, including [[Kaćuni]] and [[Bilalovac]] on the Busovača–Kiseljak road, thus isolating Kiseljak from Busovača. In the Kiseljak area, the ARBiH secured the villages northeast of the town of Kiseljak, but most of the municipality and the town itself remained in HVO control.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|pp=75–77}} On 26 January, six POWs and a Serb civilian were killed by the ARBiH in the village of Dusina, north of Busovača.{{sfn|Hadžihasanović & Kubura Trial Chamber Judgement|2006|p=5}} The fighting in Busovača also led to Bosniak civilian casualties.{{sfn|Kordić & Čerkez Appeals Chamber Judgement|2004|p=7}}

On 30 January, ARBiH and HVO leaders met in [[Vitez]], together with representatives from UNPROFOR and other foreign observers, and signed a ceasefire in the area of central Bosnia, which came into effect the following day.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=78}} The situation was still tense so [[Enver Hadžihasanović]], commander of ARBiH's [[3rd Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina|3rd Corps]], and [[Tihomir Blaškić]], commander of HVO's Operative Zone Central Bosnia, had a meeting on 13 February where a joint ARBiH-HVO commission was formed to resolve incidents.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=80}} The January ceasefire in central Bosnia held through to early April, despite minor incidents.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=82}} The Croats attributed the escalation of the conflict to the increased Islamic policy of the Bosniaks, while Bosniaks accused the Croat side of separatism.{{sfn|Christia|2012|p=172}}

==== Central Bosnia ====
The beginning of April was marked by incidents in central Bosnia between Bosniak and Croat civilians and soldiers, including assaults, murders and armed confrontations.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=86}} The most serious were the kidnapping of four members of the HVO outside [[Novi Travnik]], and of HVO commander Živko Totić near Zenica by the mujahideen. The ARBiH representatives denied any involvement and a joint ARBiH-HVO commission was formed to investigate. The HVO personnel were subsequently exchanged in May for POWs that were arrested by the HVO.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|pp=87–89}} The April incidents escalated into an armed conflict on 15 April in the area of Vitez, Busovača, Kiseljak and Zenica. The outnumbered HVO in the Zenica municipality was quickly defeated, followed by an exodus of Croat civilians.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|pp=115–117}}

In the Busovača municipality, the ARBiH gained some ground and inflicted heavy casualties on the HVO, but the HVO held the town of Busovača and the Kaonik intersection between Busovača and Vitez.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=110}} The ARBiH failed to cut the HVO held Kiseljak enclave into smaller parts and isolate the town of Fojnica from Kiseljak.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=115}} Many Bosniak civilians were detained or forced to leave Kiseljak.{{sfn|CIA|2002|p=193}}

In the Vitez area, Blaškić used his limited forces to carry out spoiling attacks on the ARBiH, thus preventing the ARBiH from cutting of the Travnik–Busovača road and seizing the SPS explosives factory in Vitez.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|pp=91–92}} On 16 April, the HVO launched a spoiling attack on Ahmići, east of Vitez. After the attacking units breached the ARBiH lines and entered the village, groups of irregular HVO units went from house to house, burning them and killing civilians. When Croat forces arrived in Ahmići, they left all Croats alone,<ref name=":1">{{Citation |title=Ahmici Can There Ever Be Reconciliation? {{!}} Global 3000 | date=29 December 2009 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzeM-UL3fD0 |access-date=2022-09-25 |archive-date=25 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925212609/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzeM-UL3fD0 |url-status=live }}</ref> and massacred the Bosniaks who could not flee in time.<ref name=":1" /> The [[Ahmići massacre]] resulted in more than 100 killed Bosniak civilians.<ref name=":1" />{{sfn|Shrader|2003|pp=93–94}}{{sfn|Blaškić Appeals Chamber Judgement|2004|pp=8–9}} The massacre was discovered by UN peacekeeping troops of the 1st Battalion, [[Cheshire Regiment]],<ref>{{cite book |author1=Stephen Badsey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kxfg1HiHdqIC&pg=PA35 |title=Britain, NATO, and the lessons of the Balkan conflicts, 1991–1999 |author2=Paul Chester Latawski |publisher=Routledge |year=2004 |isbn=0714651907 |page=35}}</ref> drawn from the [[British Army]], under the command of Colonel [[Bob Stewart (British Army officer)|Bob Stewart]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Colin McInnes, Nicholas J. Wheeler |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MMlk44vZX6sC&pg=PA114 |title=Dimensions of Western military intervention |year=2002 | publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9780714682488 |access-date=25 September 2022 |archive-date=23 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123234416/https://books.google.com/books?id=MMlk44vZX6sC&pg=PA114 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Welsh |first=Paul |date=14 August 1999 |title=Return to the land he never really left |work=The Independent |location=London, UK |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/return-to-the-land-he-never-really-left-1112610.html |url-status=live |url-access=limited |access-date=23 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104012420/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/return-to-the-land-he-never-really-left-1112610.html |archive-date=2012-11-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Charles R. Shrader |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1_ceXJTw71MC&pg=PA92 |title=The Muslim-Croat civil war in Central Bosnia: a military history, 1992–1994 |date=12 June 2003 | publisher=Texas A&M University Press |isbn=9781585442614 |access-date=25 September 2022 |archive-date=23 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123234223/https://books.google.com/books?id=1_ceXJTw71MC&pg=PA92 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Bosnian Government made a monument dedicated to all 116 victims.<ref name=":1" /> Elsewhere in the area, the HVO blocked the ARBiH forces in the Stari Vitez quarter of Vitez and prevented an ARBiH advance south of the town.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=100}}<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=26 January 2020 |title=Religion in Croatia |url=https://electroteknica.com/2020/01/26/religion-in-croatia/?adlt=strict&toWww=1&redig=BF851D945AF042DFB8CFC539F588DFCA |website=electroteknica |access-date=26 September 2022 |archive-date=29 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220929031818/https://electroteknica.com/2020/01/26/religion-in-croatia/?adlt=strict&toWww=1&redig=BF851D945AF042DFB8CFC539F588DFCA |url-status=dead }}</ref> On 24 April, mujahideen forces attacked the [[Miletići]] northeast of Travnik and killed four Croat civilians.<ref name=":3" /> The rest of the captured civilians were taken to the Poljanice camp.{{sfn|Hadžihasanović & Kubura Trial Chamber Judgement|2006|p=5}}<ref name=":3" /> However, the conflict did not spread to Travnik and Novi Travnik, though the HVO and the ARBiH brought in reinforcements from this area.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|pp=119–120}} On 25 April, Izetbegović and Boban signed a ceasefire.{{sfn|Bethlehem|Weller|1997|p=618}} ARBiH Chief of Staff, [[Sefer Halilović]], and HVO Chief of Staff, [[Milivoj Petković]], met on a weekly basis to solve issues and implement the ceasefire.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=125}} However, the truce was not respected on the ground and the HVO and ARBiH forces were still engaged in the Busovača area until 30 April.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=110}}

==== Herzegovina ====
[[File:Aerial photo of Mostar, 1996.JPEG|thumb|Aerial photo of destroyed buildings in [[Mostar]]]]

The Croat–Bosniak War spread from central Bosnia to northern Herzegovina on 14 April with an ARBiH attack on a HVO-held village outside of [[Konjic]]. The HVO responded, capturing 3 villages northeast of [[Jablanica, Bosnia and Herzegovina|Jablanica]].{{sfn|CIA|2002b|pp=433–434}} On 16 April, 15 Croat civilians and 7 POWs were killed by the ARBiH in the village of [[Trusina killings|Trusina]], north of Jablanica.<ref>{{cite news |title=Memic et al: Information About Crime |url=http://www.bim.ba/en/299/10/33964/ |newspaper=Balkan Investigative Reporting Network |date=5 December 2011 |access-date=2011-12-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424025632/http://www.bim.ba/en/299/10/33964/ |archive-date=2012-04-24 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The battles of Konjic and Jablanica lasted until May, with the ARBiH taking control of both towns and nearby villages.{{sfn|CIA|2002b|pp=433–434}}

By mid-April, Mostar had become a divided city with the majority-Croat western part dominated by the HVO, and the majority-Bosniak eastern part dominated by the ARBiH. The [[Siege of Mostar|Battle of Mostar]] began on 9 May when both the east and west parts of the city came under artillery fire.{{sfn|Christia|2012|pp=157–158}} Street battles followed, despite a ceasefire signed on 13 May by Milivoj Petković and Sefer Halilović, until 21 May.{{sfn|CIA|2002|p=194}} The HVO established prison camps in [[Dretelj camp|Dretelj]] near Čapljina and in [[Heliodrom camp|Heliodrom]],{{sfn|Tanner|2001|p=290}} while the ARBiH formed prison camps in [[Potoci camp|Potoci]] and in a school in eastern Mostar.{{sfn|Ćurić Enes et al.|2015}} The battle was renewed on 30 June. The ARBiH secured the northern approaches to Mostar and the east of the city, but their advance to the south was repelled by the HVO.{{sfn|CIA|2002|p=200}}

==== June–July Offensives ====
[[File:Lašvanska dolina 1993.jpg|thumb|The front lines in the Lašva Valley in 1993 between the ARBiH and the HVO, including [[Novi Travnik]], [[Vitez]] and [[Busovača]]]]

In the first week of June, the ARBiH attacked the HVO headquarters in Travnik and HVO units positioned on the front lines against the VRS. After three days of street fighting the outnumbered HVO forces were defeated, with thousands of Croat civilians and soldiers fleeing to nearby Serb-held territory as they were cut off from HVO-held positions. The ARBiH offensive continued east of Travnik to secure the road to Zenica, which was achieved by 14 June.{{sfn|CIA|2002|pp=195–196}}{{sfn|Shrader|2003|pp=131–132}} On 8 June, 24 Croat civilians and POWs were killed by the mujahideen near the village of Bikoši.{{sfn|Delić Trial Chamber Judgement|2008|p=3}}

A similar development took place in Novi Travnik. On 9 June, the ARBiH attacked HVO units positioned east of the town, facing the VRS in Donji Vakuf, and the next day fighting followed in Novi Travnik.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=133}} By 15 June, the ARBiH secured the area northwest of the town, while the HVO kept the northeast part of the municipality and the town of Novi Travnik. The battle continued into July with only minor changes on the front lines.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=134}}

The HVO in the town of Kakanj was overran in mid June and around 13–15,000 Croat refugees fled to Kiseljak and Vareš.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=137}} In the Kiseljak enclave, the HVO held off an attack on [[Kreševo]], but lost Fojnica on 3 July.{{sfn|CIA|2002b|p=425}} On 24 June, the [[Battle of Žepče]] began that ended with an ARBiH defeat on 30 June.{{sfn|CIA|2002|pp=196–197}} In late July the ARBiH [[Battle of Bugojno|seized control of Bugojno]],{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=137}} leading to the departure of 15,000 Croats.{{sfn|Tanner|2001|p=290}} A prison camp was established in the football stadium, where around 800 Croats were sent.{{sfn|Schindler|2007|p=100}}

At the beginning of September, the ARBiH launched an operation known as ''[[Operation Neretva '93]]'' against the HVO in Herzegovina and central Bosnia, on a 200&nbsp;km long front. It was one of their largest offensives in 1993. The ARBiH expanded its territory west of Jablanica and secured the road to eastern Mostar, while the HVO kept the area of Prozor and secured its forces rear in western Mostar.{{sfn|CIA|2002|pp=202–204}} During the night of 8/9 September, at least 13 Croat civilians were killed by the ARBiH in the [[Grabovica massacre]]. 29 Croat civilians and one [[Prisoner of war|POW]] were killed in the [[Uzdol massacre]] on 14 September.{{sfn|Halilović Trial Chamber Judgement|2005|pp=3–4}}{{sfn|CIA|2002|p=203}}

On 23 October, 37 Bosniaks were killed by the HVO in the [[Stupni Do massacre]].{{sfn|Rajić Judgement Summary|2006|p=2}} It was used as an excuse for an ARBiH attack on the HVO-held Vareš enclave at the beginning of November. Croat civilians and soldiers abandoned Vareš on 3 November and fled to Kiseljak. The ARBiH entered Vareš on the following day, which was looted.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=157}}

==== May–June 1993 UN Safe Areas extension ====
In an attempt to protect civilians, the role of UNPROFOR was extended in May 1993 to protect the "safe havens" the UN Security Council had declared around Sarajevo, [[Goražde]], [[Srebrenica]], [[Tuzla]], [[Žepa]] and [[Bihać]] in [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 824|Resolution 824]] of 6 May 1993.<ref>UN Security Council [https://undocs.org/S/RES/824(1993) Resolution 824] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704025458/https://undocs.org/S/RES/824(1993) |date=4 July 2019 }} (adopted 6 May 1993).</ref> On 4 June 1993 the UN Security Council passed [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 836|Resolution 836]] authorising use of force by UNPROFOR in the protection of the safe zones.<ref name="nh-ev">{{cite web |title=NATO Handbook: Evolution of the Conflict |publisher=NATO |url=http://www.nato.int/docu/handbook/2001/hb050102.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206234650/http://www.nato.int/docu/handbook/2001/hb050102.htm |archive-date=6 February 2010 }}</ref> On 15 June 1993, [[Operation Sharp Guard]], a naval blockade in the [[Adriatic Sea]] by NATO and the [[Western European Union]], began and continued until it was lifted in June 1996 on termination of the UN arms embargo.<ref name="nh-ev" />

The HVO and the ARBiH continued to fight side by side against the VRS in some areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the Bihać pocket, Bosnian Posavina and the Tešanj area. Despite some animosity, an HVO brigade of around 1,500 soldiers fought along with the ARBiH in Sarajevo.{{sfn|Christia|2012|p=161–162}}{{sfn|CIA|2002|p=201–202}} In other areas where the alliance collapsed, the VRS occasionally cooperated with both the HVO and ARBiH, pursuing a local balancing policy and allying with the weaker side.{{sfn|Christia|2012|p=160}}

=== 1994 ===
{{Main|Operation Tiger (1994)|Operation Spider|Operation Winter '94}}

The forced deportations of Bosniaks from Serb-held territories and the resulting refugee crisis continued to escalate. Thousands of people were being bused out of Bosnia each month, threatened on religious grounds. As a result, Croatia was strained by 500,000 refugees, and in mid-1994 the Croatian authorities forbade entry to a group of 462 refugees fleeing northern Bosnia, forcing UNPROFOR to improvise shelter for them.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1994/06/21/croatia-slams-the-door-on-brutalized-refugees/|title=Croatia slams the door on brutalized refugees|date=21 June 1994|first=Samantha|last=Power|author-link=Samantha Power|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|access-date=31 December 2014|archive-date=7 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107031722/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1994-06-21/news/1994172015_1_croatia-bosnian-serbs-refugees|url-status=live}}</ref> Between 30 March and 23 April 1994, the Serbs launched another major offensive against the town with the primary objective of overrunning Goražde. On 9 April 1994, the [[Secretary-General of the United Nations|Secretary General of the UN]], citing [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 836|Security Resolution 836]], threatened airstrikes on the Serbian forces which were attacking the Goražde enclave. For the next two days, [[NATO]] planes carried out air strikes against Serb tanks and outposts.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |title=Serbian Gorazde Offensive (1994) | date=21 March 2011 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxDcNTanFTc |access-date=2022-09-25 |archive-date=25 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925212608/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxDcNTanFTc&gl=US&hl=en |url-status=live }}</ref> However, these attacks did little to stop the overwhelming Bosnian Serb Army.<ref name=":0" /> The Bosnian Serb Army surrounded 150 UNPROFOR soldiers, taking them hostage in Goražde.<ref name=":0" /> Knowing Goražde would fall unless there was foreign intervention, NATO issued the Serbs an ultimatum, which they were forced to comply with. Under the conditions of the ultimatum, the Serbs had to withdraw all militias to 3&nbsp;km from the town by 23 April 1994, and all of their artillery and armored vehicles {{convert|20|km|0|abbr=on}} from the town by 26 April 1994. The VRS complied.<ref name="J.Regan1996">{{cite book |author=Richard J. Regan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rHL_Zse8Y7EC&pg=PA203 |title=Just War: Principles and Cases |publisher=CUA Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-8132-0856-5 |page=203 |access-date=25 September 2022 |archive-date=23 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123234223/https://books.google.com/books?id=rHL_Zse8Y7EC&pg=PA203 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Markale massacre ====
[[File:Sarajevo Grbavica.JPG|thumb|Damaged buildings in [[Grbavica (Sarajevo)|Grbavica]] during the [[Siege of Sarajevo]]]]

On 5 February 1994 [[Sarajevo]] suffered its deadliest single attack of the entire [[Siege of Sarajevo|siege]] with the [[Markale massacres|first Markale massacre]], when a 120 millimeter mortar shell landed in the centre of the crowded marketplace, killing 68 people and wounding another 144. On 6 February, UN [[Secretary-General of the United Nations|Secretary-General]] [[Boutros Boutros-Ghali]] formally requested NATO to confirm that future requests for air strikes would be carried out immediately.{{sfn|Bethlehem|Weller|1997|p=liii}}

On 9 February 1994, [[NATO]] authorised the Commander of Allied Forces Southern Europe (CINCSOUTH), US Admiral Jeremy Boorda, to launch [[air strike]]s—at the request of the UN—against artillery and mortar positions in or around Sarajevo determined by UNPROFOR to be responsible for attacks against civilian targets.<ref name="nh-ev" /><ref>{{cite book|title=American national biography|first=Mark Christopher|last=Carnes|page=29|volume=29|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wZczV8ZxgL4C&pg=PA29|isbn=978-0-19-522202-9}}</ref> Only Greece failed to support the use of air strikes, but did not veto the proposal.{{sfn|Bethlehem|Weller|1997|p=liii}}

[[NATO]] also issued an ultimatum to the Bosnian Serbs demanding the removal of heavy weapons around Sarajevo by midnight of 20–21 February, or they would face air strikes. On 12 February, Sarajevo enjoyed its first casualty free day since April 1992.{{sfn|Bethlehem|Weller|1997|p=liii}} The large-scale removal of Bosnian-Serb heavy weapons began on 17 February 1994.{{sfn|Bethlehem|Weller|1997|p=liii}}

==== Washington Agreement ====
{{Main|Washington Agreement|Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina}}
The Croat-Bosniak war ended with the signing of a ceasefire agreement between the HVO Chief of Staff, general [[Ante Roso (Bosnian Croat)|Ante Roso]], and the ARBiH Chief of Staff, general [[Rasim Delić]], on 23 February 1994 in Zagreb. The agreement went into effect on 25 February.{{sfn|Bethlehem|Weller|1997|p=680}}{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=159}} A peace agreement known as the [[Washington Agreement]], mediated by the US, was concluded on 2 March by representatives of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Herzeg-Bosnia. The agreement was signed on 18 March 1994 in Washington. Under this agreement, the combined territory held by the HVO and the ARBiH was divided into autonomous cantons within the [[Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina]]. Tuđman and Izetbegović also signed a preliminary agreement on a confederation between Croatia and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.{{sfn|Bethlehem|Weller|1997|p=liv}}{{sfn|Krišto|2011|p=57}} The Croat-Bosniak alliance was renewed, although the issues dividing them were not resolved.{{sfn|Shrader|2003|p=159}}

The first military effort coordinated between the HVO and the ARBiH following the Washington Agreement was the [[Battle of Kupres (1994)|advance towards Kupres]], which was retaken from the VRS on 3 November 1994.{{sfn|CIA|2002|pp=242–243}} On 29 November, the HV and the HVO initiated [[Operation Winter '94]] in southwestern Bosnia. After a month of fighting, Croat forces had taken around {{convert|200|km2|abbr=off}} of VRS-held territory and directly threatened the main supply route between Republika Srpska and [[Knin]], the capital of Republic of Serbian Krajina. The primary objective of relieving pressure on the Bihać pocket was not achieved, although the ARBiH repelled VRS attacks on the enclave.{{sfn|CIA|2002|pp=250–251}}

==== UNPROFOR and NATO ====
{{Main|Banja Luka incident|Operation Bøllebank|Operation Amanda}}
[[File:Opp mot Sniper Alley.jpg|thumb|UN troops on their way up "[[Sniper Alley]]" in Sarajevo]]

[[NATO]] became actively involved when its jets [[Banja Luka incident (February 1994)|shot down]] four Serb aircraft over central Bosnia on 28 February 1994 for violating the UN no-fly zone.<ref>Economides, Spyros & Taylor, Paul (2007). "Former Yugoslavia" Mats Berdal & Spyro Economides (eds), ''United Nations Interventionism, 1991–2004'', p. 89. New York: Cambridge University Press.<!-- ISBN needed --></ref> On 12 March 1994, the [[United Nations Protection Force]] (UNPROFOR) made its first request for NATO air support, but close air support was not deployed, owing to a number of delays associated with the approval process.<ref name="a54549">UN Document [https://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/54/549 A/54/549], Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to General Assembly resolution 53/35: The fall of Srebrenica, un.org, {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912110426/http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A%2F54%2F549 |date=12 September 2009}}, accessed 25 April 2015.</ref> On 20 March an aid convoy with medical supplies and doctors reached [[Maglaj]], a city of 100,000 people, which had been under siege since May 1993 and had been surviving off food supplies dropped by [[United States|US]] aircraft. A second convoy on 23 March was hijacked and looted.{{sfn|Bethlehem|Weller|1997|p=liv}}

On 10–11 April 1994, UNPROFOR called in air strikes to protect the [[Goražde]] [[safe area (Bosnian War)|safe area]], resulting in the bombing of a Serbian military command outpost near Goražde by two US [[General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon|F-16]] jets.<ref name="nh-ev" /><ref name=":0" />{{sfn|Bethlehem|Weller|1997|p=liv}}<ref name="a54549" /> This was the first time in NATO's history it had conducted air strikes.<ref name=":0" />{{sfn|Bethlehem|Weller|1997|p=liv}} In retaliation, Serbs took 150 U.N. personnel hostage on 14 April.<ref name="nh-ev" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name="a54549" /> On 15 April the Bosnian government lines around Goražde broke,{{sfn|Bethlehem|Weller|1997|p=liv}} and on 16 April a British [[British Aerospace Sea Harrier|Sea Harrier]] was shot down over Goražde by Serb forces.

Around 29 April 1994, a Danish contingent (Nordbat 2) on peacekeeping duty in [[Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnia]], as part of UNPROFOR's Nordic battalion located in [[Tuzla]], was ambushed when trying to relieve a Swedish observation post (Tango 2) that was under heavy artillery fire by the [[Bosnian Serb]] [[Šekovići]] brigade at the village of [[Kalesija]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.milhist.dk/post45/boellebank/boellebank_uk.htm |title=Operation "Hooligan-bashing" – Danish Tanks at War |first=Ole Kjeld |last=Hansen |year=1997 |access-date=29 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221230137/http://www.milhist.dk/post45/boellebank/boellebank_uk.htm |archive-date=21 February 2014 }}</ref> The ambush was dispersed when the UN forces retaliated with heavy fire in what would be known as [[Operation Bøllebank]].

On 12 May, the [[United States Senate|US Senate]] adopted {{USBill|103|s|2042}}, introduced by Sen. [[Bob Dole]], to unilaterally lift the arms embargo against the Bosnians, but it was repudiated by President Clinton.{{sfn|Bethlehem|Weller|1997|p=lvi}}<ref>{{cite book|title=Foreign Policy of the United States|last=Simone|first=Ernest|year=2000|page=186|volume=1|publisher=Nova Publishers |isbn=978-1-56072-850-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jV7YfZVF898C&pg=PA186}}</ref> On 5 October 1994, {{USPL|103|337}} was signed by the President and stated that if the Bosnian Serbs had not accepted the Contact Group proposal by 15 October the President should introduce a UN Security Council proposal to end the arms embargo, and that if it was not passed by 15 November, only funds required by all UN members under Resolution 713 could be used to enforce the embargo, which would effectively end the embargo.<ref name="Simone2000p187">{{harvnb|Simone|2000|p=187}}</ref> On 12–13 November, the US unilaterally lifted the arms embargo against the government of Bosnia.<ref name="Simone2000p187" /><ref>{{cite news|title=U.S. Will Honor Bosnia Arms Embargo|date=13 November 1994|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-11-13-mn-62279-story.html|quote=President Clinton ordered U.S. warships in the Adriatic to stop intercepting vessels suspected of smuggling arms for the Muslims beginning midnight Saturday.|access-date=20 February 2020|archive-date=19 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019033205/http://articles.latimes.com/1994-11-13/news/mn-62279_1_arms-embargo|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 5 August, at the request of UNPROFOR, NATO aircraft attacked a target within the Sarajevo Exclusion Zone after weapons were seized by Bosnian Serbs from a weapons collection site near Sarajevo. On 22 September 1994, NATO aircraft carried out an air strike against a Bosnian Serb tank at the request of UNPROFOR.<ref name="nh-ev" /> [[Operation Amanda]] was an UNPROFOR mission led by Danish peacekeeping troops, with the aim of recovering an observation post near [[Gradačac]], Bosnia and Herzegovina, on 25 October 1994.<ref name=nordbat>[http://www.milhist.dk/post45/boellebank/boellebank_uk.htm "Danish Tanks at War"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523143221/http://www.milhist.dk/post45/boellebank/boellebank_uk.htm |date=23 May 2013 }}, milhist.dk; accessed 25 April 2015.</ref>

On 19 November 1994, the North Atlantic Council approved the extension of Close Air Support to Croatia for the protection of UN forces in that country.<ref name="nh-ev" /> NATO aircraft attacked the [[Udbina]] airfield in Serb-held Croatia on 21 November, in response to attacks launched from that airfield against targets in the Bihać area of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 23 November, after attacks launched from a surface-to-air missile site south of Otoka (north-west Bosnia and Herzegovina) on two NATO aircraft, air strikes were conducted against air defence radars in that area.<ref name="nh-ev" />

=== 1995 ===
{{Main|Srebrenica massacre|Operations Krivaja '95 and Stupčanica '95|Operation Summer '95|Operation Storm|Operation Deliberate Force|Operation Mistral 2|Operation Sana|Dayton Agreement}}
[[File:BeforeDayton.png|thumb|Bosnia and Herzegovina before the [[Dayton Agreement]]]]

On 25 May 1995, NATO bombed VRS positions in Pale due to their failure to return heavy weapons. The VRS then shelled all safe areas, including [[25 May 1995 Tuzla shelling|Tuzla]]. Approximately 70 civilians were killed and 150 were injured.{{sfn|Karadžić Trial Chamber Judgement|2016|pp=2454–2455}}<ref name="bbc">{{cite news |date=12 June 2009 |title=Bosnian Serb jailed for massacre |newspaper=BBC |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8097918.stm |access-date=26 September 2022 |archive-date=15 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220515100624/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8097918.stm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=19 May 2009 |title=Djukic: Regaining Faith in Bosnia Justice |newspaper=Balkan Investigative Reporting Network |url=http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/19068/ |access-date=26 September 2022 |archive-date=8 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200108054117/https://balkaninsight.com/newsletters/19068/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=4 January 2008 |title=Bosnian War Crimes Charges Upheld |newspaper=Balkan Investigative Reporting Network |url=http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/7229/ |access-date=26 September 2022 |archive-date=28 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928070152/http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/7229/ |url-status=live }}</ref> During April and June, Croatian forces conducted two offensives known as [[Operation Winter '94#Operation Leap 1|Leap 1]] and [[Operation Winter '94#Operation Leap 2|Leap 2]]. With these offensives, they secured the remainder of the [[Livno]] Valley and threatened the VRS-held town of [[Bosansko Grahovo]].{{sfn|CIA|2002|pp=299–300}}

On 27 May 1995, a confrontation occurred across the Vrbanja Bridge. During the battle, elements of the Bosnian Serb army stormed French-built UNPROFOR observation posts, taking hostage 10 French troops. The French Army, led by [[François Lecointre]], sent about 100 UN-peacekeeping troops to the bridge, retaking the post and soon after the VRS withdrew.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

On 11 July 1995, [[Army of Republika Srpska]] (VRS) forces under general [[Ratko Mladić]] occupied the UN "safe area" of [[Srebrenica]] in eastern Bosnia where more than 8,000 men were killed in the [[Srebrenica massacre]] (most women were expelled to Bosniak-held territory).{{sfn|Krstić Appeals Chamber Judgement|2004|pp=1–2}}{{sfn|CIA|2002|pp=347–348}} The United Nations Protection Force ([[United Nations Protection Force|UNPROFOR]]), represented on the ground by a 400-strong contingent of Dutch [[Peacekeeping|peacekeepers]], [[Dutchbat]], failed to prevent the town's capture by the VRS and the subsequent massacre.<ref>ICTY, ''[https://www.un.org/icty/krstic/TrialC1/judgement/index.htm Prosecutor vs Krstic, Judgement] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517075111/http://www.un.org/icty/krstic/TrialC1/judgement/index.htm |date=17 May 2008 }}'', Case No. IT-98-33, United Nations, 2 August 2001{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/icty/krstic/TrialC1/judgement/krs-tj010802e.pdf |title=Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstic – Judgement |access-date=8 June 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060608000517/http://www.un.org/icty/krstic/TrialC1/judgement/krs-tj010802e.pdf |archive-date=8 June 2006 }}&nbsp;{{small|(685&nbsp;KB)}}, "Findings of Fact", paragraphs 18 and 26 {{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/icty/krstic/TrialC1/judgement/krs-tj010802e.pdf#search=%22prosecutor%20vs%20krstic%20judgement%22 |title=Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstic – Judgement |access-date=24 August 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060824113249/http://www.un.org/icty/krstic/TrialC1/judgement/krs-tj010802e.pdf |archive-date=24 August 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7461310.stm|title=UN Srebrenica immunity questioned|date=18 June 2008|publisher=BBC|access-date=1 November 2008|archive-date=31 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200131052444/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7461310.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="www.vandiepen.com">Comprehensive report of the proceedings, [http://www.vandiepen.com/en/srebrenicaintro.html www.vandiepen.com] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203222907/http://www.vandiepen.com/en/srebrenicaintro.html |date=3 December 2008 }}</ref><ref>"Under The UN Flag; The International Community and the Srebrenica Genocide" by Hasan Nuhanović, pub. DES Sarajevo, 2007; {{ISBN|978-9958-728-87-7}} [http://www.cobiss.ba/scripts/cobiss?ukaz=DISP&id=2315525138791328&rec=3&sid=1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923205224/http://www.cobiss.ba/scripts/cobiss?ukaz=DISP&id=2315525138791328&rec=3&sid=1|date=23 September 2015}} [http://www.cobiss.ba/scripts/cobiss?ukaz=DISP&id=2315525138791328&rec=4&sid=1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191024091305/https://plus.bh.cobiss.net/opac7/bib/search|date=24 October 2019}}</ref> The [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia|ICTY]] ruled this event as genocide in the ''Krstić'' case. On 25 July 1995, Serbs launched "Operation Stupčanica 95" to occupy the second UN "safe area", [[Žepa]]. UNPROFOR only sent 79 Ukrainian peacekeepers to Žepa.<ref>{{Cite news |date=19 July 1995 |title=Bosnian Serbs, Muslims threaten Ukrainian U.N. forces at Zepa |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/07/19/bosnian-serbs-muslims-threaten-ukrainian-un-forces-at-zepa/b41cb3a0-939d-4108-82e0-61a1db715ef9/?adlt=strict&toWww=1&redig=27072C4DD4EF40E8909E58447C29A856}}</ref>

In line with the [[Split Agreement]] signed between Tuđman and Izetbegović on 22 July, a joint military offensive by the HV and the HVO codenamed [[Operation Summer '95]] took place in western Bosnia. The HV-HVO force gained control of Glamoč and Bosansko Grahovo and isolated Knin from Republika Srpska.{{sfn|Tanner|2001|pp=295–296}} On 4 August, the HV launched [[Operation Storm]] that effectively dissolved the [[Republic of Serbian Krajina]].{{sfn|Tanner|2001|pp=297–298}} With this, the Bosniak-Croat alliance gained the initiative in the war, taking much of western Bosnia from the VRS in several operations in September and October. In [[Novi Grad, Bosnia and Herzegovina|Novi Grad]], Croatian forces launched [[Operation Una]], which began on 18 September 1995, when HV crossed the [[Una (Sava)|Una river]] and entered Bosnia. In 2006, Croatian authorities began investigating allegations of [[war crime]]s committed during this operation, specifically the killing of 40 civilians in the Bosanska Dubica area by troops of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Guards Brigade.<ref>Šoštarić, Eduard (14 August 2006). "Otvorena istraga zbog akcije "Una"" [Investigation of Operation Una Opens]. Nacional (in Croatian)</ref>

[[File:DaytonAgreement.jpg|thumb|left|Seated from left to right: [[Slobodan Milošević]], [[Alija Izetbegović]] and [[Franjo Tuđman]] formally signing the peace agreement in Paris on 14 December 1995.]]

The HV-HVO secured over {{convert|2500|km2|abbr=off}} of territory during [[Operation Mistral 2]], including the towns of [[Jajce]], [[Šipovo]] and [[Drvar]]. At the same time, the ARBiH engaged the VRS further to the north in [[Operation Sana]] and captured several towns, including Bosanska Krupa, Bosanski Petrovac, Ključ and Sanski Most.{{sfn|CIA|2002|pp=380–381}} A VRS counteroffensive against the ARBiH in western Bosnia was launched on 23/24 September. Within two weeks the VRS was in the vicinity of the town of Ključ. The ARBiH requested Croatian assistance and on 8 October the HV-HVO launched [[Operation Southern Move]] under the overall command of HV Major General [[Ante Gotovina]]. The VRS lost the town of [[Mrkonjić Grad]], while HVO units came within {{convert|25|km|abbr=off}} south of Banja Luka.{{sfn|CIA|2002|pp=390–391}}

On 28 August, a VRS mortar attack on the Sarajevo ''Markale'' marketplace killed 43 people.{{sfn|Mladić Trial Chamber Judgement|2017|p=2315}}<ref>{{cite web|publisher=RTS|url=http://www.rts.rs/page/stories/sr/story/135/Hronika/1252690/Svedok%3A+Markale+nisu+inscenirane.html|title=Svedok: Markale nisu inscenirane|date=23 January 2013|access-date=24 January 2013|archive-date=31 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130131062928/http://www.rts.rs/page/stories/sr/story/135/Hronika/1252690/Svedok:+Markale+nisu+inscenirane.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In response to the second [[Markale massacres#Second massacre|Markale massacre]], on 30 August, the [[Secretary General of NATO]] announced the start of [[Operation Deliberate Force]], widespread airstrikes against Bosnian Serb positions supported by UNPROFOR rapid reaction force artillery attacks.<ref name="changing69">{{cite book|title=The changing rules on the use of force in international law|first=Tarcisio|last=Gazzini|year=2005|page=69|publisher=[[Manchester University]] Press|isbn=978-0-7190-7325-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fDimGeTLOLkC&pg=PA69}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=The Srebrenica massacre: A defining moment | date=24 March 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_nigjJ4SVI |access-date=2022-09-25 |archive-date=25 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925212607/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_nigjJ4SVI |url-status=live }}</ref> On 14 September 1995, the NATO air strikes were suspended to allow the implementation of an agreement with Bosnian Serbs for the withdrawal of heavy weapons from around Sarajevo.<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 November 2001 |title=September 1995 |url=https://www.nato.int/docu/update/1995/9509e.htm |archive-date=6 November 2022 |website=[[NATO]] |access-date=6 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221106160027/https://www.nato.int/docu/update/1995/9509e.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=The Death Of Yugoslavia 6 of 6 Pax Americana BBC Documentary | date=8 October 2018 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdVrQRYrv78 |access-date=2022-09-25 |archive-date=25 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925212605/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdVrQRYrv78 |url-status=live }}</ref> Twelve days later, on 26 September, an agreement of further basic principles for a peace accord was reached in [[New York City]] between the foreign ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and the FRY.<ref name="yearbook2003p803">{{cite book|title=The Europa World Year Book 2003|year=2003|page=803|isbn=978-1-85743-227-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XLvU9lroRuUC&pg=PA803|publisher=Taylor & Francis }}</ref> A 60-day ceasefire came into effect on 12 October, and on 1 November peace talks began in [[Dayton, Ohio]].<ref name="yearbook2003p803" /> The war ended with the [[Dayton Agreement|Dayton Peace Agreement]] initialed on 21 November 1995; the peace agreement was formally signed 14 December 1995 in [[Paris]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Says |first=P. Morra |date=2015-12-14 |title=A flawed recipe for how to end a war and build a state: 20 years since the Dayton Agreement |url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2015/12/14/a-flawed-recipe-for-how-to-end-a-war-and-build-a-state-20-years-since-the-dayton-agreement/ |access-date=2022-08-24 |website=EUROPP |archive-date=24 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220824220725/https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2015/12/14/a-flawed-recipe-for-how-to-end-a-war-and-build-a-state-20-years-since-the-dayton-agreement/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Following the Dayton Agreement, a NATO-led Implementation Force ([[IFOR]]) was deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina. This 80,000 strong unit, was deployed in order to enforce the peace, as well as other tasks such as providing support for humanitarian and political aid, reconstruction, providing support for displaced civilians to return to their homes, collection of arms, and mine and [[unexploded ordnance]] clearing of the affected areas.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/96-723/2|title=Bosnia Implementation Force (IFOR) and Stabilization Force (SFOR): Activities of the 104th Congress|access-date=24 August 2022|archive-date=6 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006174841/https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/96-723/2|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Casualties ==
[[File:Evstafiev-bosnia-sarajevo-grave-digger-shovels.jpg|thumb|A grave digger at a cemetery in [[Sarajevo]], 1992]]
[[File:BiH 2013 %change Bosniaks.jpg|thumb|Bosnia and Herzegovina: Percent Change of Ethnic Bosniaks from 1991 to 2013]]

Calculating the number of deaths resulting from the conflict has been subject to considerable, highly politicised debate, sometimes "fused with narratives about victimhood", from the political elites of various groups.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HmkhqVRxVNIC&pg=PA159|chapter=Research and repercussions of death tolls: The case of the Bosnian Book of the Dead|first=Lara J.|last=Nettelfield|year=2010b|location=Ithaca|publisher=Cornell University Press|editor1-first=Peter|editor1-last=Andreas|editor2-first=Kelly M.|editor2-last=Greenhill|title=Sex, Drugs, and Body Counts: The Politics of Numbers in Global Crime and Conflict|pages=[https://archive.org/details/sexdrugsbodycoun00unse/page/159 159–187]|isbn=978-0-8014-7618-1|url=https://archive.org/details/sexdrugsbodycoun00unse/page/159}}</ref> Estimates of the total number of casualties have ranged from 25,000 to 329,000. The variations are partly the result of the use of inconsistent definitions of who can be considered victims of the war, as some research calculated only direct casualties of military activity while other research included those who died from hunger, cold, disease or other war conditions. Early overcounts were also the result of many victims being entered in both civilian and military lists because little systematic coordination of those lists took place in wartime conditions. The death toll was originally estimated in 1994 at around 200,000 by [[M. Cherif Bassiouni|Cherif Bassiouni]], head of the UN expert commission investigating war crimes.<ref name=nrk2004>[http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/utenriks/4260912.html "102.000 drept i Bosnia"], NRK News, 14 November 2004. {{in lang|no}} {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090218063430/http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/utenriks/4260912.html |date=18 February 2009 }}</ref>

Steven L. Burg and Paul S. Shoup, writing in 1999, observed about early high figures:
{{Blockquote|The figure of 200,000 (or more) dead, injured, and missing was frequently cited in media reports on the war in Bosnia as late as 1994. The October 1995 bulletin of the Bosnian Institute for Public Health of the Republic Committee for Health and Social Welfare gave the numbers as 146,340 killed, and 174,914 wounded on the territory under the control of the Bosnian army. Mustafa Imamovic gave a figure of 144,248 perished (including those who died from hunger or exposure), mainly Muslims. The Red Cross and the UNHCR have not, to the best of our knowledge, produced data on the number of persons killed and injured in the course of the war. A November 1995 unclassified CIA memorandum estimated 156,500 civilian deaths in the country (all but 10,000 of them in Muslim- or Croat-held territories), not including the 8,000 to 10,000 then still missing from Srebrenica and Zepa enclaves. This figure for civilian deaths far exceeded the estimate in the same report of 81,500 troops killed (45,000 Bosnian government; 6,500 Bosnian Croat; and 30,000 Bosnian Serb).{{Sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|pp=169–191}}}}

=== RDC figures ===
{| class="wikitable floatright" style="width: 24em"
|+ Dead or disappeared figures according to [[Research and Documentation Center in Sarajevo|RDC]]<br />(as reported in June 2012)<ref name="RDC 2012" />
|-
| rowspan=4 | '''Total dead or disappeared'''<br />101,040<br /><small>(total includes unknown status below, percentages ignore "unknowns")</small>|| Bosniaks|| 62,013||61.4%
|-
| Serbs||24,953||24.7%
|-
| Croats||8,403||8.3%
|-
| Other ethnicities||571||0.6%
|-
| rowspan=4 | '''Civilians'''<br />38,239<br /><small>(percentages are of civilian dead)</small> || Bosniaks||31,107||81.3%
|-
| Serbs||4,178||10.9%
|-
| Croats||2,484||6.5%
|-
| Other ethnicities||470||1.2%
|-
| rowspan=4 | '''Soldiers'''<br />57,701<br /><small>(percentages are of military dead)</small>|| Bosniaks||30,906||53.6%
|-
| Serbs||20,775||36%
|-
| Croats||5,919||10.3%
|-
| Other ethnicities||101||0.2%
|-
| '''Unknown status'''<br /><small>(percentage is of all dead or disappeared)</small> ||Ethnicity unstated||5,100||5%
|}
In June 2007, the Sarajevo-based [[Research and Documentation Center in Sarajevo|Research and Documentation Center]] published extensive research on the Bosnian war deaths, also called ''The Bosnian Book of the Dead'', a database that initially revealed a minimum of 97,207 names of Bosnia and Herzegovina's citizens confirmed as killed or missing during the 1992–1995 war.<ref name="RDC 2007">{{Cite web |title=Ljudski gubici u Bosni i Hercegovini 91–95 |trans-title=Human losses in Bosnia and Herzegovina 91–95 |url=http://www.idc.org.ba/prezentacija/Bosna%20i%20Hercegovina.zip |publisher=[[Research and Documentation Center in Sarajevo|Istraživačko dokumentacioni centar]] |location=Sarajevo |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071026220652/http://www.idc.org.ba/prezentacija/Bosna%20i%20Hercegovina.zip |archive-date=26 October 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=DeadBook>[https://iwpr.net/global-voices/bosnias-book-dead Bosnia's "Book of the Dead"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008131056/https://iwpr.net/global-voices/bosnias-book-dead |date=8 October 2021 }}, ''[[Institute for War and Peace Reporting]]'', 26 June 2007</ref> The head of the UN war crimes tribunal's Demographic Unit, Ewa Tabeau, has called it "the largest existing database on Bosnian war victims",<ref>{{cite news|title=Bosnia war dead figure announced|date=21 June 2007|work=BBC News|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6228152.stm|access-date=16 February 2013|archive-date=9 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409155521/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6228152.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> and it is considered the most authoritative account of human losses in the Bosnian war.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fKom-fspjGQC&pg=PA121|title=Western Intervention in the Balkans: The Strategic Use of Emotion in Conflict|author=Roger D. Petersen|year=2011|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|access-date=22 July 2013|isbn=9781139503303}}, p. 121</ref> More than 240,000 pieces of data were collected, checked, compared and evaluated by an international team of experts in order to produce the 2007 list of 97,207 victims' names.<ref name=DeadBook />

The RDC 2007 figures stated that these were confirmed figures and that several thousand cases were still being examined. All of the RDC figures are believed to be a slight undercount as their methodology is dependent on a family member having survived to report the missing relative, though the undercount is not thought to be statistically significant.<ref name="RDC 2012" /> At least 30 percent of the 2007 confirmed Bosniak civilian victims were women and children.<ref name="RDC 2007" />

The RDC published periodic updates of its figures until June 2012, when it published its final report.<ref name="ReutersBBotD">{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bosnia-dead-idUSBRE91E0J220130215|title=After years of toil, book names Bosnian war dead|work=Reuters|date=15 February 2013|access-date=19 May 2015|author=Sito-Sucic, Daria|author2=Robinson, Matt|archive-date=21 July 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130721183902/http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-bosnia-dead-idUSBRE91E0J220130215|url-status=live}}</ref> The 2012 figures recorded a total of 101,040 dead or disappeared, of whom 61.4 percent were Bosniaks, 24.7 percent were Serbs, 8.3 percent were Croats and less than 1 percent were of other ethnicities, with a further 5 percent whose ethnicity was unstated.<ref name="RDC 2012">{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IDMhDgCJCe0C&pg=PA140|title=Confronting the Yugoslav Controversies: A Scholars' Initiative|chapter=Ethnic Cleansing and War Crimes, 1991–1995|first=Marie–Janine|last=Calic|publisher=Purdue University Press|location=West Lafayette, IN|year=2012|editor-first1=Charles W.|editor-last1=Ingrao|editor-first2=Thomas A.|editor-last2=Emmert|pages=139–140|isbn=978-1-55753-617-4|access-date=11 March 2019|archive-date=23 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123234224/https://books.google.com/books?id=IDMhDgCJCe0C&pg=PA140|url-status=live}} ''Footnotes in source identify numbers as June 2012''.</ref>

Civilian deaths were established as 38,239, which represented 37.9 percent of total deaths. Bosniaks accounted for 81.3 percent of those civilian deaths, compared to Serbs 10.9 percent and Croats 6.5 percent.<ref name="RDC 2012" /> The proportion of civilian victims is, moreover, an absolute minimum because the status of 5,100 victims was unestablished<ref name="RDC 2012" /> and because relatives were believed to have registered their dead loved ones as military victims in order to obtain veteran's financial benefits or for "honour" reasons.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q8ylVAxYxJIC&pg=PA33|title=Counting Civilian Casualties: An Introduction to Recording and Estimating Nonmilitary Deaths in Conflict|author=Jay D. Aronson|year=2013|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|access-date=22 July 2013|page=121|isbn=9780199977314}}</ref><ref name="hrdag">{{cite web|url=https://hrdag.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/rdn5.pdf|title=The Bosnian Book of Dead: Assessment of the Database|publisher=Households in Conflict Network|date=17 June 2007|access-date=16 May 2015|author1=Patrick Ball|author2=Ewa Tabeau|author3=Philip Verwimp|name-list-style=amp|page=5|archive-date=23 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211223001703/https://hrdag.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/rdn5.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

Both the [[Research and Documentation Center in Sarajevo|RDC]] and the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia|ICTY]]'s demographic unit applied statistical techniques to identify possible duplication caused by a given victim being recorded in multiple primary lists, the original documents being then hand-checked to assess duplication.<ref name="hrdag" /><ref name="Tabeau">{{cite journal|doi=10.1007/s10680-005-6852-5|title=War-related Deaths in the 1992–1995 Armed Conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Critique of Previous Estimates and Recent Results|last1=Tabeau|first1=Ewa|last2=Bijak|first2=Jakub|journal=European Journal of Population|volume=21|year=2005|issn=1572-9885|pages=187–215|issue=2–3|s2cid=154970521}}</ref>

Some 30 categories of information existed within the database for each individual record, including basic personal information, place and date of death, and, in the case of soldiers, the military unit to which the individual belonged.<ref name="hrdag" /> This has allowed the database to present deaths by gender, military unit, year and region of death,<ref name=Prometej>{{cite news|title=Spolna i nacionalna struktura žrtava i ljudski gubitci vojnih formacija (1991–1996)|newspaper=www.prometej.ba|url=http://www.prometej.ba/clanak/drustvo-i-znanost/spolna-i-nacionalna-struktura-zrtava-i-ljudski-gubitci-vojnih-formacija-1991-1996-977|publisher=Prometej|author1=Prometej|access-date=9 May 2015|archive-date=25 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225044319/http://www.prometej.ba/clanak/drustvo-i-znanost/spolna-i-nacionalna-struktura-zrtava-i-ljudski-gubitci-vojnih-formacija-1991-1996-977|url-status=live}}</ref> in addition to ethnicity and "status in war" (civilian or soldier). The category intended to describe which military formation caused the death of each victim was the most incomplete and was deemed unusable.<ref name="hrdag" />

=== ICTY figures ===
{| class="wikitable floatright" style="width: 24em"
|+ ICTY death estimates<ref name="ICTYundercount">{{cite web | url=http://www.icty.org/x/file/About/OTP/War_Demographics/en/bih_casualty_undercount_conf_paper_100201.pdf | title=The 1992–95 War in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Census-based multiple system estimation of casualties undercount | publisher=Households in Conflict Network and the [[German Institute for Economic Research]] | date=1 February 2010 | access-date=17 May 2015 | author1=Zwierzchowski, Jan | author2=Tabeau, Ewa | name-list-style=amp | archive-date=7 October 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181007015749/http://www.icty.org/x/file/About/OTP/War_Demographics/en/bih_casualty_undercount_conf_paper_100201.pdf | url-status=live }}</ref><br />(issued by the Demographic Unit in 2010)
|-
| rowspan=4 | '''Total killed'''<br />104,732|| Bosniaks ||68,101
|-
| Serbs ||22,779
|-
| Croats ||8,858
|-
| Others ||4,995
|-
| rowspan=4 | '''Civilians killed'''<br />36,700 || Bosniaks||25,609
|-
| Serbs||7,480
|-
| Croats||1,675
|-
| Others||1,935
|-
| rowspan=4 | '''Soldiers killed'''<br />68,031<br /><small>(includes Police)</small> || Bosniaks||42,492
|-
| Serbs||15,298
|-
| Croats||7,182
|-
| Others||3,058
|}

Research conducted in 2010 for the Office of the Prosecutors at the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia|Hague Tribunal]], headed by Ewa Tabeau, pointed to errors in earlier figures and calculated the minimum number of victims as 89,186, with a probable figure of around 104,732.<ref name="ICTYundercount" /><ref name="ICTYnewwar">[http://www.icty.org/sid/10622 New War Demographics Feature] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305011116/https://www.icty.org/sid/10622 |date=5 March 2021 }}, ICTY.org; accessed 25 May 2015.</ref> Tabeau noted the numbers should not be confused with "who killed who", because, for example, many Serbs were killed by the Serb army during the shelling of Sarajevo, Tuzla and other multi-ethnic cities.<ref>[http://www.icty.org/x/file/About/OTP/War_Demographics/en/bih_casualty_undercount_conf_paper_100201.pdf OTP – Casualties of Bosnian War] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181007015749/http://www.icty.org/x/file/About/OTP/War_Demographics/en/bih_casualty_undercount_conf_paper_100201.pdf |date=7 October 2018 }}, icty.org; accessed 25 May 2015.</ref> The authors of this report said that the actual death toll may be slightly higher.<ref name="ICTYundercount" /><ref>[http://www.icty.org/sid/10591 Hague Tribunal] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111118065053/http://www.icty.org/sid/10591 |date=18 November 2011 }}, icty.org; accessed 3 August 2015.</ref>

These figures were not based solely on "battle deaths", but included accidental deaths taking place in battle conditions and acts of mass violence. Specifically excluded were "non-violent mortality increases" and "criminal and unorganised violence increases". Similarly "military deaths" included both combat and non-combat deaths.<ref name="ICTYundercount" />

=== Other statistics ===
There are no statistics dealing specifically with the casualties of the Croat-Bosniak conflict along ethnic lines. However, according to The RDC's data on human losses in the regions, in Central Bosnia 62 percent of the 10,448 documented deaths were Bosniaks, while Croats constituted 24 percent and Serbs 13 percent. The municipalities of [[Gornji Vakuf]] and [[Bugojno]] are geographically located in Central Bosnia (known as Gornje Povrbasje region), but the 1,337 region's documented deaths are included in [[Vrbas (river)|Vrbas]] regional statistics. Approximately 70–80 percent of the casualties from Gornje Povrbasje were Bosniaks. In the region of [[Neretva]] river, of 6,717 casualties, 54 percent were Bosniaks, 24 percent Serbs and 21 percent Croats. The casualties in those regions were mainly, but not exclusively, the consequence of Croat-Bosniak conflict.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

According to the UN, there were 167 fatalities amongst [[UNPROFOR]] personnel during the course of the force's mandate, from February 1992 to March 1995. Of those who died, three were military observers, 159 were other military personnel, one was a member of the civilian police, two were international civilian staff and two were local staff.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/past/unprof_p.htm|title=Former Yugoslavia – UNPROFOR: Profile|publisher=Department of Public Information, United Nations|date=31 August 1996|access-date=1 May 2015|archive-date=18 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718014206/http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/past/unprof_p.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

In a statement in September 2008 to the [[United Nations General Assembly]], [[Haris Silajdžić]] said that "According to the [[International Committee of the Red Cross|ICRC]] data, 200,000 people were killed, 12,000 of them children, up to 50,000 women were raped, and 2.2&nbsp;million were forced to flee their homes. This was a veritable [[Bosnian Genocide|genocide]] and sociocide".<ref name="Silajdžić UN">{{cite web | url=https://www.un.org/ga/63/generaldebate/pdf/bosniaherzegovina_en.pdf | title=Statement by Dr. Haris Silajdžić Chairman of the Presidency Bosnia and Herzegovina | publisher=[[United Nations]] | date=23 September 2008 | access-date=17 May 2015 | archive-date=6 November 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141106185954/http://www.un.org/ga/63/generaldebate/pdf/bosniaherzegovina_en.pdf | url-status=live }}</ref> However, Silajdžić and others have been criticised for inflating the number of fatalities to attract international support.<ref>{{cite news| work= The New York Times| url= https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/23/magazine/the-bosnian-calculation.html| author= George Kenney| title= The Bosnian calculation| date= 23 April 1995| access-date= 7 October 2012| archive-date= 29 October 2021| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211029160909/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/23/magazine/the-bosnian-calculation.html| url-status= live}}</ref> An ICRC book published in 2010 cites the total number killed in all of the [[Yugoslav Wars|Balkan wars]] in the 1990s as "about 140,000 people".<ref>[https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/feature/2010/missing-lives-060710.htm Missing Lives – Book and Photo Exhibition] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515042302/http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/missing-lives-060710.htm |date=15 May 2012 }}, 7 June 2010</ref>

In 2012 [[Amnesty International]] reported that the fate of an estimated 10,500 people, most of whom were Bosnian Muslims, remained unknown at that time.<ref name="Amnesty missing">{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/news/balkans-thousands-still-missing-two-decades-after-conflicts-2012-08-29 |title=Balkans: Thousands still missing two decades after conflicts |publisher=[[Amnesty International]] |date=30 August 2012 |access-date=17 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140802123105/http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/balkans-thousands-still-missing-two-decades-after-conflicts-2012-08-29 |archive-date=2 August 2014 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/annual-report/current/icrc-annual-report-2010-western-balkans.pdf ICRC Annual Report 2010] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515163622/http://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/annual-report/current/icrc-annual-report-2010-western-balkans.pdf |date=15 May 2012 }}, icrc.org; accessed 25 May 2015, p. 345</ref> Bodies of victims are still being unearthed two decades later. In July 2014 the remains of 284 victims, unearthed from the [[Tomašica, Bosnia and Herzegovina|Tomašica mass grave]] near the town of [[Prijedor]], were laid to rest in a mass ceremony in the northwestern town of [[Kozarac]], attended by relatives.<ref name="Bosnia Buries 284">{{cite web|url=http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/bosnia-buries-284-bodies-from-wartime-mass-grave|title=Bosnia Buries 284 Bodies from Wartime Mass Grave|publisher=[[Balkan Insight]]|date=21 July 2014|access-date=17 May 2015|archive-date=1 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301185538/https://balkaninsight.com/2014/07/21/bosnia-buries-284-bodies-from-wartime-mass-grave/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[UNCHR]] stated that the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina forced more than 2.2 million people to flee their homes, at that time, the largest displacement of people in Europe since the end of World War II.<ref name=Jolie />

== War crimes ==

According to a report compiled by the UN, and chaired by [[M. Cherif Bassiouni]], while all sides committed war crimes during the conflict, Serbian forces were responsible for ninety percent of them, whereas Croatian forces were responsible for six percent, and Bosniak forces four percent.<ref name="Waller|2002">{{cite book|last1=Waller|first1=James E.|title=Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing|url=https://archive.org/details/becomingevilhowo0000wall|url-access=registration|date=2002|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-514868-8|pages=262}}</ref> The report echoed conclusions published by a [[Central Intelligence Agency]] estimate in 1995.<ref name="Kennedy|2002">{{cite book|last1=Kennedy|first1=Michael D.|title=Cultural Formations of Postcommunism: Emancipation, Transition, Nation and War|date=2002|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0-8166-3857-4|page=252}}</ref><ref name="Cohen">[https://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/09/world/cia-report-on-bosnia-blames-serbs-for-90-of-the-war-crimes.html "C.I.A. Report on Bosnia Blames Serbs for 90% of the War Crimes"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211101000655/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/09/world/cia-report-on-bosnia-blames-serbs-for-90-of-the-war-crimes.html |date=1 November 2021 }} by [[Roger Cohen]], ''[[The New York Times]]'', 9 March 1995.</ref> In October 2019, a third of the war crime charges filed by the Bosnian state prosecution during the year were transferred to lower-level courts, which sparked criticism of prosecutors.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://balkaninsight.com/2019/10/10/bosnian-prosecution-criticised-over-war-crimes-indictments/|title=Bosnian Prosecution Criticised over War Crimes Indictments|date=2019-10-10|website=Balkan Insight|access-date=2019-10-10|archive-date=12 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211012235738/https://balkaninsight.com/2019/10/10/bosnian-prosecution-criticised-over-war-crimes-indictments/|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Ethnic cleansing ===
{{Main|Ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War}}
[[File:Ethnic makeup of Bosnia and Herzegovina before and after the war.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Ethnic distribution at the municipal level in Bosnia and Herzegovina before (1991) and after the war (1998). Bosniak shown in green, Serbian in red, and Croat in blue.]]

[[Ethnic cleansing]] was a common phenomenon in the war. Large numbers of Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats were forced to flee their homes or were expelled by the [[Army of Republika Srpska]] and [[Serb paramilitary|Serb paramilitaries]].<ref>{{cite news| title=Long Ordeal for Displaced Bosnian Muslims| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/08/22/long-ordeal-for-displaced-bosnian-muslims/dfc4fa1d-9c0c-4326-b3f5-44ef50b77e53/| newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]| date=22 August 1992| access-date=7 May 2020| author=A. D. Horne| archive-date=6 June 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606183419/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/08/22/long-ordeal-for-displaced-bosnian-muslims/dfc4fa1d-9c0c-4326-b3f5-44ef50b77e53/| url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="HRW1994">{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/1994/bosnia2/|work=[[Human Rights Watch]]|title=War Crimes in Bosnia-Hercegovina: U.N. Cease-Fire Won't Help Banja Luka|date=June 1994|access-date=25 July 2019|archive-date=29 January 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020129105940/https://www.hrw.org/reports/1994/bosnia2/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.unhcr.org/3ebf9bb50.pdf | title=War and humanitarian action: Iraq and the Balkans | page=218 | work=[[United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees|UNHCR]] | date=2000 | access-date=25 July 2019 | archive-date=2 October 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141002085553/https://www.unhcr.org/3ebf9bb50.pdf | url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Bell-Fialkoff|1993|page=110}} This entailed intimidation, forced expulsion, or killing of the unwanted ethnic group as well as the destruction of the places of worship, cemeteries and cultural and historical buildings of that ethnic group. Due to this, tens of thousands were killed,{{sfn|Seybolt|2007|p=177}} between one{{sfn|Totten|2017|p=21}} and 1.3 million{{sfn|Phillips|2005|p=5}} deported or forcibly resettled, and 12,000{{sfn|Crowe|2013|p=343}} to 20,000{{sfn|Haddad|2011|p=109}} women raped. Academics Matjaž Klemenčič and Mitja Žagar argue that: "Ideas of nationalistic ethnic politicians that Bosnia and Herzegovina be reorganised into homogenous national territories inevitably required the division of ethnically mixed territories into their Serb, Croat, and Muslim parts".<ref name=Sourcebook />
According to numerous ICTY verdicts and indictments, Serb<ref name="Prosecutor v. Vujadin Popovic, Ljubisa Beara, Drago Nikolic, Ljubomir Borovcanin, Radivoje Miletic, Milan Gvero, and Vinko Pandurevic">{{cite web|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/popovic/tdec/en/060926.pdf|title=Prosecutor v. Vujadin Popovic, Ljubisa Beara, Drago Nikolic, Ljubomir Borovcanin, Radivoje Miletic, Milan Gvero, and Vinko Pandurevic|quote=In the Motion, the Prosecution submits that both the existence and implementation of the plan to create an ethnically pure Bosnian Serb state by Bosnian Serb political and military leaders are facts of common knowledge and have been held to be historical and accurate in a wide range of sources.|access-date=13 August 2009|archive-date=11 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211211023111/https://www.icty.org/x/cases/popovic/tdec/en/060926.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ICTY: Radoslav Brđanin judgement">{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/icty/brdjanin/trialc/judgement/index.htm |title=ICTY: Radoslav Brđanin judgement |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090414072922/http://www.un.org/icty/brdjanin/trialc/judgement/index.htm |archive-date=14 April 2009 }}</ref><ref name="Tadic Case: The Verdict">{{cite web|url=http://www.icty.org/sid/7537|title=Tadic Case: The Verdict|quote=Importantly, the objectives remained the same: to create an ethnically pure Serb State by uniting Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina and extending that State from the FRY […] to the Croatian Krajina along the important logistics and supply line that went through opstina Prijedor, thereby necessitating the expulsion of the non-Serb population of the opstina.|access-date=13 August 2009|archive-date=14 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211014175448/https://www.icty.org/sid/7537|url-status=live}}</ref> and Croat<ref name="ICTY: Naletilić and Matinović verdict" /><ref name="ICTY: Kordić and Čerkez verdict" /><ref name="prosecutor v. Jadranko Prlic, Bruno Stojic, Slobodan Praljak, Milivoj Petkovic and Valentin Coric and Berislav Pusic">{{cite web|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/prlic/acdec/en/080311.pdf|title=Prosecutor v. Jadranko Prlic, Bruno Stojic, Slobodan Praljak, Milivoj Petkovic, Valentin Coric and Berislav Pusic|quote=Significantly, the Trial Chamber held that a reasonable Trial Chamber, could make a finding beyond any reasonable doubt that all of these acts were committed to carry out a plan aimed at changing the ethnic balance of the areas that formed Herceg-Bosna and mainly to deport the Muslim population and other non-Croat population out of Herceg-Bosna to create an ethnically pure Croatian territory within Herceg-Bosna.|access-date=13 August 2009|archive-date=5 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210905185823/https://www.icty.org/x/cases/prlic/acdec/en/080311.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> forces performed ethnic cleansing of their territories to create ethnically pure states ([[History of Republika Srpska#1991–1995|Republika Srpska]] and [[Herzeg-Bosnia]]). Serb forces carried out the [[Srebrenica genocide]] towards the end of the war.<ref>[https://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/2004/p860-e.htm Address at Potočari Memorial Cemetery] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090403003018/http://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/2004/p860-e.htm |date=3 April 2009 }}, un.org, 23 June 2004.</ref> Although comparatively rare, there were also cases of Bosniak forces forcing other ethnic groups to flee during the war.<ref name="fas.org"/> According to The New York Times, the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] concluded in a March 1995 report that Bosnian Serb forces had been responsible for 90 percent of the ethnic cleansing committed up to that time and that leading Serb politicians almost certainly knew of the crimes.<ref name=Cohen />

Based on the evidence of numerous HVO attacks, the ICTY Trial Chamber concluded in the ''Kordić and Čerkez'' case that by April 1993 Croat leadership had a common design or plan conceived and executed to [[Lašva Valley ethnic cleansing|ethnically cleanse Bosniaks from the Lašva Valley]] in Central Bosnia. [[Dario Kordić]], as the local political leader, was found to be the planner and [[wikt:instigator|instigator]] of this plan.<ref name="ICTY: Kordić and Čerkez verdict" />

=== Genocide ===
{{Main|Bosnian genocide|Bosnian genocide case}}
[[File:Srebrenica massacre memorial gravestones 2009 1.jpg|thumb|The cemetery at the [[Srebrenica Genocide memorial|Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial and Cemetery to Genocide Victims]]]]
[[File:Exhumations in Srebrenica 1996.jpg|thumb|Exhumations in Srebrenica, 1996]]
[[File:Coat of arms of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992–1998).svg|thumb|199x199px|The shield used as a symbol for the [[Bosniaks]]]]
A trial took place before the [[International Court of Justice]], following a [[Bosnian Genocide Case|1993 suit]] by Bosnia and Herzegovina against Serbia and Montenegro alleging [[genocide]]. The ICJ ruling of 26 February 2007 indirectly determined the war's nature to be international, though clearing Serbia of direct responsibility for the genocide committed by the forces of [[History of Republika Srpska#1991–1995|Republika Srpska]]. The ICJ concluded, however, that Serbia failed to prevent genocide committed by Serb forces and failed to punish those responsible, and bring them to justice.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2007-02-27 |title=Serbia cleared of genocide |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-bosnia-serbia-court-idUKL2525037520070227 |access-date=2022-08-24 |archive-date=24 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220824220724/https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-bosnia-serbia-court-idUKL2525037520070227 |url-status=live }}</ref> A telegram sent to the White House on 8 February 1994 and penned by U.S. Ambassador to Croatia, [[Peter W. Galbraith]], stated that genocide was occurring. The telegram cited "constant and indiscriminate shelling and gunfire" of Sarajevo by Karadzic's Yugoslav People Army; the harassment of minority groups in Northern Bosnia "in an attempt to force them to leave"; and the use of detainees "to do dangerous work on the front lines" as evidence that genocide was being committed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/IMG/20091106-friday.pdf|title=Galbraith telegram|author=Peter W. Galbraith|publisher=[[United States Department of State]]|access-date=13 February 2010|archive-date=25 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225030658/https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu//IMG/20091106-friday.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2005, the [[United States Congress]] passed a resolution declaring that "the Serbian policies of aggression and ethnic cleansing meet the terms defining genocide".<ref name="thomas.loc.gov">[http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:s.res.00134: A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the massacre at Srebrenica in July 1995] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107031723/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:s.res.00134: |date=7 January 2016 }}, thomas.loc.gov; accessed 25 April 2015.</ref>

Despite the evidence of many kinds of war crimes conducted simultaneously by different Serb forces in different parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially in [[Bijeljina massacre|Bijeljina]], [[Siege of Sarajevo|Sarajevo]], [[Prijedor massacre|Prijedor]], [[Zvornik massacre|Zvornik]], [[Banja Luka#Bosnian War|Banja Luka]], [[Višegrad massacres|Višegrad]] and [[Foča massacre|Foča]], the judges ruled that the criteria for genocide with the specific intent (''[[dolus specialis]]'') to destroy Bosnian Muslims were met [[Srebrenica Genocide|only in Srebrenica]] or Eastern Bosnia in 1995.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ventura |first=Manuel |date=2009-01-01 |title=Prosecutor v. Karadzic (ICTY, Case No IT-95-5/18): the indictment, English language and Holbrooke Agreement decisions |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=13255029&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA240808433&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs |journal=Australian International Law Journal |volume=16 |pages=241–258 |access-date=15 December 2022 |archive-date=23 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123234231/https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=13255029&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA240808433&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs&userGroupName=nm_p_oweb&isGeoAuthType=true |url-status=live }}</ref>

The court concluded the crimes committed during the 1992–1995 war, may amount to [[crimes against humanity]] according to the international law, but that these acts did not, in themselves, constitute genocide per se.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sense-agency.com/en/stream.php?sta=3&pid=9273&kat=3 |title=Sense Tribunal: SERBIA FOUND GUILTY OF FAILURE TO PREVENT AND PUNISH GENOCIDE |access-date=25 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090730091312/http://www.sense-agency.com/en/stream.php?sta=3&pid=9273&kat=3 |archive-date=30 July 2009 }}</ref> The Court further decided that, following Montenegro's declaration of independence in May 2006, Serbia was the only respondent party in the case, but that "any responsibility for ''past'' events involved at the relevant time the composite State of Serbia and Montenegro".<ref>[http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/ipresscom/SPEECHES/ispeech_president_higgins_bhy_20070226.htm Statement of the President of the Court] {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, icj-cij.org; accessed 25 April 2015.</ref>

=== Rape ===
 {{Main|Rape during the Bosnian War}}
An estimated 12,000–50,000 [[Rape during the Bosnian War|women were raped]], most of them Bosnian Muslims with the majority of cases committed by Serb forces.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|2015|p=222}}<ref name="Palgrave Macmillan"/> This has been referred to as "Mass rape",<ref name=Guardian2001>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/feb/23/warcrimes|title=Mass rape ruled a war crime|date=23 February 2001|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=26 June 2009|location=London, UK|first=Andrew|last=Osborn|archive-date=2 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802164653/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/feb/23/warcrimes|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=BBC2002>{{cite news|title=Hague court upholds rape charges|publisher=BBC|date=12 June 2002|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2041321.stm|access-date=30 June 2009|archive-date=4 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304080724/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2041321.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=USsenatejudiciary2008>{{cite web|title=Opening Statement of Senator Dick Durbin Chairman, Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law Hearing on "Rape as a Weapon of War: Accountability for Sexual Violence in Conflict"|publisher=[[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary]]|date=1 April 2008|url=http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?renderforprint=1&id=3225&wit_id=747|access-date=30 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627100651/http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?renderforprint=1&id=3225&wit_id=747|archive-date=27 June 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> particularly with regard to the coordinated use of rape as a weapon of war by members in the VRS and Bosnian Serb police.<ref name=Guardian2001/><ref name=BBC2002/><ref name="USsenatejudiciary2008"/><ref name=massrape1993>{{cite book|last=Stiglmayer|first=Alexandra|author2=Marion Faber|author3=Cynthia Enloe|author4=Roy Gutman|title=Mass Rape: The War Against Women in Bosnia-Herzegovina|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5tJflDgysEIC|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|year=1994|pages=85, 86, 198|isbn=978-0-8032-9229-1}}</ref> For the first time in judicial history, the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]] (ICTY) declared that "systematic rape", and "sexual enslavement" in time of war was a [[crime against humanity]], second only to the [[war crime]] of [[genocide]].<ref name=Guardian2001/> Rape was most systematic in Eastern Bosnia (e.g. during campaigns in [[Foča ethnic cleansing|Foča]] and [[Višegrad massacres|Višegrad]]), and in Grbavica during the siege of Sarajevo. Women and girls were kept in various detention centres where they had to live in intolerably unhygienic conditions and were mistreated in many ways including being repeatedly raped. A notorious example was "Karaman's house" in Foča.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/icty/kunarac/trialc2/judgement/kun-tj010222e-5.htm#VC |title=ICTY: The attack against the civilian population and related requirements |access-date=25 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090219012918/http://un.org/icty/kunarac/trialc2/judgement/kun-tj010222e-5.htm#VC |archive-date=19 February 2009 }}</ref><ref name="The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV):Documentation about war crimes">{{cite web|url=http://www.gfbv.ba/index.php?id=126 |title=The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV): Documentation about war crimes – Tilman Zülch |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080309192257/http://www.gfbv.ba/index.php?id=126 |archive-date=9 March 2008 }}</ref> Common complications among surviving women and girls include psychological, gynaecological and other physical disorders, as well as unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

=== Prosecutions and legal proceedings ===
{{Multiple image
| align             = right
| direction         = horizontal
| image1            = Evstafiev-Radovan Karadzic 3MAR94.jpg
| width1            = 135
| image2            = Evstafiev-ratko-mladic-1993-w.jpg
| width2            = 135
| footer            = [[Radovan Karadžić]] (left), former president of Republika Srpska, [[Ratko Mladić]] (right), former Chief of Staff of the Army of the Republika Srpska, both sentenced by the ICTY
}}

The [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]] (ICTY) was established in 1993 as a body of the UN to [[prosecute]] war crimes committed during the [[wars in the former Yugoslavia]], and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal is an [[Ad hoc|ad hoc court]] which is located in [[The Hague]], the Netherlands.<ref>[https://www.un.org/icty/transe23-2/030306IA.htm 030306IA ICTY] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081226055031/http://www.un.org/icty/transe23-2/030306IA.htm |date=26 December 2008 }}, un.org; accessed 25 April 2015.</ref>

According to legal experts, as of early 2008, 45 Serbs, 12 Croats and 4 Bosniaks were convicted of war crimes by the ICTY in connection with the Balkan wars of the 1990s.<ref name=Convictions /> Both Serbs and Croats were indicted and convicted of systematic war crimes ([[joint criminal enterprise]]), while Bosniaks were indicted and convicted of individual ones. Most of the Bosnian Serb wartime leadership – [[Biljana Plavšić]],<ref name=ictykrajisnik>{{cite web|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/plavsic/tjug/en/pla-tj030227e.pdf|title=Prosecutor v. Biljana Plavsic judgement|quote=Biljana Plavsic was sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment.|access-date=25 June 2011|archive-date=1 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901055259/https://www.icty.org/x/cases/plavsic/tjug/en/pla-tj030227e.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Momčilo Krajišnik]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/krajisnik/acjug/en/090317.pdf|title=Prosecutor v. Momcilo Krajisnik judgement|quote=Sentenced to 27 years' imprisonment|access-date=25 June 2011|archive-date=15 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220415105233/https://www.icty.org/x/cases/krajisnik/acjug/en/090317.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Radoslav Brđanin]],<ref name="ICTY: Radoslav Brđanin judgement" /> and [[Duško Tadić]]<ref name="ICTY: Dusko Tadic">{{cite web|title=Prosecutor v. Duško Tadić – Judgement|publisher=[[United Nations]] [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]]|date=14 July 1997|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/tadic/tjug/en/tad-sj970714e.pdf|access-date=3 November 2009|archive-date=6 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606111117/http://www.icty.org/x/cases/tadic/tjug/en/tad-sj970714e.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> – were indicted and judged guilty for [[war crimes]] and ethnic cleansing.

The former president of Republika Srpska [[Radovan Karadžić]] was [[Trial of Radovan Karadžić|held on trial]]<ref name=ICTYkaradzic2009>{{cite web|title=Prosecutor v. Radovan Karadžić – Second Amended Indictment|publisher=[[United Nations]] [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]]|date=26 February 2009|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/karadzic/ind/en/090218.pdf|access-date=18 August 2009|archive-date=6 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606114240/http://www.icty.org/x/cases/karadzic/ind/en/090218.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> and was sentenced to [[life in prison]] for crimes, including [[crimes against humanity]] and [[genocide]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Bosnia-Herzegovina: Karadžić life sentence sends powerful message to the world|publisher=Amnesty International|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/03/bosnia-herzegovina-karadzic-life-sentence-sends-powerful-message-to-the-world/|date=20 March 2019|access-date=10 April 2019|archive-date=14 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220414091703/https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/03/bosnia-herzegovina-karadzic-life-sentence-sends-powerful-message-to-the-world/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Ratko Mladić]] was also [[Trial of Ratko Mladić|tried by the ICTY]], charged with crimes in connection with the [[siege of Sarajevo]] and the [[Srebrenica massacre]].<ref name=ICTYmladic2002>{{cite web|title=Prosecutor v. Ratko Mladic – Amended Indictment|publisher=[[United Nations]] [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]]|date=8 November 2002|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/mladic/ind/en/mla-ai021010e.pdf|access-date=18 August 2009|archive-date=14 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211114115323/https://www.icty.org/x/cases/mladic/ind/en/mla-ai021010e.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Mladić was found guilty and also sentenced to life imprisonment by The Hague in November 2017.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/22/ratko-mladic-convicted-of-genocide-and-war-crimes-at-un-tribunal|title=Ratko Mladić convicted of genocide and war crimes at UN tribunal|last1=Bowcott|first1=Owen|date=2017-11-22|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-11-22|last2=Borger|first2=Julian|issn=0261-3077|archive-date=26 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726083832/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/22/ratko-mladic-convicted-of-genocide-and-war-crimes-at-un-tribunal|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Paramilitary]] leader [[Vojislav Šešelj]] was on trial from 2007 to 2018,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/04/serbia-conviction-of-war-criminal-delivers-long-overdue-justice-to-victims|title=Serbia: Conviction of war criminal delivers long overdue justice to victims|date=11 April 2018|publisher=Amnesty International|access-date=11 April 2018|archive-date=12 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412082203/https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/04/serbia-conviction-of-war-criminal-delivers-long-overdue-justice-to-victims/|url-status=live}}</ref> accused of being a part of a [[joint criminal enterprise]] to ethnically cleanse large areas of Bosnia-Herzegovina of non-Serbs.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17289960|work=BBC News|title=Prosecutor seeks 28-year jail term for Vojislav Šešelj|date=7 March 2012|access-date=22 June 2018|archive-date=8 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008131408/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17289960|url-status=live}}</ref> The Serbian president [[Slobodan Milošević]] was charged with war crimes in connection with the war in Bosnia, including grave breaches of the [[Geneva Convention]]s, [[crimes against humanity]] and [[genocide]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1672414.stm |work=BBC News |title=Milosevic charged with Bosnia genocide |date=23 November 2001 |access-date=14 November 2010 |archive-date=21 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180721044424/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1672414.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> but died in 2006 before the trial could finish.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4796470.stm |work=BBC News |title=Milosevic found dead in his cell |date=11 March 2006 |access-date=14 November 2010 |archive-date=25 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211125201531/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4796470.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Srebrenica Massacre - Massacre Victim 2 - Potocari 2007.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.8|The skull of a victim of the July 1995 [[Srebrenica massacre]] in an exhumed mass grave outside of [[Donji Potočari|Potočari]], 2007]]

After the death of [[Alija Izetbegović]], The Hague revealed that an [[ICTY]] investigation of Izetbegović had been in progress which ended with his death.<ref>{{cite news|title=Bosnia leader was war crimes suspect|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3203323.stm|newspaper=BBC|date=22 October 2003|access-date=21 September 2020|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201045641/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3203323.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Dead Bosnia Hero Focus of War Crimes Inquiry|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/23/world/dead-bosnia-hero-focus-of-war-crimes-inquiry.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=23 October 2003|access-date=21 September 2020|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201133009/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/23/world/dead-bosnia-hero-focus-of-war-crimes-inquiry.html?ref=alijaizetbegovic|url-status=live}}</ref> Bosniaks who were convicted of or were tried for war crimes include [[Rasim Delić]], chief of staff of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who was sentenced to three years' imprisonment on 15 September 2008 for his failure to prevent the [[Bosnian mujahideen]] members of the Bosnian army from committing crimes against captured civilians and enemy combatants.<ref>[http://www.icty.org/x/cases/delic/cis/en/cis_delic_en.pdf Case Information Sheet: Rasim Delić] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210725080127/https://www.icty.org/x/cases/delic/cis/en/cis_delic_en.pdf |date=25 July 2021 }}, icty.org; accessed 19 May 2015.</ref> [[Enver Hadžihasanović]], a general of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was sentenced to 3.5 years for authority over acts of murder and wanton destruction in Central Bosnia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.un.org/icty/bhs/frames/cases.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724113218/http://www.un.org/icty/bhs/frames/cases.htm|url-status= dead|title=Hadzihasanovic i Kubura – sažetak -|archive-date=24 July 2008}}</ref> [[Hazim Delić]] was the [[Bosniak]] Deputy Commander of the [[Čelebići prison camp]], which detained Serb civilians. He was sentenced to 18 years by the [[ICTY]] Appeals Chamber on 8 April 2003 for murder and torture of the prisoners and for raping two Serbian women.<ref name=ictycelebicijudgmentpr1998>{{cite web|title=Celebici case: the Judgement of the Trial Chamber – press release|publisher=[[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]]|date=16 November 1998|url=http://www.icty.org/sid/7617|access-date=13 May 2012|archive-date=21 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421225152/https://www.icty.org/sid/7617|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name =ictycelebicicaseinfo2008>{{cite web|title="ČELEBIĆI CAMP" (IT-96-21) – case information sheet|publisher=[[United Nations]] [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]]|year=2008|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/mucic/cis/en/cis_mucic_al_en.pdf|access-date=13 May 2009|archive-date=26 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211126033456/https://www.icty.org/x/cases/mucic/cis/en/cis_mucic_al_en.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Bosnian commander [[Sefer Halilović]] was charged with one count of violation of the laws and customs of war on the basis of superior criminal responsibility of the incidents during Operation Neretva '93 and found not guilty.{{sfn|Halilović Trial Chamber Judgement|2005|p=8}} In October 2024, 7 Bosnians were jailed for periods between 2 and 7 years for the unlawful detention, torture and murder of Serbian civilian detainees in the town of [[Lukavac]] between June and October of 1992.<ref>{{Cite news |date=25 July 2025 |title=Seven Bosnians Jailed for War Crimes Against Civilian Prisoners |url=https://balkaninsight.com/2025/07/25/seven-bosnians-jailed-for-war-crimes-against-civilian-prisoners/ |access-date=29 July 2025 |work=[[Balkan Insight]]}}</ref> Serbs have accused Sarajevo authorities of practicing selective justice by actively prosecuting Serbs while ignoring or downplaying Bosniak war crimes.<ref>[https://news.yahoo.com/bosnia-opens-trial-muslims-war-crimes-162349336.html "Bosnia Opens Trial of Muslims for War Crimes"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422155543/http://news.yahoo.com/bosnia-opens-trial-muslims-war-crimes-162349336.html |date=22 April 2012 }}, Yahoo.com, 19 April 2012; retrieved 19 May 2015.</ref>

[[Dario Kordić]], political leader of Croats in Central Bosnia, was convicted of the crimes against humanity in Central Bosnia i.e. ethnic cleansing and sentenced to 25 years in prison.<ref name="ICTY: Kordić and Čerkez verdict">{{Cite web|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/kordic_cerkez/tjug/en/kor-tj010226e.pdf|title=ICTY: Kordić and Čerkez verdict|access-date=2 March 2010|archive-date=29 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120629204823/http://www.icty.org/x/cases/kordic_cerkez/tjug/en/kor-tj010226e.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> On 29 May 2013, in a first instance verdict, the ICTY sentenced Prlić to 25 years in prison. The tribunal also convicted five other war time leaders of the joint trial: defence minister of Herzeg-Bosnia [[Bruno Stojić]] (20 years), military officers [[Slobodan Praljak]] (20 years) and [[Milivoj Petković]] (20 years), military police commander [[Valentin Ćorić]] (20 years), and head of prisoner exchanges and detention facilities Berislav Pušić (10 years). The Chamber ruled, by majority, with the presiding judge Jean-Claude Antonetti dissenting, that they took part in a [[joint criminal enterprise]] (JCE) against the non-Croat population of Bosnia and Herzegovina and that the JCE included the Croatian President Franjo Tuđman, Defence Minister [[Gojko Šušak]], and general [[Janko Bobetko]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icty.org/sid/11324|title=Six Senior Herceg-Bosna Officials Convicted|work=icty.org|date=29 May 2013|access-date=28 December 2013|archive-date=28 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210628065116/https://www.icty.org/sid/11324|url-status=live}}</ref> However, on 19 July 2016 the Appeals Chamber in the case announced that the "Trial Chamber made no explicit findings concerning [Tudjman's, Šušak's and Bobetko's] participation in the JCE and did not find [them] guilty of any crimes."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://eblnews.com/news/croatia/ministry-icty-confirms-croatia-wasnt-responsible-29777|title=Ministry: ICTY confirms Croatia wasn't responsible|work=EBL News|date=19 July 2016|access-date=12 November 2017|archive-date=8 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008133900/https://eblnews.com/news/croatia/ministry-icty-confirms-croatia-wasnt-responsible-29777|url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://eblnews.com/news/croatia/icty-denies-croatias-request-be-included-prlic-et-al-appeal-29747|title=ICTY denies Croatia's request to be included in Prlic et al appeal|work=EBL News|date=19 July 2016|access-date=12 November 2017|archive-date=16 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616123440/https://eblnews.com/news/croatia/icty-denies-croatias-request-be-included-prlic-et-al-appeal-29747|url-status=usurped}}</ref>

[[Srebrenica Genocide|Genocide]] at Srebrenica is the most serious war crime that any Serbs were convicted of. Crimes against humanity is the most serious war crime that any [[Bosniaks]] or [[Croats]] were convicted of.<ref>[https://www.un.org/icty/cases-e/index-e.htm ICTY cases, indictments and proceedings] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090806143402/http://www.un.org/icty/cases-e/index-e.htm |date=6 August 2009 }}, un.org; accessed 19 May 2015.</ref>

=== Reconciliation ===
[[File:Srebrenica Massacre - Reinterment and Memorial Ceremony - July 2007 - Male Mourners.jpg|thumb|Mourners at the reburial ceremony for an exhumed victim of the [[Srebrenica massacre]]]]
[[File:Flag cemetery Mostar.JPG|thumb|A cemetery in Mostar flying the flag of Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (left), the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the flag of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina]]

On 6 December 2004, Serbian president [[Boris Tadić]] made an apology in Bosnia and Herzegovina to all those who suffered crimes committed in the name of the Serb people.<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4072949.stm Serb leader apologises in Bosnia] , bbc.co.uk; accessed 19 May 2015.</ref>

Croatia's president [[Ivo Josipović]] apologised in April 2010 for his country's role in the Bosnian War. Bosnia and Herzegovina's then-president [[Haris Silajdžić]] in turn praised relations with Croatia, remarks that starkly contrasted with his harsh criticism of Serbia the day before. "I'm deeply sorry that the Republic of Croatia has contributed to the suffering of people and divisions which still burden us today", Josipović told Bosnia and Herzegovina's parliament.<ref>{{cite news|publisher=CBC|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/croatian-president-apologizes-to-bosnia-over-war-1.962527|title=Croatian president apologizes to Bosnia over war|date=14 April 2010|access-date=10 November 2012|archive-date=9 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009085204/https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/croatian-president-apologizes-to-bosnia-over-war-1.962527|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 31 March 2010, the [[National Assembly of Serbia|Serbian parliament]] adopted a declaration "condemning in strongest terms the crime committed in July 1995 against Bosniak population of Srebrenica" and apologizing to the families of the victims, the first of its kind in the region. The initiative to pass a resolution came from President Boris Tadić, who pushed for it even though the issue was politically controversial. In the past, only human rights groups and non-nationalistic parties had supported such a measure.<ref>[http://ictj.org/news/serbian-declaration-srebrenica-massacre-imperfect-important-step "Serbian Declaration on Srebrenica Massacre an Imperfect but Important Step"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210707172107/https://www.ictj.org/news/serbian-declaration-srebrenica-massacre-imperfect-important-step |date=7 July 2021 }}, International Center for Transitional Justice; accessed 19 May 2015.</ref>

==Assessment==
=== Civil war or a war of aggression ===
Due to the involvement of [[Croatia]] and [[Serbia]], there has been a long-standing debate as to whether the conflict was a [[civil war]] or a [[war of aggression]] on Bosnia by neighbouring states. Academics Steven Burg and Paul Shoup argue that:

{{Blockquote|From the outset, the nature of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina was subject to conflicting interpretations. These were rooted not only in objective facts on the ground, but in the political interests of those articulating them.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|pp=169–191}}}}

On the one hand, the war could be viewed as "a clear-cut case of civil war – that is, of internal war among groups unable to agree on arrangements for sharing power".{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|pp=169–191}}

[[David Campbell (academic)|David Campbell]] is critical of narratives about "civil war", which he argues often involve what he terms "moral levelling", in which all sides are "said to be equally guilty of atrocities", and "emphasise credible Serb fears as a rationale for their actions".<ref>{{cite journal|title=Metabosnia: Narratives of the Bosnian War|journal=Review of International Studies|first=David|last=Campbell|year=1998|volume=24|issue=2|pages=261–81|jstor=20097522|doi=10.1017/S0260210598002617|s2cid=146381815 }}<!--|access-date=25 April 2015--></ref>

{{Blockquote| In contrast to the civil war explanation, Bosniaks, many Croats, western politicians and human rights organizations claimed that the war was a war of Serbian and Croatian aggression based on the [[Milošević-Tuđman Karađorđevo meeting|Karađorđevo]] and [[Graz agreement]]s, while Serbs often considered it a civil war.{{Sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|pp=169–191}}}}

Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats enjoyed substantial political and military backing from Serbia and Croatia, and the decision to grant Bosnia diplomatic recognition also had implications for the international interpretation of the conflict. As Burg and Shoup state:
{{Blockquote| From the perspective of international diplomacy and law...the international decision to recognize the independence of Bosnia-Herzegovina and grant it membership in the United Nations provided a basis for defining the war as a case of external aggression by both Serbia and Croatia. With respect to Serbia, the further case could be made that the Bosnian Serb army was under the ''de facto'' command of the Yugoslav army and was therefore an instrument of external aggression. With respect to Croatia, regular Croatian army forces violated the territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina, lending further evidence in support of the view that this was a case of aggression.{{Sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|pp=169–191}}}}

[[Sumantra Bose]], meanwhile, argues that it is possible to characterise the Bosnian War as a civil war, without necessarily agreeing with the narrative of Serb and Croat nationalists. He states that while "all episodes of severe violence have been sparked by 'external' events and forces, local society too has been deeply implicated in that violence" and therefore argues that "it makes relatively more sense to regard the 1992–95 conflict in Bosnia as a 'civil war' – albeit obviously with a vital dimension that is territorially external to Bosnia".{{sfn|Bose|2002|p=21}}

In the cases involving [[Duško Tadić]] and [[Zdravko Mucić]], the ICTY concluded that the conflict between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was an international one:
{{Blockquote|[F]or the period material to this case (1992), the armed forces of the Republika Srpska were to be regarded as acting under the overall control of and on behalf of the FRY (the [[Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]]). Hence, even after 19 May 1992 the armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina between the Bosnian Serbs and the central authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina must be classified as an international armed conflict.<ref name="ICTY International conflict">{{cite web|title=Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity: Topical Digests of the Case Law of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/ij/icty/2.htm|publisher=Human Rights Watch|date=February 2004|access-date=29 November 2017|archive-date=31 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211231131104/https://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/ij/icty/2.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Similarly, in the cases involving [[Ivica Rajić]], [[Tihomir Blaškić]] and [[Dario Kordić]], the ICTY concluded that the conflict between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia was also an international one:
{{Blockquote| [F]or purposes of the application of the grave breaches provisions of Geneva Convention IV, the significant and continuous military action by the armed forces of Croatia in support of the [[Bosnian Croats]] against the forces of the [[Bosnian government|Bosnian Government]] on the territory of the latter was sufficient to convert the domestic conflict between the Bosnian Croats and the Bosnian Government into an international one.<ref name="ICTY International conflict"/>}}

In 2010, Bosnian Commander [[Ejup Ganić]] was detained in London on a Serbian extradition request for alleged war crimes. Judge [[Timothy Workman]] decided that Ganić should be released after ruling that Serbia's request was "politically motivated". In his decision, he characterised the Bosnian War to have been an international armed conflict as Bosnia had declared independence on 3 March 1992.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/63FBA6BB-59F4-4BAF-BA78-95FED04AAEC2/0/serbiavganic27072010.pdf|archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100803121907/http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/63FBA6BB-59F4-4BAF-BA78-95FED04AAEC2/0/serbiavganic27072010.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 August 2010|title=The Government of the Republic of Serbia vs. Ejup Ganić|last=Workman|first=Timothy|date=27 July 2010|publisher=City of Westminster Magistrates' Court|page=3|access-date=4 March 2011}}</ref>

Academic [[Mary Kaldor]] argues that the Bosnian War is an example of what she terms [[new wars]], which are neither civil nor inter-state, but rather combine elements of both.<ref>{{cite book|first=Mary|last=Kaldor|year=2007|title=New and Old Wars: Organised Violence in a Global Era|edition=2nd|location=Cambridge|publisher=Polity Press|isbn=978-0-7456-3863-8}}</ref>

===Ethnic war===
In ''The Myth of Ethnic War: Serbia and Croatia in the 1990s'', [[Ithaca College]] Professor V.P. Gagnon challenges the widely accepted belief in the West that the Bosnian War (and the other Yugoslav wars) were a product of ethnic hatred between the warring factions. Gagnon argues that the wars were caused by power-hungry political elites who resisted political and economical liberalization and democratization, not ordinary people.{{sfn|Gagnon|2006|p=7, 87, 131, 178}} In disputing the common assessment by Western academics, politicians and journalists of an ethnic war and of the Balkans as a region antithetical to Western values, Gagnon cites high intermarriage rates, the high percentage of draft-resisters, resistance to nationalist movements and favourable views of inter-ethnic relations in polling conducted in the late 1980s in Yugoslavia among other factors.{{sfn|Gagnon|2006|p=32, summary}}

== In popular culture ==
=== Film ===
The Bosnian War has been depicted in a number of films including Hollywood films such as ''[[The Hunting Party (2007 film)|The Hunting Party]]'', starring [[Richard Gere]] as journalist Simon Hunt in his bid to apprehend suspected war criminal and former Bosnian Serb president [[Radovan Karadžić]]; ''[[Behind Enemy Lines (2001 film)|Behind Enemy Lines]]'', loosely based on the [[Mrkonjić Grad incident]], tells about a downed [[United States Navy|US Navy]] pilot who uncovers a massacre while on the run from Serb troops who want him dead; ''[[The Peacemaker (1997 film)|The Peacemaker]]'', starring [[George Clooney]] and [[Nicole Kidman]], is a story about a US Army colonel and a White House nuclear expert investigating stolen Russian nuclear weapons obtained by a revenge-fueled Yugoslav diplomat, Dušan Gavrić.

''[[In the Land of Blood and Honey]]'', is a 2011 American film written, produced and directed by [[Angelina Jolie]]; the film was Jolie's directorial debut and it depicts a love story set against the [[Rape in the Bosnian War|mass rape of Muslim women in the Bosnian War]]. The Spanish/Italian 2013 film ''Twice Born'', starring [[Penélope Cruz]], based on a book by Margaret Mazzantini. It tells the story of a mother who brings her teenage son to Sarajevo, where his father died in the Bosnian conflict years ago.

British films include ''[[Welcome to Sarajevo]]'', about the life of Sarajevans during the [[Siege of Sarajevo|siege]]. The Bosnian-British film ''[[Beautiful People (film)|Beautiful People]]'' directed by [[Jasmin Dizdar]] portrays the encounter between English families and arriving Bosnian refugees at the height of the Bosnian War. The film was awarded the {{lang|fr|[[Un Certain Regard]]}} at the 1999 Cannes Festival. The Spanish film ''[[Territorio Comanche]]'' shows the story of a Spanish TV crew during the siege of Sarajevo. The Polish film ''[[Demons of War]]'' (1998), set during the Bosnian conflict, portrays a group of [[Polish people|Polish]] soldiers in [[IFOR]] who help a pair of journalists tracked by a local warlord whose crimes they had taped.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}}

Bosnian director [[Danis Tanović]]'s ''[[No Man's Land (2001 film)|No Man's Land]]'' won the Best Foreign Language Film awards at the 2001 [[74th Academy Awards|Academy Awards]] and the [[59th Golden Globe Awards|2002 Golden Globes]]. The Bosnian film ''[[Grbavica (film)|Grbavica]]'', about the life of a single mother in contemporary [[Sarajevo]] in the aftermath of [[Rape in the Bosnian War|systematic rape of Bosniak women]] by Serbian troops during the war, won the Golden Bear at the [[Berlin International Film Festival]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://theculturetrip.com/europe/bosnia-herzegovina/articles/5-bosnian-films-you-need-to-see/|title=5 Bosnian Films You Need to See|first=Andrea|last=Hak|publisher=Culture Trip|date=5 November 2016|access-date=24 October 2017|archive-date=8 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008133857/https://theculturetrip.com/europe/bosnia-herzegovina/articles/5-bosnian-films-you-need-to-see/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/culture/2006/11/16/women-in-love|title=Women in love|newspaper=The Economist|date=16 November 2006|access-date=24 October 2017|archive-date=24 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024153639/http://www.economist.com/node/8166870|url-status=live}}</ref>

The 2003 film ''[[Remake (2003 film)|Remake]]'', directed by Bosnian director Dino Mustafić and written by [[Zlatko Topčić]], follows father Ahmed and son Tarik Karaga during [[World War II]] and the [[Siege of Sarajevo]]. It premiered at the 32nd [[International Film Festival Rotterdam]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.iffr.com/en/films/remake/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150826112209/https://www.iffr.com/en/films/remake/|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 August 2015|title=IFFR: "Remake"|work=iffr.com|access-date=26 August 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.klix.ba/vijesti/kultura/32-internacionalni-film-festival-rotterdam/030122001|title=32. Internacionalni Film Festival Rotterdam|work=sarajevo-X.com|date=22 January 2003|access-date=27 August 2015|archive-date=7 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407210331/https://www.klix.ba/magazin/kultura/32-internacionalni-film-festival-rotterdam/030122001|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infobiro.ba/article/286978|title=Dino Mustafić novo je veliko ime evropske kinematografije: Njegov film "Remake" najgledaniji je u Rotterdamu|work=infobiro.ba|date=30 January 2003|access-date=26 August 2015|archive-date=14 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214080232/http://www.infobiro.ba/article/286978|url-status=live}}</ref> The 2010 film ''[[The Abandoned (2010 film)|The Abandoned]]'', directed by Adis Bakrač and written by [[Zlatko Topčić]], tells the story of a boy from a home for abandoned children who tries to find the truth about his origins, it being implied that he is the child of a rape. The film premiered at the [[45th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/195733-the-abandoned/|title=KVIFF PROGRAMME|work=kviff.com|date=8 July 2010|access-date=11 November 2017|archive-date=27 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227120223/https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/195733-the-abandoned/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.filmneweurope.com/news/croatia-news/item/5573-fne-at-kviff-2010-east-of-the-west-the-abandoned|title=The Abandoned|work=filmneweurope.com|date=5 July 2010|access-date=11 November 2017|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924012923/http://www.filmneweurope.com/news/croatia-news/item/5573-fne-at-kviff-2010-east-of-the-west-the-abandoned|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.klix.ba/magazin/film-tv/svjetska-premijera-filma-ostavljeni-adisa-bakraca/100701027|title=Svjetska premijera filma "Ostavljeni" Adisa Bakrača|work=klix.ba|date=1 July 2010|access-date=11 November 2017|archive-date=24 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224181137/https://www.klix.ba/magazin/film-tv/svjetska-premijera-filma-ostavljeni-adisa-bakraca/100701027|url-status=live}}</ref>

The 1997 film ''[[The Perfect Circle]]'', directed by Bosnian filmmaker [[Ademir Kenović]], tells the story of two boys during the Siege of Sarajevo and was awarded with the [[François Chalais Prize]] at the 1997 Cannes Festival.

The 1998 film ''[[Savior (film)|Savior]]'', starring Dennis Quaid tells the story of a hardened mercenary in the Foreign Legion who begins to find his own humanity when confronted with atrocities during the fighting in Bosnia.

''[[Pretty Village, Pretty Flame]]'' directed by Serbian filmmaker [[Srđan Dragojević]], presents a bleak yet darkly humorous account of the Bosnian War. The Serbian film ''[[Life Is a Miracle]]'', produced by [[Emir Kusturica]], depicts the romance of a pacific Serb station caretaker and a Muslim Bosniak young woman entrusted to him as a hostage in the context of Bosniak-Serb border clashes; it was nominated at the 2004 Cannes Festival.<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web |title=Festival de Cannes: Life Is a Miracle |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/4200508/year/2004.html |accessdate=2009-11-30 |work=festival-cannes.com |archive-date=2 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141102085916/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/4200508/year/2004.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Short films include ''[[In the Name of the Son (2007 film)|In the Name of the Son]]'', about a father who murders his son during the Bosnian War, and ''[[10 Minutes (2002 film)|10 Minutes]]'', which contrasts 10 minutes of life of a Japanese tourist in Rome with a Bosnian family during the war. ''10 Minutes'' was awarded [[European Film Award for Best Short Film|Best short film of 2002]] by the [[European Film Academy]].<ref name="European Film Awards 20022">{{cite web |title=European Film Awards 2002 |url=http://www.europeanfilmacademy.org/European-Film-Awards-Winners-2002.71.0.html |accessdate=9 April 2016 |publisher=European Film Academy |archive-date=15 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215043414/http://www.europeanfilmacademy.org/European-Film-Awards-Winners-2002.71.0.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

A number of Western films have used the Bosnian conflict as their background – these include ''[[Avenger (film)|Avenger]]'', based on Frederick Forsyth's novel in which a mercenary tracks down a Serbian warlord responsible for war crimes, and ''The Peacemaker'', in which a devastated Yugoslav man plots to take revenge on the United Nations by exploding a nuclear bomb in New York. ''[[The Whistleblower]]'' is based on the story of [[Kathryn Bolkovac]], a UN peacekeeper who uncovered a [[sex trafficking]] scandal in post-war Bosnia. [[Shot_Through_the_Heart_(film)|''Shot Through the Heart'']] is a 1998 TV film, directed by David Attwood, shown on BBC and HBO in 1998, which covers the Siege of Sarajevo during the Bosnian War from the perspective of two Olympic-level Yugoslavian marksmen, one whom becomes a sniper.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Watch Shot Through The Heart |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/rf-watch-online/movies/shot-through-the-heart?adlt=strict&toWww=1&redig=F402AF21126C47CFB7B6F6E480D8AB86 |website=MSN.com |access-date=25 September 2022 |archive-date=25 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925212606/https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/rf-watch-online/movies/shot-through-the-heart?adlt=strict&toWww=1&redig=F402AF21126C47CFB7B6F6E480D8AB86 |url-status=live }}</ref>

''[[Quo Vadis, Aida?]]'' is a 2020 Bosnian film, written and directed by [[Jasmila Žbanić]], about Aida, a [[United Nations|UN]] translator who tries to save her family after the [[Army of Republika Srpska]] takes over the city of [[Srebrenica]] immediately prior to the [[Srebrenica massacre]].<ref name="STimes">{{cite web |url=http://www.sarajevotimes.com/quo-vadis-aida-film-by-bosnian-director-jasmila-zbanic-on-the-venice-biennale/ |title=''Quo Vadis, Aida?'' Film by Bosnia Director Jasmila Zbanic on the Venice Biennale |work=Sarajevo Times |date=29 July 2020 |access-date=31 July 2020 |archive-date=4 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204132641/https://sarajevotimes.com/quo-vadis-aida-film-by-bosnian-director-jasmila-zbanic-on-the-venice-biennale/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Drama series ====
The award-winning British television series, ''[[Warriors (TV series)|Warriors]]'', aired on [[BBC One]] in 1999. It tells the story of a group of British [[peacekeeping|peacekeepers]] during the [[Lašva Valley ethnic cleansing]]. Many of the war's events were depicted in the [[Pakistani drama]] series, ''[[Alpha Bravo Charlie]]'', written and directed by [[Shoaib Mansoor]] in 1998. Produced by the [[Inter-Services Public Relations]] (ISPR), the series showed several active battlefield events and the involvement of [[Pakistan Armed Forces|Pakistan military]] personnel in the [[United Nations peacekeeping missions involving Pakistan|UN peacekeeping missions]]. ''Alpha Bravo Charlie'' was presented on [[Pakistan Television Corporation]] (PTV).

==== Documentaries ====
A BBC documentary series, ''[[The Death of Yugoslavia]]'', covers the collapse of Yugoslavia from the roots of the conflict in the 1980s to the subsequent wars and peace accords, and a BBC book was issued with the same title. Other documentaries include [[Bernard-Henri Lévy]]'s ''Bosna!'' about Bosnian resistance against well equipped Serbian troops at the beginning of the war; the [[Slovenia]]n documentary ''Tunel upanja'' (''A Tunnel of Hope'') about the [[Sarajevo Tunnel]] constructed by the besieged citizens of Sarajevo to link Sarajevo with Bosnian government territory; and the British documentary ''[[A Cry from the Grave]]'' about the [[Srebrenica massacre]]. ''[[Miracle in Bosnia]]'' is a 1995 documentary film shot on the occasion of the third anniversary of the [[Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina]]; it premiered at the [[1995 Cannes Film Festival]] and won the Special Award.<ref name="BHfilm">{{cite web|url=http://bhfilm.ba/bs/film/501|title=ČUDO U BOSNI|work=bhfilm.ba|access-date=5 January 2018|archive-date=21 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210821134459/https://bhfilm.ba/bs/film/501|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b81bde928|title=CUDO U BOSNI (1995)|work=bfi.org.uk|access-date=5 January 2018|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417140000/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b81bde928|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bhdani.ba/portal/arhiva-67-281/251/t25192.shtml|title=Film i rat|work=bhdani.ba|date=5 April 2002|access-date=19 January 2018|archive-date=20 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180120065654/https://www.bhdani.ba/portal/arhiva-67-281/251/t25192.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Bosnian War is a central focus in ''[[The Diplomat (2015 film)|The Diplomat]]'', a documentary about the career of [[Richard Holbrooke]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://balkaninsight.com/2015/08/17/sarajevo-crowds-at-the-holbrooke-diplomat-film-08-17-2015/|title=Sarajevo Festival-Goers Overflow at Holbrooke Film|first=Elvira M.|last=Jukic|publisher=Balkan Insight|date=17 August 2015|access-date=7 May 2019|archive-date=8 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008131408/https://balkaninsight.com/2015/08/17/sarajevo-crowds-at-the-holbrooke-diplomat-film-08-17-2015/|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Yugoslavia: The Avoidable War'' (1999) looks at the wider context of the ex-Yugoslavian civil wars. ''Scream for Me Sarajevo'' is a 2017 documentary directed by Tarik Hodzic about a concert played by [[Bruce Dickinson]], the lead singer of an English [[heavy metal music|heavy metal]] band [[Iron Maiden]] and his band [[Skunkworks (album)|Skunkworks]], in Sarajevo, in late 1994, during the siege.

=== Books ===
[[Semezdin Mehmedinović]]'s ''[[Sarajevo Blues]]'' and [[Miljenko Jergović]]'s ''[[Sarajevo Marlboro]]'' are among the best known books written during the war in Bosnia. ''[[Zlata's Diary]]'' is a published diary kept by a young girl, [[Zlata Filipović]], which chronicles her life in Sarajevo from 1991 to 1993. Because of the diary, she is sometimes referred to as "The Anne Frank of Sarajevo". ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=KW82AAAAQBAJ The Bosnia List]'' by Kenan Trebincevic and [[Susan Shapiro]] chronicles the war through the eyes of a Bosnian refugee returning home for the first time after 18 years in New York.

Other works about the war include:
* ''Bosnia Warriors: Living on the Front Line'', by Major Vaughan Kent-Payne is an account of UN operations in Bosnia written by A British Army infantry officer who was based in Vitez, Central Bosnia for seven months in 1993.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/painful-lessons-in-how-to-say-no-1155925.html|title=Painful lessons in how to say no|last=Whitaker|first=Raymond|date=12 April 1998|work=The Independent|access-date=19 November 2016|archive-date=20 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161120004945/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/painful-lessons-in-how-to-say-no-1155925.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
* ''Necessary Targets'' (by [[Eve Ensler]])
* ''Winter Warriors – Across Bosnia with the PBI'' by Les Howard, a factual account by a [[Army Reserve (United Kingdom)|British Territorial infantryman]] who volunteered to serve as a UN Peacekeeper in the latter stages of the war, and during the first stages of the NATO led Dayton Peace Accord.<ref name="Winter Warriors">{{cite web|url=https://www.warhistoryonline.com/reviews/winter-warriors-review-mark-barnes.html|title=Winter Warriors – Across Bosnia with the PBI review|last=Barnes|first=Mark|date=25 September 2013|publisher=War History Online|access-date=9 April 2016|archive-date=8 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008133814/https://www.warhistoryonline.com/reviews/winter-warriors-review-mark-barnes.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
* ''Pretty Birds'', by [[Scott Simon]], depicts a teenage girl in Sarajevo, once a basketball player on her high school team, who becomes a sniper.
* ''The Cellist of Sarajevo'', by [[Steven Galloway (writer)|Steven Galloway]], is a novel following the stories of four people living in Sarajevo during the war and the impact it has on them.
* ''Life's Too Short to Forgive'', written in 2005 by Len Biser, follows the efforts of three people who unite to assassinate Karadzic to stop Serb atrocities.
* ''Fools Rush In'', written by [[Bill Carter]], tells the story of a man who helped [[1997 U2 concert in Sarajevo|bring U2 to a landmark Sarajevo concert]].
* ''Evil Doesn't Live Here'', by Daoud Sarhandi and Alina Boboc, presents 180 posters created by Bosnian artist which plastered walls during the war.
* ''The Avenger'' by [[Frederick Forsyth]].
* ''Hotel Sarajevo'' by Jack Kersh.
* ''Top je bio vreo'' by Vladimir Kecmanović, a story of a Bosnian Serb boy in the part of Sarajevo held by Bosnian Muslim forces during the [[Siege of Sarajevo]].
* ''I Bog je zaplakao nad Bosnom'' (''And God cried over Bosnia''), written by Momir Krsmanović, is a depiction of war that mainly focuses on the crimes committed by Muslim people.
* ''[[Safe Area Goražde]]'' is a graphic novel by [[Joe Sacco]] about the war in eastern Bosnia.
* ''Dampyr'' is an Italian [[comic book]], created by Mauro Boselli and Maurizio Colombo and published in Italy by [[Sergio Bonelli Editore]] about Harlan Draka, half human, half vampire, who wages war on the multifaceted forces of Evil. The first two episodes are located in Bosnia and Herzegovina (#1 Il figlio del Diavolo) i.e. Sarajevo (#2 La stirpe della note) during the Bosnian War.
* ''Goodbye Sarajevo – A True Story of Courage, Love and Survival'' by Atka Reid and Hana Schofield and published in 2011, is the story of two sisters from Sarajevo and their separate experiences of the war.
* ''Love Thy Neighbor: A Story of War'' (by [[Peter Maass]]), published in 1997 is his account as a reporter at the height of the Bosnian War.
*  ''Shrader, Charles R. (2003). The Muslim-Croat Civil War in Central Bosnia: A Military History'', 1992–1994. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 978-1-58544-261-4.
* ''My War Gone By, I Miss It So'' by [[Anthony Loyd]] is a memoir of Loyd's time spent covering the conflict as a photojournalist and writer.<ref>{{Cite book|title=My War Gone By, I Miss It So|isbn = 0140298541|last1 = Loyd|first1 = Anthony|year = 2001| publisher=Penguin Books }}</ref>
* ''The Pepperdogs'', a 2004 novel by [[Bing West]], features a [[United States Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance]] team caught between sides during the NATO peacekeeping effort.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Pepperdogs|isbn=978-0-7432-3589-1 |last1=West |first1=Francis J. |date=2003 |publisher=Simon & Schuster }}</ref>

=== Music ===

* "[[Miss Sarajevo]]" by [[U2]], featuring [[Bono]] and [[Luciano Pavarotti]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/theticket/2009/0227/1224241848766.html|title=Just the 2 of U|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=27 February 2009|access-date=9 March 2009|archive-date=9 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509084807/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/just-the-2-of-u-1.711046|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* "[[Pure Massacre]]" by [[Silverchair]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zg4EAAAAMBAJ&q=silverchair+pure+massacre+bosnian+war&pg=PA69|title = Billboard|date = 13 January 1996}}</ref>
* "Bosnia" by [[the Cranberries]].
* "Sarajevo" by [[UHF (Portuguese band)|UHF]].
* "Sarajevo" by Greek rock band [[:el:Magic De Spell|Magic De Spell]]
* "[[Sva bol svijeta]]" by [[Fazla]].
* "Nad trupem Jugosławii" by Polish punk rock band [[KSU (band)|KSU]].
* "Sarajevo" by South African rock band [[Piet Botha|Jack Hammer]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://1001sasongs.wordpress.com/2018/07/13/sarajevo-jack-hammer/|title=1001 South African Songs You Must Hear Before You Go Deaf|date=13 July 2018}}</ref>
* The [[concept album]] ''[[Dead Winter Dead]]'' by [[Savatage]] tells a story set during the Bosnian War.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-10-29 |title=The Official Savatage Homepage |url=http://www.savatage.com/bandinfo/faq3.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029190733/http://www.savatage.com/bandinfo/faq3.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-10-29 |access-date=2024-05-15 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Review: Savatage - Dead Winter Dead {{!}} Sputnikmusic |url=https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/28505/Savatage-Dead-Winter-Dead/#:~:text=Dead%20Winter%20Dead,%20as%20a%20matter%20of,but%20Trans-Siberian%20Orchestra,%20the%20brainchild%20of%20producer |access-date=2024-05-15 |website=www.sputnikmusic.com}}</ref>
* American rock band [[Jackopierce]] wrote the song "Anderson's Luck" from their album ''Weather'' based on the siege, describing the life of a couple trying to survive in Sarajevo contrasted with the singer's family, safely watching the events unfold on television.<ref>{{Cite web |title=MoreThanThis.org – JACKOPIERCE Song Meanings & Explanations |url=https://morethanthis.org/jackopierce/jpsongs.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512060902/http://morethanthis.org/jackopierce/jpsongs.htm |archive-date=12 May 2021 |access-date=25 September 2022 |website=morethanthis.org}}</ref>

=== Video games ===
The 2014 video game ''[[This War of Mine]]'' was inspired by the poor living conditions and wartime atrocities that Bosnian civilians endured during the Siege of Sarajevo where the player controls a group of civilian survivors in a makeshift-damaged house.<ref>{{Citation |title=This War of Mine Launch Trailer – The Survivor | date=14 November 2014 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gotK5DLdVvI |access-date=2022-03-07 |archive-date=28 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151228060015/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gotK5DLdVvI |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-09-06 |title=A Review of "This War of Mine" by a Survivor of the Siege of Sarajevo |url=https://www.solidaritypolicy.org/this-war-of-mine/ |access-date=2022-03-07 |website=Solidarity Policy Center |archive-date=7 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307134059/https://www.solidaritypolicy.org/this-war-of-mine/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[1991 population census in Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
* [[1995 NATO bombing in Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
* [[Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
* [[Command responsibility]]
* [[High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
* [[Land mine contamination in Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
* [[List of massacres in the Bosnian War]]
* [[Role of the media in the Yugoslav wars]]
* [[Sarajevo Safari]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist|refs=
{{efn|name=nm|Also known as the "Aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina" ({{langx|sh|Agresija na Bosnu i Hercegovinu}}), the "Defensive-Liberation War" ({{langx|sh|Odbrambeno-oslobodilački rat|links=no}}), the "Defensive-Patriotic War" ({{langx|sh|Obrambeno-otadžbinski rat|links=no}}), the "Homeland War [in Bosnia and Herzegovina]" ({{langx|sh|Domovinski rat [u Bosni i Hercegovini]|links=no}}) and the "Civil War in Bosnia and Herzegovina" ({{langx|sh|Građanski rat u Bosni i Hercegovini|links=no}}), depending on each belligerent's point of view.}}
}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|22em}}

== Bibliography ==

=== Books ===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7SczBzxA6-IC|title=The Yugoslav Crisis in International Law|first1=Daniel|last1=Bethlehem|first2=Marc|last2=Weller|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1997|isbn=9780521463041}}
* {{cite book|last=Bose|first=Sumantra|title=Bosnia After Dayton: Nationalist Partition and International Intervention|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=__l4ZQo_qnQC|year=2002|publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers|isbn=978-1-85065-585-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Bose|first=Sumantra|title=Contested Lands|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KKZcgOJPjVkC|year=2009|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-02856-2}}
* {{cite book|last1=Burg|first1=Steven L.|last2=Shoup|first2=Paul S.|title=Ethnic Conflict and International Intervention: Crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1990-93|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3v3qBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT222|year=2015|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-47101-1}}
* {{cite book|last1=Burg|first1=Steven L.|last2=Shoup|first2=Paul S.|title=The War in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Ethnic Conflict and International Intervention|edition=2nd|url=https://archive.org/details/warinbosniaherze00stev|url-access=registration|year=1999|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-0-7656-3189-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Caspersen|first=Nina|title=Contested Nationalism: Serb Elite Rivalry in Croatia and Bosnia in the 1990s|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UtYcqAF1EegC|year=2010|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-84545-791-4}}
*{{cite book |ref={{harvid|CIA|1993}} |url=http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/files/document_conversions/1817859/1993-07-01b.pdf|title=Combatant Forces in the Former Yugoslavia |author=[[Central Intelligence Agency]] |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |location=Washington, D.C. |year=1993 |access-date=2016-02-27 |archive-date=2013-10-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014203647/http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/files/document_conversions/1817859/1993-07-01b.pdf |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book|ref={{harvid|CIA|2002}}|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_oZpAAAAMAAJ|title=Balkan Battlegrounds: A Military History of the Yugoslav Conflict, 1990–1995, Volume 1|author=[[Central Intelligence Agency]], Office of Russian and European Analysis|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency|location=Washington, D.C.|year=2002|isbn=978-0-16-066472-4}}
* {{cite book|ref={{harvid|CIA|2002b}}|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jodpAAAAMAAJ|title=Balkan Battlegrounds: A Military History of the Yugoslav Conflict, 1990–1995, Volume 2|author=[[Central Intelligence Agency]], Office of Russian and European Analysis|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency|location=Washington, D.C.|year=2002|isbn=978-0-16-066472-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Christia |first=Fotini |title=Alliance Formation in Civil Wars |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |author-link=Fotini Christia |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-13985-175-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=psYgAwAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book|last=Donia|first=Robert J.|title=Sarajevo: A Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ACvJHam2_-oC|year=2006|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=978-0-472-11557-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Finlan| first=Alastair| ref=Finlan| year=2004| publisher=Osprey Publishing| url=https://archive.org/details/collapseofyugosl00alas|url-access=registration| title=The Collapse of Yugoslavia 1991–1999| access-date=16 February 2013| isbn=9781841768052}}
* {{cite book|last=Forsythe| first=David P.| ref=Forsythe| year=2009| publisher=Oxford University Press| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1QbX90fmCVUC|title=Encyclopedia of Human Rights|volume=1| isbn=9780195334029| access-date=4 May 2013}}
* Hall, Richard C. ed. ''War in the Balkans: An Encyclopedic History from the Fall of the Ottoman Empire to the Breakup of Yugoslavia'' (2014)
* {{cite book |last1=Gagnon |first1=V.P. Jr.|title=The Myth of Ethnic War: Serbia and Croatia in the 1990s |date=2006 |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca, New York |isbn=978-0-80147-291-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6vbz_WMRiwEC }}
* {{cite book|last=Hammond|first=Philip|title=Framing Post-Cold War Conflicts: The Media and International Intervention|publisher=Manchester University Press|location=Manchester|year=2007|isbn=978-0-7190-7696-1|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/framingpostcoldw0000hamm}}
* {{cite book|last=Hoff| first=Lee Ann|ref=Hoff| year=2009| publisher=Routledge| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FKLu2v2_KeIC| title=Violence and Abuse Issues: Cross-Cultural Perspectives for Health and Social Services| access-date=18 February 2013| isbn=9780203875629}}
* {{Cite book|last=Logos|first=Aleksandar|title=Istorija Srba 1, Dopuna 4; Istorija Srba 5|url=https://www.academia.edu/42147440|year=2019|isbn=978-86-85117-46-6}}
* {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WPhhLfp8huIC|title=Europe from the Balkans to the Urals: The Disintegration of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union|first1=Reneo|last1=Lukic|first2=Allen|last2=Lynch|publisher=SIPRI, Oxford University Press|year=1996|isbn= 9780198292005}}
* {{cite book |last=Malcolm |first=Noel |author-link=Noel Malcolm |title=Povijest Bosne: kratki pregled |trans-title=Bosnia: A Short History |year=1995 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y8BKAQAACAAJ |publisher=Erasmus Gilda |isbn=9783895470820}}
* {{cite book|last=Mulaj|first=Klejda|title=Politics of Ethnic Cleansing: Nation-state Building and Provision of In/security in Twentieth-century Balkans|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C21t6bdyv3cC|year=2008|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0-7391-1782-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Nettelfield |first=Lara J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Bl9KT9NME0C |title=Courting Democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Hague Tribunal's Impact in a Postwar State |year=2010a |location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-76380-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Phillips |first=R. Cody |year=2005 |title=Bosnia-Herzegovina |publisher=Government Printing Office |isbn=9780160876141 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B2wNSRjHA-8C&pg=PA5}}
*{{cite book|last=Ramet|first=Sabrina P.|title=Central and Southeast European Politics since 1989|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oFXdiS25N78C|year=2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-48750-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Ramet|first=Sabrina P.|title=The Three Yugoslavias: State-Building and Legitimation, 1918–2005|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=2006|location=Bloomington, Indiana|isbn=978-0-253-34656-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FTw3lEqi2-oC}}
* {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c8Xb6x2XYvIC|last=Schindler |first=John R. |title=Unholy Terror: Bosnia, Al-Qa'ida, and the Rise of Global Jihad |location=New York City |publisher=Zenith Press|year=2007 |isbn=9780760330036}}
* {{cite book |last=Seybolt |first=Taylor B. |title=Humanitarian Military Intervention: The Conditions for Success and Failure |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn= 9780199252435 |year=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OZ1-aX84_ggC&pg=PA177}} 
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1_ceXJTw71MC|title=The Muslim-Croat Civil War in Central Bosnia: A Military History, 1992–1994|first=Charles R.|last=Shrader|publisher=[[Texas A&M University Press]]|location=College Station, Texas|year=2003|isbn=978-1-58544-261-4}}
* {{cite book | last = Tanner | first = Marcus | title = Croatia: A Nation Forged in War | publisher = Yale University Press | location = New Haven | year = 2001 | isbn = 978-0-300-09125-0 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=sfcpsAoSoewC }}
* {{cite book|last=Trbovich|first=Ana S.|title=A Legal Geography of Yugoslavia's Disintegration|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ojur7dVoxIcC&pg=PA190|year=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=978-0-19-533343-5}}
*{{cite book |last=Totten |first=Samuel |author-link=Samuel Totten |title=Genocide at the Millennium |publisher=Routledge |location=London |year=2017
|isbn=9781351517836 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=giRBDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT21 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Wood|first1=Elisabeth J.|editor=Miranda A.H Horvath, Jessica Woodhams|title=Handbook on the Study of Multiple Perpetrator Rape: A multidisciplinary response to an international problem|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=978-0-415-50044-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t2CVyL_-P7sC}}
{{refend}}

=== Journals ===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Baker, Catherine. "Between the round table and the waiting room: Scholarship on war and peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo after the 'Post-Cold War'." ''Contemporary European History'' 28.1 (2019): 107–119. [https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/preview/1285465/1159089.pdf online]
* {{cite journal |title= A Brief History of Ethnic Cleansing |first=Andrew |last=Bell-Fialkoff |journal=[[Foreign Affairs]] |volume=72 |issue=3 |year=1993 |pages=110–121 |doi=10.2307/20045626 |jstor=20045626 |s2cid=27821821}} 
* {{cite journal |last=Haddad |first=Heidi Nichols |title=Mobilizing the Will to Prosecute: Crimes of Rape at the Yugoslav and Rwandan Tribunals |journal=[[Human Rights Review]] |volume=12 |year=2011 |pages=109–132 |doi=10.1007/s12142-010-0163-x |s2cid=55172255|doi-access=free }}
*{{cite journal |last=Lučić |first=Ivo |title=Bosna i Hercegovina od prvih izbora do međunarodnog priznanja |trans-title=Bosnia and Herzegovina from the first elections to international recognition |date=June 2008 |url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/27111?lang=en |journal=Review of Contemporary History |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=107–140 |publisher=Croatian Institute of History |location=Zagreb, Croatia}}
*{{cite journal|url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/67477?lang=en|title=Deconstructing a myth: Franjo Tuđman and Bosnia and Herzegovina|first=Jure|last=Krišto|pages=37–66|issue=1|volume=6|date=April 2011|journal=Review of Croatian History}}
*{{cite journal|url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/103326?lang=en|journal=Journal of Contemporary History|title=Expert Opinion: On the War Connections of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (1991–1995)|volume=36|year=2004|first=Davor|last=Marijan|pages=249–289}}
*{{cite journal|title=Forced Migration and Refugee Flows in Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina: Early Warning, Beginning and Current State of Flows|first1=Silva|last1=Meznaric|first2=Jelena|last2=Zlatkovic Winter|pages=3–4|journal=Refuge|volume=12|number=7|date=February 1993|doi=10.25071/1920-7336.21183|url=http://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/refuge/article/download/21183/19854|doi-access=free}}
*{{cite journal|url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=24047&lang=en|title=Franjo Tuđman and the Muslim-Croat War of 1993|first=James J.|last=Sadkovich|pages=204–245|volume=2|issue=1|date=January 2007|journal=Review of Croatian History|issn=1845-4380}}
*{{cite journal|url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/116628?lang=en|title=Prikaz i analiza borbi na bosanskoposavskom bojištu 1992.|trans-title=Analysis of the Military Conflict on the Bosnian-Posavina Battlefront in 1992|last1=Tomas|first1=Mario|last2=Nazor|first2=Ante | authorlink2 = Ante Nazor (historian) |pages=277–315|volume=13|issue=1|date=October 2013|journal=Scrinia Slavonica|issn=1848-9109}}
{{refend}}

=== Other sources===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite news |ref={{harvid|Večernje novosti|16 June 2011}} |newspaper=[[Večernje novosti]] |date=16 June 2011 |url=http://www.novosti.rs/vesti/planeta.70.html:335714-u-koridor |language=sr |title=U Koridoru temelji Srpske|trans-title=Republika Srpska Foundation in the Corridor |first=V. |last=Blagojević |archive-date=10 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710071202/http://www.novosti.rs/vesti/planeta.70.html:335714-u-koridor |url-status=live}}
* {{cite web |last=Koknar |first=Ali M. |url=http://www.bosnia.org.uk/news/news_body.cfm?newsid=1766 |title=The Kontraktniki : Russian mercenaries at war in the Balkans |date=14 July 2003 |publisher=[[Bosnian Institute]] |access-date=17 February 2010 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304083455/http://www.bosnia.org.uk/news/news_body.cfm?newsid=1766 |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite news |ref={{harvid|Vreme|23 January 1999}} |newspaper=Vreme |date=23 January 1999 |url=http://www.vreme.com/arhiva_html/431/8.html |language=sr |title=Politika falsifikata |trans-title=A forged policy |first=Miloš |last=Vasić |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021226155854/http://www.vreme.com/arhiva_html/431/8.html |archive-date=26 December 2002}}
* {{cite web|title=Appeals Chamber Judgement in the Case ''The Prosecutor v. Tihomir Blaškić''|ref={{harvid|Blaškić Appeals Chamber Judgement|2004}}|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/blaskic/acjug/en/040730_Blaki_summary_en.pdf|publisher=International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia|date=29 July 2004}}
* {{cite web|title=Prosecutor v. Ćurić Enes, Demirović Ibrahim, Kreso Samir, Čopelja Habib and Kaminić Mehmed|ref={{harvid|Ćurić Enes et al.|2015}}|url=http://www.sudbih.gov.ba/predmet/3350/show|publisher=The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina|date=2015|access-date=12 November 2017|archive-date=22 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220222161541/http://www.sudbih.gov.ba/predmet/3350/show|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite web|title=Judgement Summary for Rasim Delić|ref={{harvid|Delić Trial Chamber Judgement|2008}}|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/delic/tjug/en/080915_Delic_summary_en.pdf|publisher=International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia|date=15 September 2008}}
* {{cite web|title=Summary of the Judgement for Enver Hadžihasanović and Amir Kubura|ref={{harvid|Hadžihasanović & Kubura Trial Chamber Judgement|2006}}|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/hadzihasanovic_kubura/tjug/en/060315_Hadzihasanovic_Kubura_summary_en.pdf|publisher=International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia|date=15 March 2006 }}
* {{cite web|ref={{harvid|Halilović Trial Chamber Judgement|2005}}|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/halilovic/tjug/en/051116_halilovic_summary_en.pdf|title=Judgement in the Case ''The Prosecutor v. Sefer Halilović''|publisher=International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia|date=16 November 2005}}
* {{cite web|title=Prosecutor v. Radovan Karadžić| url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/karadzic/tjug/en/160324_judgement.pdf |publisher=International Criminal tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia|date=24 March 2016|location=The Hague|ref={{harvid|Karadžić Trial Chamber Judgement|2016}}}}
* {{cite web|title=Appeals Chamber Judgement in the Case ''The Prosecutor v. Dario Kordić and Mario Čerkez''|ref={{harvid|Kordić & Čerkez Appeals Chamber Judgement|2004}}|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/kordic_cerkez/acjug/en/040117_Kordi_erkez_summary_en.pdf|publisher=International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia|date=17 December 2004}}
* {{cite web|ref={{harvid|Krstić Appeals Chamber Judgement|2004}}|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/krstic/acjug/en/040419_Krsti_summary_en.pdf|title=Appeals Chamber Judgement in the Case ''The Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstić''|publisher=International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia|date=19 April 2004}}
* {{cite web|title=Prosecutor v. Ratko Mladić| url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/mladic/tjug/en/171122-4of5_1.pdf |publisher=International Criminal tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia|date=22 November 2017|location=The Hague|ref={{harvid|Mladić Trial Chamber Judgement|2017}}}}
* {{cite web|title=Summary of the Sentencing Judgement for Ivica Rajić|ref={{harvid|Rajić Judgement Summary|2006}}|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/rajic/tjug/en/060508_Rajic_summary_en.pdf|publisher=International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia|date=8 May 2006}}
*{{cite web |ref={{harvid|Prlic et al.|2013}} |url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/prlic/tjug/en/130529_summary_en.pdf |title=Prosecutor v. Jadranko Prlić, Bruno Stojić, Slobodan Praljak, Milivoj Petković, Valentin Ćorić, Berislav Pušić – Judgement Summary |publisher=International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia |date=29 May 2013}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Bosnian War}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121101044516/http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/tag-group-topics/future-of-bosnia/ Future of Bosnia and Hercegovina] [[Balkan Insight]]
* {{Cite web|url=http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/mis_bos.nsf/bottin|title=List of people missing from the war|access-date=June 16, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090403021929/http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/mis_bos.nsf/bottin|archive-date=April 3, 2009|url-status=dead}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060617152310/http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/comexpert/ANX/VIII-01.htm UN report on prison camps during the war]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070312022449/http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/0/333378630589b6d680256674005bc280?Opendocument Open UN document on Serb atrocities towards non-Serbs]
* [https://hrw.org/reports/2004/ij/icty/2.htm Summary of the ICTY verdicts related to the conflict between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]
* [https://hrw.org/reports/2004/ij/icty/2.htm Summary of the ICTY verdicts related to the conflict between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia]
* Roy, Pinaki. "''Bosnian War Requiems'': Snippets of the Balkan Commemorations". ''The Atlantic Critical Review Quarterly''. 10(4), October–December 2011. pp.&nbsp;95–115. {{ISBN|978-81-269-1675-7}}, ISSN 0972-6373.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090302141103/http://www.throughmyeyes.org.uk/server/show/nav.23333 Through My Eyes Website] Imperial War Museum – Online Exhibition (Including images, video and interviews with refugees from the war in Bosnia)
*[https://omniatlas.com/maps/europe/19920622/ Map of Europe showing the Bosnian War (omniatlas.com)]
*[https://www.amazon.com/dp/1534774696/ "Quest For War, and One Green Beret's Subsequent Evolution" contains insights on postwar activities by "Joint Commissioned Observers"]
* {{Citation|url=http://heritage.sensecentar.org/|title=Targeting History and Memory|publisher=SENSE – Transitional Justice Center}} (dedicated to the study, research, and documentation of the destruction and damage of historic heritage during the Balkan Wars of the 1990s. The website contains judicial documents from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)).

{{Bosnian War}}
{{Yugoslav wars}}
{{Post-Cold War European conflicts}}
{{Bosnia and Herzegovina topics}}
{{Yugoslavia topics}}
{{Alija Izetbegović}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Bosnian War| ]]
[[Category:Wars of independence]]
[[Category:Wars involving Croatia|Bosnia]]
[[Category:Wars involving Serbia|Bosnia]]
[[Category:Wars involving NATO|Bosnia]]
[[Category:1992 in Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
[[Category:1993 in Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
[[Category:1994 in Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
[[Category:1995 in Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
[[Category:Bosnia and Herzegovina–Croatia relations]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1992]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1993]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1994]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1995]]