Republika Srpska - History

History

The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was one of Yugoslavia's six federal units, defined in its constitution as a state of equal citizens, Muslims, Serbs, Croats and others. The 1991 population census counted 43% Muslims, renamed Bosniaks in 1993, 31% Serbs, and 17% Croats, the remainder being Yugoslavs and others. The first democratic multi-party elections in the republic were held on 18 November 1990. Most seats in its parliament were won by political parties that represented the three peoples: the Party of Democratic Action, the Serb Democratic Party, and the Croatian Democratic Union. The three parties reached a power sharing agreement covering all government bodies and public institutions.

In a session on 14 and 15 October 1991 the Parliament approved the "Memorandum on Sovereignty" as had already been done by Slovenia and Croatia. The Memorandum was adopted despite opposition from 73 Serb deputies, belonging to the Serb Democratic Party (most of the Serb parliamentary representatives) as well as the Serbian Renewal Movement and the Union of Reform Forces, who regarded the move as illegal. On 24 October 1991, the Serb deputies formed the Assembly of the Serb People in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Skupština srpskog naroda u Bosni i Hercegovini) to be the highest representative and legislative body of the Serb population, ending the tripartite coalition.

The Union of Reform Forces soon ceased to exist but its members remained in the assembly as the Independent Members of Parliament Caucus. The assembly undertook to address the achievement of equality between the Serbs and other peoples and the protection of the Serbs' interests jeopardized by decisions of the Bosnian parliament. On 9 January 1992, the assembly proclaimed the Republic of the Serb People of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Republika srpskog naroda Bosne i Hercegovine), declaring it part of Yugoslavia. On 28 February 1992 the assembly adopted the Constitution of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the name adopted instead of the previous Republika srpskog naroda Bosne i Hercegovine). Its territory would include districts, municipalities, and regions where Serbs were the majority and also those where they had become a minority because of persecution during World War II. The republic was part of Yugoslavia and could enter into union with political bodies representing other peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Bosnian parliament, without its Serb deputies, held a referendum on the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 29 February and 1 March 1992, but most Serbs boycotted it since the assembly had previously (9–10 November 1991) held a plebiscite in the Serb regions, 96% having opted for membership of the Yugoslav federation formed only by Serbia and Montenegro. The referendum had a 64% turnout and 92.7% or 99% (according to different sources) voted for independence. On 6 March the Bosnian parliament promulgated the results of the referendum, proclaiming the republic's independence from Yugoslavia. The republic's independence was recognized by the European Community on 6 April 1992 and by the USA on 7 April. On the same day the Serbs' assembly in session in Banja Luka declared a severance of governmental ties with Bosnia and Herzegovina. The name Republika Srpska was adopted on 12 August 1992.

Radovan Karadžić (left), former president of Republika Srpska, and Ratko Mladić (right), former Chief of Staff of the Army of the Republika Srpska; both accused of war crimes by the ICJ in The Hague.

The political controversy escalated into the Bosnian War, which would last until the autumn of 1995. According to numerous verdicts of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Bosnian Serb forces performed ethnic cleansing in their intended territories in order to create an ethnically pure state of Republika Srpska. Republika Srpska's leadership including Biljana Plavšić, Momčilo Krajišnik, and Radoslav Brđanin were indicted and judged guilty for war crimes and ethnic cleansing. The former president of Republika Srpska, Radovan Karadžić, is currently under trial. The top military general, Ratko Mladić, was arrested on the 26 May 2011 in connection with the siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre. The war was ended by the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio on 21 November and formally signed in Paris on 14 December 1995. Annex 4 of the Agreement is the current Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, recognising Republka Srpska as one of its two main political-territorial divisions and defining the governmental functions and powers of the both entities. The boundary lines between the entities were delineated in Annex 2 of the Agreement. From 1992 to 2008 the Constitution of Republika Srpska was amended 121 times. Article 1 states that Republika Srpska is a territorially unified, indivisible and inalienable constitutional and legal entity that shall independently perform its constitutional, legislative, executive and judicial functions.