| Jan 1, 501 - May 31, 650 | Croats from Ukraine migrated into areas directly south of Slovenia and along Adriatic coast including Dalmatia and Croatia. Serbs settled in regions of present-day Bosnia-Hercegovina. |
| 602 | Slavs from Ukraine and southern Russia invaded the Balkans. Slavs in the Balkans eventually split into several distinct groups: Slovenes in the northwest, Croats to the south, and Serbs to the southeast. |
| 701 - 800 | Slovenes submitted to domination by German Franks and were converted to Roman Catholicism. |
| 801 - 900 | Croat areas were divided with northern Croats near Slovenia under the control of the Franks and Dalmatia under the control of the Eastern Empire. |
| 901 - 1000 | Croats overcame domination of outside powers and began to develop sense of common identity. Both Croat regions united under Tomislav in about 924. He was recognized by the pope as king of the territory which he expanded inland to include parts of Bosnia. Tomislav's kingdom lasted about 200 years. Other areas of Bosnia separated from Serbia began to develop their own identity. |
| 1001 - 1100 | Yugoslavia was divided into Eastern and Western Roman Empires of Diocletian and Theodosius. This created a predominantly Roman Catholic western half and Eastern Orthodox eastern half. |
| 1101 - 1200 | Bogomilism, a Christian heretical faith from Bulgaria, gained popular support as a form of opposition to proselytization efforts by Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians. Religious struggles with Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches persisted for about 200 years. |
| 1102 | After a succession struggle, Croatian nobles handed power over to the king of Hungary with the Pope's blessing. They retained close ties to Hungary until 1918. |
| 1250 - 1300 | Slovenes came under control of the Hapsburg Empire, but were subjected to numerous Turkish raids along with other Slav regions. |
| 1301 - 1400 | The Turkish conquest of Yugoslavia led to the conversion of large numbers of Bosnia's population to Islam. Eastern areas including most of Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia remained Eastern Orthodox. Northern regions of Croatia and Slovenia remained Roman Catholic. |
| 1389 | The Serbian army was defeated by Turks in the Battle of Kosovo. This led to Muslim influence in the Kosovo region. |
| 1401 - 1450 | Bosnian noble Stephen Vuksic gained control of lands in the southern part of Bosnia, and adopted the title of Herzog, the German equivalent of duke. The name Hercegovina derived to distinguish the region under Herzog's rule. |
| 1459 | The Serb defeat at Smederovo led to Turkish occupation of Serbia. This occupation lasted 350 years. Only Montenegro resisted the Turkish advance and remained under Serbian control. During the first 200 years of occupation, Turkish rule was tolerant towards Serbian culture and religion. Most Serbs left cities and towns to Turkish administrators and emigrants and migrated to rural, agrarian villages where they enjoyed substantial autonomy. |
| 1483 | Hercegovina fell to the Turks. Islamized nobles and peasants in Bosnia and Herzegovina were rewarded with land and other privileges while Christian nobles were killed and Christian peasants oppressed. |
| 1526 | The Turkish defeat of Hungarians and their king's death led to Turkish control of most of Croatia. |
| 1601 - 1700 | The Centralization campaign of the Habsburgs led to the imposition of German as the official language in Slovenia and to an increasingly feudal state of serfdom for most Slovenes. |
| 1691 - 1750 | Serbs' support of Habsburgs' attempts to force Turks out of Serbia led to reprisals from Turkish administrators and Serb migration to Habsburg-controlled Vojvodina. Turkish administrators became increasingly repressive of the Serb population as the central government's ability to control them from Constantinople declined. |
| 1699 | The Habsburgs regained control over southern Croatia, northern Bosnia, Vojvodina, and the area along northern Serbia. Habsburg-controlled lands were settled by Croat peasants, Germans, and Serb refugees from Ottoman rule. |
| 1701 - 1750 | Christian peasants revolted against Islamic nobles. |
| 1804 - 1813 | A Serbian revolt took advantage of the Turks' weakness during the Russian occupation of the Balkan provinces. The Serbs briefly established their own government in Belgrade. Russia withdrew its troops after being invaded by Napoleon in 1812 and the Turks moved against Serbs. The Serbs were defeated in 1813. |
| 1809 - 1815 | The period of Napoleonic control over Slovenia led to a brief improvement in material living conditions, educational opportunities, and language rights for most Slovenes. Although control was formally returned to the Habsburgs following Napoleon's defeat, the Slovene sense of nationalism and independence remained strong. |
| 1817 - 1882 | The second Serbian revolt forced Turks to grant Serbs considerable autonomy. By 1830, Serbs, with Russian support, forced the Turks to grant Serbia the status of an autonomous principality. Russian protection continued, with Serbia gaining full independence from Turkey in 1878 and the Serbian ruler assuming role of king in 1882. Serbia's independence from Turkey was first recognized at the Congress of Berlin as a reward for supporting Austria by declaring war on Turkey and supporting Bosnian peasant uprisings in 1876. |
| 1850 | The Turkish government overthrew the Bosnian aristocracy and assumed direct control of local administration. |
| 1875 | Rebellions by Christian serfs escalated to a state of general revolt in Bosnia and Herzegovina. |
| 1876 | Serbia and Montenegro declared war against Turkey in support of Bosnia-Herzegovina revolt. |
| 1877 - 1878 | Russia entered the war against Turkey and the Turks were defeated in January 1878. The Russian-dictated Treaty of San Stefano was signed in March 1878 and provided for recognition of an autonomous government in Bosnia-Herzegovina. With the Treaty of Berlin in July 1878, the Habsburg and British governments responded to the threat of Russian influence in the Balkans by placing Bosnia-Herzegovina under temporary administration of Austria-Hungary. |
| 1882 - 1905 | Period of Austro-Hungarian control and dominance over Serbia and its economy. |
| 1903 | The assassination of Serbian King Alexander and his wife led to the parliamentary election of King Peter Karadjordjevic. Karadjordjevic initiated a process of domestic liberalization and moved towards increasing independence in international economic relations. |
| 1908 - 1914 | Austria annexed Bosnia-Hercegovina outright in 1908 to counter Serbs' expansionist aims. Annexation was opposed by both Serbia and Montenegro, with diplomatic support from Russia and Britain. Germany supported Austria's annexation, forming the outline for the major alliances to take shape during World War I. Under annexation, Bosnians were denied self-rule as Austro-Hungarian officials were brought in from other areas to administer the territory. Nationalist tendencies in Bosnia became widespread and divided local population with Easter orthodox Serbs wanting to unite with Serbia, Catholics wanting to remain part of Austria-Hungary, and Muslims divided or opposed to both positions. |
| 1911 - 1913 | An alliance between Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, and Montenegro defeated Turkey in the first Balkan War in 1912. Then, a dispute between Serbia and Bulgaria over sharing Macedonia led to war between the two former allies, with Greece, Montenegro, and Romania supporting Serbs. The defeat of Turkey in July 1913 extended the area of Serbian control southward to include most of present-day Macedonia. |
| 1914 | Following the assassination of Habsburg Archduke Franz-Ferdinand by a Bosnian Serb supporter in Sarajevo on July 28, Austria issued ultimatum to Serbia. Serbia rejected the ultimatum and Austria declared war on Serbia. Germany aligned with Austria while Britain, France, and Russia aligned with the Serbs. In December 1914, Serbia endorsed Croatia's original idea of "Yugoslavism", calling for unification of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes into a single state. |
| 1915 - 1917 | The secretly-signed Ally Treaty of London, April 26, 1915, granting territory of Dalmatia and western Slovenia to Italy, was uncovered and provided the impetus for the peoples of Yugoslavia to resist takeover by yet another foreign power. The Yugoslav Committee was organized by Ante Trumbic to fight for the creation of a Yugoslav state with Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes as equal partners. Serbian Premier Nikola Pasic sought to unify groups under Serbian leadership, but moderated his position after the fall of Russian Tsars in 1917 and the resulting loss of Russian support for Serbia. The July 20, 1917, Declaration of Corfu called for creation of an independent kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes with government by a constitutional, democratic monarchy, and equal rights for Muslims and Christians. The question of equal partnership or Serbian control was left unresolved by the Declaration. |
| 1918 | A Croatian, Serb, and Slovene National Council was formed in Zagreb on October 29, 1918. It declared secession from the Austro-Hungarian empire and began working towards unification. Local assemblies in Bosnia and Herzegovina decided to join the unification drive. Montenegro renounced its sovereignty in November 1918, and joined the unification effort. King Alexander proclaimed the formation of the Kingodom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes in Belgrade on December 1, 1918. Following the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Western Allied Powers agreed to the creation of a unified Yugoslav state consisting of Serbia, Montenegro, and northern Macedonia. It was officially known as the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. Territorial disputes with Allied Powers persisted over areas which Allies had promised to Albania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Austria, and Romania. Most Yugoslav demands for territory were eventually met, except for the Italian-controlled areas of Styria, Carinthia, Istria, Fiume, and Zadar in the northern Adriatic coastal areas. Approximately 720,000 Yugoslavs remained outside of Yugoslavia's borders, while more than 1 million non-Slavs were included within Yugoslav borders. |
| Jan 1919 | Regional socioeconomic differences persisted and grew as the more-developed northern regions of Slovenia, Croatia, and Vojvodina became industrial centers, while Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Montenegro remained rural, agrarian societies. A Land Reform Manifesto initiated the removal of feudal arrangements in Macedonia and Montenegro, and the distribution of land from large estate-holders to peasants throughout rural Yugoslavia. Land reform was not completed until 1940. |
| Jan 28, 1921 | Serbs in the Constituent Assembly, with strong opposition from Croats, imposed the Vodovdan Constitution which enacted policies of strict centralization. |
| 1929 | King Alexander imposed a dictatorship on Yugoslavia after Croat Constituent Assembly member Stjepan Radic was assassinated by a Montenegrin. Five other deputies were also killed. Political parties and most political rights were abolished. Croatian Ustase separatists fled to Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Germany. |
| Sep 1931 | Alexander ended the dictatorship and permitted some political party activity, but most restrictions on rights remained in effect. Political laws and restrictions had the effect of weakening Serb-dominated parties while strengthening non-Serb parties during the 1930s. Hostility between Yugoslavia and Italy strengthened with Mussolini's support for Ustase. Bulgaria harbored the Macedonian terrorist group, IMRO. |
| Oct 9, 1934 | King Alexander was assassinated by IMRO, with reported financial backing by Ustase, during a trip to Marseille, France. |
| 1935 - 1937 | Milan Stojadinovic was elected Premier in May 1935, with support from Serbian radicals, Slovene populists, and Muslims. Stojadinovic signed treaties with Italy and Bulgaria in 1937. Italy agreed to stop supporting the Ustase in exchange for recognizing Italian claims on Albania. The agreement was reportedly breached by Italy. Stojadinovic also held talks with Hitler in Germany. |
| 1939 | Dragisa Cvetcovic was elected Prime Minister and replaced Stojadinovic. Cvetcovic reached an agreement with Croatia on August 26, 1939, uniting Croatia, Dalmatia, and seven other predominantly Croat districts into a single province with substantial autonomy. Under pressure, Cvetcovic joined the German-led Anticomintern Pact, effectively joining the Axis alliance. Army officers opposed to the Pact staged a coup on March 26-27. They proclaimed Peter II King and General Dusan Simovic Prime Minister. Although Simovic said Yugoslavia would honor the Pact agreement, he said Yugoslavia would not join the Axis war effort. Axis powers invaded Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941. After Yugoslavia's defeat, Germany annexed northern Slovenia and place Serbia under its direct military authority. Croatia was declared a nominally 'independent' state. Italy was given control of southern Slovenia and Montenegro. Italian-controlled Albania was given control over Kosovo. Bulgaria received southeastern Macedonia, eastern Serbia, and part of Kosovo. Hungary was given most of Vojvodina. |
| 1941 - 1944 | Ustase proclaimed independence in Croatia shortly before German invasion and Ustase leader Ante Pavelic was flown in from Italy to assume leadership. The Croatian state included the territory of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. With nearly 1/3 of the population in the Croatian state being Serbs, Ustase initiated an anti-Serb campaign of massacres, expulsions, and forced conversions to Catholicism. Croatian concentration camps were established for Serbs, Jews, and Croatian political opponents. Former Yugoslav Royal Army members in Serbia led by Col. Draza Mihailovic formed Cetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army of the Fatherland. Although the Cetniks were forming armies and stockpiling arms with British assistance, Mihailovic did not advocate immediate uprising for fear of harsh oppression by German occupation forces. Cetniks at times even collaboratd with German authorities and the German-controlled government. The Communist Party of Yugoslavia organized uprisings against German occupation after Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. Communist Partisan forces led by Josip Broz Tito began fighting in July 1941 in Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. Efforts to join forces with Cetniks failed due to ideological differences and in November 1941, the Cetniks attempted and failed to overrun the Partisans' headquarters. For two years, the Partisans' resistance was unsuccessful, with defeats in Serbian forcing a retreat into Bosnia, and a forced retreat into Montenegro in February 1943. In addition to German forces, Partisans faced counter-resistance from Italian forces, Croatian Ustase, and the Cetniks. The Partisans became more successful after Italy's defeat to the Allies in June 1943 and their withdrawal from Yugoslav territory. Allied leaders Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin switched support from Cetniks to Partisans, due to the Cetniks' reluctance to fight the Germans, and the exiled Yugoslav King Peter reached an agreement with the Partisans in the summer of 1944, calling on all Yugoslavs to respect the Partisans, and causing many Yugoslavs to switch allegiances from the government in exile to the Partisans. Although Tito's Council for National Liberation included members of Yugoslavia's prewar parliament and called for the formation of a constituent assembly after Belgrade was liberated by Soviet troops on October 20, 1944, Tito was installed as Prime Minister. |
| 1945 - 1946 | With Germany's defeat, Ustase leader Ante Pavelic and numerous Croat civilians fled Croatia and attempted to surrender to Allied forces in Austria. Allied forces rejected the Croats' surrender and forced the return of approximately 250,000 Croats to Yugoslavia, where many were immediately executed by Partisans. Cetnik leader Mihailovic was captured and executed as a traitor by the Partisans. The Communist-organized People's Front (Narodni Front) weakened and suppressed other political parties and won elections. The Constituent Assembly of November 29, 1945, formally abolished the Yugoslav monarchy and established the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. A new Constitution was unanimously approved by the Assembly on January 31, 1946. It established six constituent republics of Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Macedonia. Autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina were created within Serbia. The authority of individual republics was subordinated to the central government in most substantial matters, and in areas left to republics' authority, they were still monitored by the central government. |
| 1945 - 1948 | Government persecution of Serbian Orthodox and Croatian Catholic churches occurred. Serbian Orthodox Church property was confiscated while schools and convents were closed. Croatina Catholic archbishop Alozije Stepinac openly supported the creation of an independent Croatian state during World War II and opposed harsh policies of Croatian government only weakly. After publicly voicing anticommunist sentiments, Stepinac was arrested and sentenced to 16 years' hard labor in 1946. |
| 1948 | Disappointment with the amount of actual aid from the Soviet Union and Yugoslav efforts to pursue independent foreign relations on a regional level led to a break with the Soviet Union and isolation from neighboring communist states. |
| 1952 | The official policy of decentralization led to increasing local autonomy in various regions. The League of Communists of Yugoslavia and the central government still retained most effective control, though less direct than before. |
| 1966 - 1972 | Moslems in the Bosnian League of Communists successfully pressured the governing League of Communists party in Belgrade to elevate their official status from that of a national minority to constituent nation by 1971. |
| 1970 | The government granted concessions in response to Croat and Slovene demands regarding allocations from the Federal Investment Fund and increasing the republics' autonomy. Tito's apparent concessions to nationalist demands were limited, however, as he responded to student demonstrations in Zagreb and Croatian leaders' apparent support by arresting more than 400 students and purging Croatian Communist Party leaders. |
| 1974 | The Moslems' national status was established in the new Yugoslav constitution after they successfully argue that their status as a nation would dilute conflict between Serbs and Croats in Bosnia. |
| Oct 1990 | The Serb Democratic Party was established in Bosnia and declared itself the representative of Bosnian Serbs. The Serb National Assembly and Serb National Council were established in Banjaluka, Bosnia. This was followed by the establishment of six Serb Autonomous Regions in Bosnia: Bosanska Krajina, Northern Bosnia, Northeastern Bosnia, Romanija, Herzegovina, and Old Herzegovina. These autonomous regions were eventually declared parts of 'Serb Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina'. |
| Mar 1991 | Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic agreed on principle to dividing Bosnian territory to unite republics with Croatian and Serbian communities in Bosnia. |
| Jun 25, 1991 | Croatia and Slovenia proclaimed independence. |
| Jun 27, 1991 | Fighting erupted in Slovenia after the Yugoslav army sent tanks to crush its independence bid. Rising tension in Croatia, where the Serbian minority opposed independence moves, soon turned violent. |
| Jul 1991 | Following the outbreak of war between Croatia and Serbia, Croat President Tudjman publicly proposed a Serb-Croat division of Bosnia-Herzegovina as a solution to Serb-Croat conflict. |
| Aug 1991 | Yugoslav Prime Minister Ante Markovic disclosed ongoing deliveries of arms from Serb-dominated Yugoslav National Army to Serb communities in Bosnia. |
| Oct 3, 1991 | Serbia and its allies used emergency powers to take control of the collective Yugoslav presidency without Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina attending sessions. |
| Dec 20, 1991 | Bosnia-Herzegovina applied to the European Community (EC) for recognition as a sovereign state. |
| Dec 21, 1991 | Bosnian Serbs proclaimed their own republic after a referendum against independence from Yugoslavia. |
| Dec 24, 1991 | Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia and Croatia formally applied for EC recognition. |
| Jan 15, 1992 | EC date from which its 12 members may recognize and set up full diplomatic relations with any of the four former Yugoslav republics which have declared independence. |
| Mar 3, 1992 | Bosnian independence was confirmed in a Moslem-Croat referendum boycotted by the Serbs. |
| Apr 4, 1992 | The first Serb barricades appeared in Sarajevo and were dismantled after a residents' march challenged masked gunmen. |
| Apr 6, 1992 | The EC recognized Bosnia-Herzegovina as independent. Fighting erupted in Sarajevo as a Serb siege began. |
| May 7, 1992 | Serb forces were reported to have control of about two-thirds of Bosnian territory. Before the war, Serbs were the dominant population in about 60% of Bosnian, but mainly in rural areas. |
| May 27, 1992 | A mortar attack on a bread queue in Sarajevo killed at least 20 people and wounded 70. This attack caused international outrage. |
| Jun 30, 1992 | Relief flights reached Sarajevo for the first time. |
| Jul 3, 1992 | An international relief airlift to Sarajevo began. |
| Jul 17, 1992 | Leaders of the three warring factions in Bosnia signed in London the first in a series of abortive ceasefires. |
| Jul 29, 1992 | Serbs were reported to control about 70% of Bosnian territory. |
| Aug 6, 1992 | The World was shocked by television pictures of emaciated captives in Serb-run detention camps in Bosnia. |
| Aug 20, 1992 | Croats were reported to control most of the remaining territory not under Serb control, mostly in eastern areas along the Adriatic coastal area of Croatia. |
| Aug 28, 1992 | London peace talks ended with Bosnian Serbs offering to hand all heavy weapons to the United Nations. |
| Sep 3, 1992 | An international conference, chaired by U.N representative Cyrus Vance and E.C. representative Lord Owen opened in Geneva. |
| Oct 7, 1992 | Bosnian Serb forces captured Bosanski Brod on the Croatian border thereby gaining control of the vital North Bosnian corridor. The U.N. Security Council decided to establish a war crimes commission to investigate atrocities in Bosnia and Croatia. |
| Oct 9, 1992 | The Security Council banned military flights over Bosnia. |
| Oct 23, 1992 | Croat forces trying to expand a newly declared ethnic mini-state ransacked the town of Prozor and expelled the Moslem majority. This splintered the alliance between Coats and Moslems against the Serbs. |
| Oct 28, 1992 | International mediators proposed a new-style Bosnian state with a central government and 10 autonomous regions. Muslims were reported to be holding only 10% of Bosnian territory. |
| Nov 1, 1992 - Mar 31, 1993 | Croat-Moslem skirmishing spread in central Bosnia. Each side traded accusations of provocations and forcible subordinate of each other's units. |
| Nov 16, 1992 | The U.N. Security Council authorized a naval blockade of Serbia and Montenegro, the remaining Yugoslav republics, for Belgrade's support of Bosnian Serbs. |
| Nov 30, 1992 | Croats were reported to be holding more than 20% of Bosnian territory. |
| Dec 16, 1992 | Foreign ministers and officials from 29 countries met in Geneva to discuss the Yugoslav crisis. U.S. Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger named Karadzic and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic as potential defendants in future war crimes trials. |
| Jan 3, 1993 | Cyrus Vance and Lord Owen announced a proposal to divide Bosnia into 10 provinces, mostly along ethnic lines. |
| Jan 4, 1993 | Croat nationalist leader Mate Boban signed the Vance-Owen peace package because it awarded Croats all the territory it sought on the battlefield. The Moslem-led government and the Serbs refused to sign the agreement and the peace process was suspended. |
| Jan 20, 1993 | The self-styled parliament of the Bosnian Serbs accepted Vance-Owen peace plan on power sharing in Bosnia. |
| Feb 6, 1993 | Bosnian Moslem and Serb leaders rejected the Vance-Owen maps of division of Bosnia. |
| Mar 1, 1993 | American planes began airdrops of food over Bosnia. |
| Mar 11, 1993 | Moslems surrounded a U.N. relief convoy to Konjevic Polje and held British U.N. troops hostage for a day. |
| Mar 19, 1993 | A U.N. aid convoy led by Morillon reached the Moslem east Bosnian town of Srebrenica which had been under an 11-month Serb siege. |
| Mar 25, 1993 | Under immense international pressure, the Bosnian government added its signature to the peace plan, leaving Serbs as only side refusing to sign it. |
| Mar 30, 1993 | A Bosnian war crimes court sentenced two Bosnian Serbs to death for murder, rape and robbery in the civil war. |
| Mar 31, 1993 | Aid officials suspended a Srebrenica evacuation after five children and two women died in a crush to board a convoy. The Security Council authorized the use of force against planes violating the no-fly ban over Bosnia. |
| Apr 1993 | A full-blown Croat-Moslem war erupted in central and southwest Bosnia. Croat irregulars massacred Moslem villagers in Ahmici, setting off a cycle of attack and reprisal. |
| Apr 3, 1993 | The Bosnian Serb parliament rejected maps drafted in the Vance-Owen peace plan. |
| Apr 4, 1993 | Bosnian Croats demanded the withdrawal of Moslem troops from provinces designated for Croat self-rule under a U.N. peace plan. Fierce fighting began across central Bosnia between the former allies. |
| Apr 5, 1993 | The U.N. announced a plan to evacuate up to 15,000 Moslems from Srebrenica. |
| Apr 12, 1993 | NATO jets began enforcing a no-flight zone over Bosnia. |
| Apr 17, 1993 | The U.N. Security Council agreed to tighten sanctions against Serbia and Montenegro if Bosnian Serbs did not accept peace plan by April 26. The Serb parliament rejected the plan on April 26 and sanctions come into effect. |
| Apr 30, 1993 | The Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic signed Vance-Owen plan, but the Bosnian Serb assembly rejected it on May 6. |
| May 9, 1993 | Croats laying siege to Moslem-populated east Mostar, started rounding up and expelling Moslems from the entire Herzegovina region. |
| May 16, 1993 | A Bosnian Serb referendum, dismissed by mediators as a sham, voted by 96 percent to reject the peace plan. |
| Jun 1993 | The Bosnian army launched a counter-offensive against the Croats. The wrested six key towns over the ensuing six months and turned the tide of war against Croats across central Bosnia. |
| Jun 12, 1993 | A fresh round of talks began with Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic under pressure to accept ethnic partition. |
| Jun 17, 1993 | Owen said the Vance-Owen plan was dead, telling a news conference the war has gone too far for an honorable solution. |
| Jul 12, 1993 | The main body of a 300-man U.S. troop unit arrived in Macedonia. Shells killed 12 at a communal tap in the Dobrinja suburb of Sarajevo. |
| Jul 27, 1993 | A final attempt at peace talks began in Geneva, where Serbs and Croats expressed support for the mediators' proposal to create a new 'union' of three ethnic mini-states. |
| Jul 30, 1993 | Izetbegovic agreed to constitutional proposals for the 'union,' pending parliament's approval. The talks turned to borders. |
| Aug 2, 1993 | Izetbegovic began a fresh boycott of the peace talks, making his return conditional on Serb withdrawal from two strategic mountains over Sarajevo. |
| Aug 16, 1993 | Mediators announced a tentative accord to place Sarajevo under U.N. control after the final peace settlement. Izetbegovic said he now accepted the partition of Bosnia. |
| Sep 1993 | Serb, Croat, and Moslem leaders tentatively agreed to split Bosnia into a union of three ethnic republics. But, the Moslem assembly rejected it as a recipe for Moslem isolation. |
| Sep 27, 1993 | Maverick Moslem leader Fikret Abdic declared the Bihac enclave in northwest Bosnia autonomous from Sarajevo. |
| Sep 28, 1993 | Izetbegovic ordered the army to quell rebel Moslems. |
| Sep 29, 1993 | The Bosnian Moslem parliament rejected the proposed peace deal, demanding the return of land and access to the Adriatic. |
| Oct 21, 1993 | Rebel Moslem leader Abdic signed alliance pacts for his province with Croats and Serbs. |
| Oct 25, 1993 | The U.N. found evidence that Croat soldiers committed a massacre in the Moslem village of Stupni Do in central Bosnia. |
| Oct 26, 1993 | The Bosnian government cracked down on a crime ring within the Bosnian army. One hundred forty-six soldiers were arrested under suspicion and one of two ring leaders was killed in a shoot-out in Sarajevo. |
| Nov 4, 1993 | The Moslem-led army captured the town of Vares in an offensive against Croat forces in central Bosnia. |
| Nov 18, 1993 | All three combatants pledged to allow safe passage for aid convoys in Bosnia in U.N.-mediated discussions. |
| Dec 3, 1993 | Izetbegovic returned from four days of Geneva peace talks and said little was achieved. He opposed the split of Sarajevo. |
| Dec 11, 1993 | EC foreign ministers invited the warring parties and presidents of Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro to Brussels for peace talks on December 22. |
| Dec 21, 1993 | Mediators Owen and Thorvald Stoltenberg, who took over from Vance, scheduled a new round of top-level peace talks in Geneva. Croatian President Franjo Tudjman said in Geneva that Serbs and Croats had reached agreement on a new Bosnian map which would satisfy Moslem demands for a third of the territory of Bosnia. |
| Jan 5, 1994 | The Commander of U.N. forces in Bosnia, Belgian General Francis Briquemont, a stern critic of the U.N.'s Bosnia policy, quit--officially because of exhaustion. British General Sir Michael Rose, a special forces veteran, was named as his successor. |
| Jan 11, 1994 | NATO warned Serbs of air strikes if Tuzla airport was not opened. |
| Jan 18, 1994 | - NATO leaders extend a threat of air strikes to include forcing Bosnian Serbs to allow the opening of Tuzla airport and the rotation of Canadian troops out of Srebrenica. |
| Jan 18, 1994 | The Commander of U.N. troops in the former Yugoslavia, French General Jean Cot, was sacked after openly disagreeing with Boutros-Ghali over air strikes. |
| Jan 19, 1994 | Yugoslavia and Croatia agreed to normalize ties. Bosnian Serbs and Croats signed a similar pact. Talks between Serbs, Moslems and Croats on ending the war in Bosnia achieved nothing as Bosnia's Muslim-led Government rejected the proposed division of Bosnia. |
| Jan 24, 1994 | The International Olympic Committee appealed for truce from February 5 to March 6, to cover the period of the Winter Games in Lillehammer. |
| Feb 2, 1994 | Croatia had up to 5,000 regular troops in Bosnia, according to UN Secretary General Boutros-Ghali. |
| Feb 3, 1994 | The U.N. Security Council gave Croatia two weeks to begin pulling its troops out of Bosnia or face possible economic sanctions. |
| Feb 4, 1994 | Mortar bombs killed nine people in a food queue in Serb-besieged Sarajevo. |
| Feb 8, 1994 | Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, under threat of U.N. sanctions for waging a proxy war of expansion against Moslems, sacked Boban as an obstacle to peace talks. |
| Feb 23, 1994 | Bosnian Croat and Moslem forces agreed to a general ceasefire under U.N. auspices in Zagreb. |
| Feb 25, 1994 | The Truce took effect. |
| Mar 1, 1994 | Croatian, Bosnian Croat and Moslem representatives signed a U.S.-brokered preliminary agreement in Washington on establishing a federation confederally linked to Croatia. |
| Mar 13, 1994 | Bosnian Moslems and Croats ended 10 days of follow-up talks in Vienna with agreement on constitutional details of a federation. |
| Mar 18, 1994 | Tudjman and Bosnian Moslem President Alija Izetbegovic formally signed an agreement at a Washington ceremony presided over by U.S. President Bill Clinton. |
| Jul 15 - 31, 1994 | Bosnia and Croatia agreed to accept a U.N.-proposed partition of Bosnia which would leave 49% of Bosnia under control of Bosnian Serbs, and the rest under Muslim-Croat control. Fighting continued as the Bosnian Serbs refused to accept the plan and threatened to escalate the war further. Moves by Bosnian Serbs to reimpose the siege of Sarajevo were met with international opposition, including pressure from Serbia to accept the plan. |
| Aug 2, 1994 | Serbia formally disavowed support and even threatened Bosnian Serb leaders for their refusal to accept the partition plan. |
| Aug 8, 1994 | The Bosnian Serbs' assembly rejects the latest international peace plan for Bosnia and invites its people to back the decision in a referendum. The referendum is scheduled for August 27 & 28.(The Herald) |
| Aug 9, 1994 | Bosnian Serbs receive an ultimatum handed down by UNPROFOR commander Michael Rose saying that they have to move three artillery pieces out of the security zone around Sarajevo until midnight or face having them blasted by NATO air strikes (Evening Standard). |
| Sep 26, 1994 | Security Council condemns the Bosnian Serbs' ethnic cleansing and imposes economic sanctions on the Bosnian-Serb controlled part of Bosnia(Federal News Service). The Council resolves that Serbs should freeze financial assets held in their countries by Bosnian Serbs or entities under their control (Federal Information Systems Corporation). |
| Nov 1994 | Fighting with Bosnian Muslim and Croat forces allied against Serbs and a renegade Muslim enclave escalated around Bihac, in the northern part of Bosnia along the Croatian border. During the next few months, Muslim and Croat forces briefly achieved some of their greatest battlefield victories and temporarily drove Serbs out of the area, creating the "Bihac pocket" which remained surrounded by Serb-held territory. Fighting in this area continued even throughout the winter, when fighting in most other areas of Bosnia subsides during a four-month ceasefire.(the latest from Steven Kurth's chronology) |
| Nov 1994 | Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and Serb army commander Gen. Ratko Mladic sign with former US president Jimmy Carter and UN special envoy Yasushi Akashi a ceasefire agreement (Reuters). |
| Nov 22, 1994 | President Clinton says, the US would no longer enforce the arms embargo which denies the Bosnians the right to defend themselves(Daily Mail). |
| Nov 24, 1994 | Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic demands NATO air strikes against Serb artillery firing on the UN protected Moslem town of Bihac in northwest Bosnia. The Bosnian Serb Army offensive on the Bihac pocket is supported by the rebel Serbs holding territory in neighboring Bosnia (Reuters). |
| Feb 14, 1995 | The UN Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia charges the Bosnian Serb commander of the Omarska "death camp" with genocide against Bosnian Muslims and Croats. It also indicts 20 other Serb commanders (Nassan & Suttolk edition). |
| Feb 14, 1995 | Bosnian Serb parliament rejects the latest peace plan put forward by the big powers. The plan offers a 50-50 division of Bosnia between a Muslim-Croat confederation and the Bosnian Serbs who hold some 70% of the land (The Herald). |
| Mar 8, 1995 | Bosnia and Croatia establish military alliance to oppose rebel Serbs. The Croat-Bosnian military pact is designed to counter a similar pact by Serb rebels in Bosnia and Croatia. The Croatian-Bosnian military pact raises concern among the UN officials and Western nations about the possibility of all-out war if President Tudjman goes through with his threat to expel the 12,000 UN peace keepers from Croatia on 03/31. |
| Mar 24, 1995 | Observers in Belgrade are increasingly more vocal in their claims that Milosevic has allegedly already decided in favor of the recognition of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia within their international borders and that he is merely waiting for a suitable moment to announce this to the public (BBC). |
| May 25, 1995 | NATO bombs the headquarters of the Bosnian Serbs near Pale (CNN). The Bosnian Serbs respond by a wave of UN hostage taking (The Herald: 06/12). |
| May 27, 1995 | The parliamentary speaker of the self-declared Serb Republic in Bosnia, Momcilo Krajisnik, says that a decision by the President of Serbia to recognize Bosnia would be contrary to the interests of the Serb nation and would directly serve the interests of the Serbs' enemies (BBC). |
| May 31, 1995 | Foreign ministers of the NATO countries urge the United Nations to strengthen its crumbling opposition in Bosnia and pledge to use the alliance's military muscle to help reinforce the beleaguered UN forces there (International Herald Tribune). |
| Jun 2, 1995 | President Clinton announces his decision to commit troops to help the UN operations in Bosnia (The Independent). |
| Jun 2, 1995 | Slobodan Milosevic refuses the US brokered peace settlement to recognize Bosnian government and release UN hostages in exchange for the lifting of the economic sanctions imposed on Yugoslavia (The Herald). |
| Jul 21, 1995 | The Bosnian crisis conference which takes place on 21 July shows unity among major Western leaders on the Western approach to be adopted toward the escalating crisis in the region. Foreign Secretary Malcom Rifkind promises 'substantial and decisive' action should the Serbs attack the so-called 'safe heaven' of Gorazde. |
| Jul 22, 1995 | According to analysts, the fall of Srebrenica and Zepa, and the ethnic cleansing following the fall of Srebrenica, have destroyed the prevailing international approach to the Bosnian crisis based on humanitarian aid and use of UN forces to maintain 'safe areas'. The Bosnian conflict, believe analysts, enters a new stage with escalated military intervention by the big Western powers (The Herald). |
| Jul 23, 1995 | The Bosnian Serbs answer the West ambiguous warning to halt their attacks on the so-called UN 'safe areas' by renewing their assault on the eastern enclave of Zepa. Bosnian Serb military commander Gen. Ratko Mladic warns that his force is prepared to seize other UN 'safe areas' in eastern Bosnia taking all of them by the autumn, unless the Bosnian troops stop launching attacks from the enclaves (The Observer). |
| Jul 23, 1995 | The situation around Bihac, continues to be tense with heavy troop build-ups by both Croats and Serbs. The other 'safe area', the central Bosnia town of Tuzla, currently hosts thousands of refugees from Srebrenica and the eastern enclave of Gorazde (The Observer). |
| Jul 23, 1995 | Croatia agrees to a Bosnian government request for urgent military assistance, particularly in Bihac (The Observer). |
| Aug 7, 1995 | Croatia's conquest of Knin on June 7 triggers an open power struggle in the pan-Serbian camp between the key Serb military commander, Gen. Ratko Mladic and the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic . |
| Sep 9, 1995 | The warring parties in Bosnia agreed to a peace deal brokered by Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke. The Bosnian Serbs accepted for the first time the terms of the five nation Contact group. According to these terms, Serbs should receive 49% of territory and the Muslim/Croat federation 51%. The agreement on the basic principles for peace negotiations guarantee the existence of Bosnia-Herzegovina as a single sovereign state, but made up of two distinct entities. The agreement allows the Bosnian Serbs and Croats to have political links with their ethnic parties elsewhere in the former Yugoslavia but political confederation with either side is strictly forbidden (The Herald). |
| Nov 1, 1995 | Peace talks between leaders of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia began in Dayton (The Financial Times 11/02/95). The leaders initiated an agreement designed to end 43 months of war (Agence France Presse: 11/21/95). The leaders agreed to reconvene in Paris in early December to sign the final documents (Deutsche Presse Agentur 11/21/95). |
| Jan 3, 1996 | The Bosnian government criticized NATO for failing to protect civilians from abduction by separatist Serbs. The Moslem-led government said 16 of its citizens have been kidnapped while traveling through the Serb-held suburb of Ilidza, to the west of the city along roads opened by NATO forces implementing the Bosnian peace plan. (Reuters World Service) |
| Jan 31, 1996 | Bosnian parliament decided that Bosnia will be run by a transitional central government by Hasan Muratovic until general elections are held to choose the government of the Bosnian republic that will include members from both the Moslem-Croat and Serbian entities (1/31/96: Agence France Presse). |
| Feb 1, 1996 | An administration was appointed for the Moslem-Croat half of Bosnia, as a step in building the complex political structure envisaged for the country by the Dayton peace plan. (The Reuter European Community Report). |
| Feb 8, 1996 | Prime Minister Hasan Muratovic of the Bosnia's Moslem-led central government accused the Serbs of blackmail by breaking off contacts in response to the detention of senior Serb officers accused of war crimes. Muratovic told Reuters that the government will continue to arrest suspected war criminals where possible, and will abide by the findings of the U.N.-appointed war crimes tribunal in The Hague. (Reuters World Service). |
| Feb 9, 1996 | The mayor of the Croat part of Mostar demanded again that Mostar be the Croat capital. (Times Newspaper Limited). |
| Feb 26, 1996 | Talks between Bosnia's Prime Minister Hasan Muratovic and his Croatian counterpart Zlatko Matesa aimed at unblocking progress within the Moslem-Croat federation made some progress on economic and legal accords firming up the federation but encountered difficulties on issues concerning arms deliveries (Agence France Presse). |
| Mar 3, 1996 | Bosnian Muslim rebel Fikret Abdic formed a new party to stand in the federation elections. (BBC) |
| Mar 6, 1996 | Haris Silajdzic, Bosnia's former prime minister, announce his plans to run against President Alija Izetbegovic in the forthcoming elections on a platform of ethnic harmony and an end to religiously-based politics (International Herald Tribune). |
| Apr 4, 1996 | The international War Crimes Tribunal arraigned its first top Bosnian Croat officer and, in separate actions, condemned Serbia and Croatia for the bloodbath that engulfed the former Yugoslavia. Tihomir Blaskic, 36, a general officer in the Croatian and the Bosnian Croat armies, arrived in The Hague on his own after the U.S. government heavily pressured Croatia to cooperate (Newsday). |
| Apr 9, 1996 | 3,000 to 4,000 Muslims walked toward their homes in the Serb dominated area near Brcko trying to put pressure on American military officers in the region to push the Serbian authorities to comply with the Bosnian peace agreement by allowing the refugees back home. (International Herald Tribune). |
| Apr 10, 1996 | Bosnian Serb leaders said, they will not attend a reconstruction conference as part of an overall Bosnian delegation, and demanded separate representation (Reuters World Service). |
| Apr 19, 1996 | NATO officials and diplomats said, pressure is growing on NATO troops to arrest war crimes suspects now that Bosnia's former warring parties have complied for the most part with demands to get their troops off the battlefields (Agence France Presse). |
| Apr 19, 1996 | A World Bank official said, Bosnia must build government institutions and take full advantage of $1.8 billion in reconstruction aid pledged for 1996 if it hopes to secure additional funding (The Reuters European Business Report). |
| May 8, 1996 | A trial of a Bosnian Serb charged with torturing and murdering his Muslim and Croat neighbors opened before the first international war crimes tribunal since the postwar judgments at Nuremberg and Tokyo (The Washington Post). |
| May 18, 1996 | The Bosnian Serb parliament endorsed the dismissal of a moderate, Rajko Kasagic, as Serb prime minister and backed his replacement by a little-known apparatchik, Gojko Klickovic. (Agence France Presse). |
| May 20, 1996 | Mr Carl Bildt, the international peace envoy to Bosnia, said he believed Mr Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader, was losing his grip on power after he agreed to relinquish significant authority on political, constitutional and other powers to his deputy, Mrs Biljana Plavsic.(Financial Times). |
| Jun 14, 1996 | Bosnian Prime Minister Hasan Muratovic said sanctions would be imposed against the Bosnian Serbs unless hardline Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was ousted from power by July 1.(Agence France Presse). |
| Jun 21, 1996 | Serb media reported that a local board of the Serb Democratic Party nominated Radovan Karadzic as candidate for president of the Bosnian Serb Republic in the forthcoming elections. (The Washington Post). |
| Jun 28, 1996 | US Secretary of State Warren Christopher said, G7 member states and Russia adopted an action plan to ensure the success of Bosnia's first post-war general elections, set for mid-September.(Agence France Presse) |
| Jun 30, 1996 | Major powers said hardline Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic would have to quit immediately or face sanctions for violating the Bosnian peace agreement.(Reuters World Service) |
| Jul 20, 1996 | - US envoy Richard Holbrooke said that Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic had agreed to step down as head of his political party and give up all public duties. (The Boston Globe) Karadzic signed an agreement pledging to step down July 19. Alexa Buha, the Bosnian Serb foreign minister, has been named as the new chairman of the SDS. Biljana Plavsic, the Bosnian Serb vice president, would take over as acting president. (07/15: Facts on File World News Digest) |
| Jul 23, 1996 | Under US pressure on the Bosnian leadership, Bosnia and Serbia move a step closer to normalizing relations. Talks between a senior Bosnian delegation and top Serbian leaders took place in Belgrade for the first time since the start of the Bosnian conflict in April 1992 (Agence France Presse). |
| Aug 1, 1996 | U.S. Assistant Secretary of State John Kornblum said Bosnian Muslim and Croat officials agreed on a plan to dismantle the Croat ministate known as Herzeg-Bosna. The two parties agreed to put together an implementation plan ensuring that they would build a unified central institution after the elections scheduled for Sept. 14. (The Washington Post) |
| Aug 2, 1996 | The OSCE mission chief Robert Frowick said the hardline Serb party of Radovan Karadzic could still be barred from Bosnia's elections if it breaks a pledge that Karadzic stays out of campaigning.(Agence France Presse) |
| Aug 4, 1996 | The United States drew up plans for a commando raid to capture former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic in his Pale stronghold and deliver him to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. (Agence France Presse) |
| Aug 24, 1996 | The Joint List of five opposition parties in Bosnia -Hercegovina sent a public appeal to the OSCE asking it to oppose manipulation of voters by the Party of Democratic Action, the SDA which is the ruling Muslim party in Bosnia -Hercegovina.(BBC) |
| Sep 5, 1996 | More than 2,000 supporters of the Bosnian Serb ruling party rallied in a Sarajevo suburb. With Karadzic posters and Serb flags, supporters of the hardline Serb Democratic Party (SDS) gathered in Dobrinja, the last Serb-toehold in the Bosnian capital. The rally was addressed by three candidates of the extreme nationalist party and a Serb Orthodox priest. (Agence France Presse) |
| Sep 16, 1996 | Provisional figures from international agencies monitoring the Bosnian border said that 20,000 people crossed into Serb areas along special secure routes. They constituted less than 10 percent of the mainly Moslem refugees and displaced people eligible to vote in Serb-held areas. (Agence France Presse) |
| Sep 20, 1996 | The main nationalist parties that led Bosnia into war four years ago won elections for federal and regional parliaments. Candidates of the Moslem Party of Democratic Action (SDA), Serb Democratic Party (SDS) and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) also captured three seats on a new collective presidency in Bosnia's first post-war vote on September 14. (Reuters World Service) |
| Sep 28, 1996 | At a forum organized by the Islamic community in Croatia, member of the Bosnian Presidency and vice-president of the Bosnian federation, Ejup Ganic called on all Croat refugees to unconditionally return to central.(BBC) |
| Oct 6, 1996 | Bosnian Serb politicians boycotted the inauguration of the country's new joint presidency and parliament. (Los Angeles Times) |
| Oct 8, 1996 | Political activity other than voting was barred for soldiers in the Moslem-Croat Federation (Agence France Presse). |
| Nov 11, 1996 | The Bosnian Serb president, Biljana Plavsic, announced the replacement of the entire general staff, and swore in Major-General Pero Colic as army chief. (The Guardians) The move by Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic to fire the powerful head of her army was the latest volley in a long-standing battle between civilians and soldiers in the Bosnian Serb leadership. Mladic, who personally directed the notorious onslaught on the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica last year, was fired along with his senior deputies over the weekend. (Los Angeles Times 11/11/96). |
| Nov 20, 1996 | General Ratko Mladic, defied dismissal as commander of the Bosnian Serb Army with the support of his senior generals. He met President Biljana Plavsic to discuss a compromise. The attempt to sack Mladic revived the struggle for power between Pale, the hardliners' wartime stronghold outside Sarajevo, and the northern industrial city of Banja Luka which is the new government seat. (Reuters World Service) |
| Nov 22, 1996 | The World Bank mission director in Bosnia Rory O'Sullivan said the international community's goal of spending about $ 900 million in reconstruction aid in 1996 was on track. He said, 98% of those funds have been allocated to Bosnia's Moslem-Croat Federation.( The Reuter European Business Report) |
| Feb 27, 1997 | Croatian police arrested the leader of Mostar's paramilitary mafia, Mladen Naletilic, near Split. In a coordinated action against organized crime, Bosnian Croat police arrested five Croat men and issues warrants for another three. The arrests come after Western diplomats met Croatian government officials and expressed their "strong concern" over the attacks on NATO-led peacekeeping troops in Mostar.(Reuters) |
| Feb 27, 1997 | Tensions in the divided southern town of Mostar, contested by Moslems and Croats during their 1993-94 war, rose with the Croat police firing on a group of Moslem civilians who wanted to visit a graveyard in the Croat part of town. (Reuters) |
| Mar 19, 1997 | Explosions damaged the minaret of the local mosque in Stipanici a southern Bosnia-Herzegovina town settled by Croats and Muslims. The act was harshly condemned in a joint statement by Bosnian federation President and Bosnian Croat leader Kresimir Zubak, as well as by the Herceg-Bosna Canton government and Tomislavgrad municipal leadership. (BBC) |
| May 8, 1997 | The UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague investigating atrocities issued its first conviction. A Bosnian Serb tavern owner, Dusan (Dusko) Tadic, was found guilty on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in herding his Muslim neighbors and other civilians into Serbian prison camps and torturing them for what the court called their religion and their politics. (International Herald Tribune) |
| Jul 3, 1997 | Biljana Plavsic dissolved the Bosnian Serb parliament, which was dominated by hardliners, and called for fresh elections. The hardliners headed by Krajisnik first rejected her decision, then retaliated by calling for presidential elections as well.(Agence France Presse) |
| Jul 7, 1997 | Following a battle with hardline Serbs who endangered her life Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic invited for a private talk one of her principal hardline foes, Momcilo Krajisnik.(Agence France Presse) |
| Jul 8, 1997 | The entire Bosnian Serb military leadership met Tuesday in Banja Luka with the President of the Serbian Republic Biljana Plavsic. Details of the talks were not revealed. Plavsic has accused the army leadership of interfering in politics, contravening the "laws and constitution". (Deutsche Presse-Agentur) |
| Jul 8, 1997 | Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic invited Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic to meet top hardliner Momcilo Krajisnik in Belgrade.(Agence France Presse) |
| Jul 11, 1997 | The Bosnian Serb Defence Ministry expressed its support for the army's commitment to defend the republic's interests despite efforts by Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic to keep the army out of the leadership crisis. A statement by the ministry said the army is obliged to get involved in politics when the security of the republic is at stake.(BBC) |
| Jul 21, 1997 | Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic was thrown out of the Serb Democratic Party and called on to resign. The move came after Plavsic told a German magazine she would be prepared to arrest former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic.(Newsday) |
| Jul 21, 1997 | Tension in the Serb part of Bosnia has risen since NATO raided a northwestern town on July 10, capturing one war-crimes suspect and killing another who resisted arrest. (Newsday) |
| Jul 28, 1997 | Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic said that extradition of her predecessor, Radovan Karadzic, or of any Bosnian Serb, would be unconstitutional. (BBC) |
| Aug 13, 1997 | The new NATO supreme commander for Europe, U.S. General Wesley Clark, called on suspected war criminals in Bosnia to surrender "voluntarily and soon".(Deutsche Presse-Agentur). |
| Aug 22, 1997 | Bosnian Serb army leaders weighed into the political crisis in the Serb Republic with a fierce attack on President Biljana Plavsic and a threat to use force.(Agence France Presse) |
| Aug 23, 1997 | The Bosnian Serb military staff based in Bijeljina warned Biljana Plavsic that it would move against her to prevent the Republika Srpska splitting in two. Biljana Plavsic has wrested control of the Banja Luka police from officers loyal to Radovan Karadzic. (The Independent) |
| Aug 23, 1997 | The UN started re-training Bosnian Serb policemen in Banja Luka to create a "non-political" police force as part of efforts to defuse conflict within the Serb community and to consolidate a peaceful, democratic society. (The Independent) |
| Aug 28, 1997 | Bosnian Serb president Biljana Plavsic inaugurated her new political party. (Agence France Presse) |
| Aug 29, 1997 | The U.S.-led NATO alliance moved troops into Brcko and four other towns on behalf of Bosnian President Biljana Plavsic. With NATO backing, Plavsic has now split the ethnic Serb entity in two, and can claim to control half the army's general staff, some of the news media and something under half the territory.(Newsday) |
| Sep 12, 1997 | After successfully averting a Serb boycott of Bosnian municipal elections, western mediators put pressure on Franjo Tudjman, the Croatian president, to make sure the main Croat party took part as well. A decision by the Serb Democratic Party not to boycott the elections followed talks in Belgrade between Mr Westendorp and Slobodan Milosevic, the Yugoslav president. Bosnia's first local elections for seven years, cost $14m and were monitored by 2,500 observers. (Financial Times) |
| Sep 15, 1997 | Opposition parties who support Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic beat her ultranationalist rivals in her stronghold. Meanwhile, the hardline Serb Democratic Party (SDS), which wanted to oust Plavsic from power, was leading in its own stronghold of Pale in eastern Bosnia but lost votes to another extreme right-wing party. The local elections were expected to determine which Serb faction would wield the upper hand in a two-month power struggle which has threatened to split the Bosnian Serb entity.(Agence France Presse) |
| Sep 15, 1997 | Thousands of refugees streamed across Bosnia's former front lines to stake their claims to return to the homes they were expelled from during the civil war. In a huge protest against Bosnia's ethnic partition by nationalists, many traveled and queued for hours to vote for local councils in places where they once lived.(The daily Telegraph) |
| Sep 24, 1997 | Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic and her hardline rival Momcilo Krajisnik agreed to elections in order to end their long-running power struggle and test their respective backing. The two rivals agreed to hold legislative and presidential elections on November 15 in the Serb state. Additional elections were held on December 7 for Krajisnik's seat on Bosnia's tri-partite presidency. (Agence France Presse) |
| Nov 22, 1997 | Voters in the Serb-run half of Bosnia went to the polls, supervised by the international community, in an attempt to end a deep power struggle that has split Republika Srpska (RS). The vote on November 22 and 23, supervised by the OSCE, led to the election of 83 members of parliament through a system of proportional representation. Forty-nine parties, coalitions and independent candidates ran in the election. (Agence France Presse). |
| Dec 3, 1997 | The preliminary results of the elections in the Serbian-controlled half of Bosnia -Herzegovina indicated that Karadzic's Serbian Democratic Party and its allies in the Serbian Radical Party would not win enough seats to control the 83-member legislature. Until now, hardliners have used their comfortable majority in Parliament to obstruct the U.S.- mediated peace plan for Bosnia and to challenge President Biljana Plavsic, who is strongly supported by the West. (International Herald Tribune). |
| Dec 29, 1997 | Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic nominated economics professor Mladen Ivanic as premier-designate. Plavsic addressed the inaugural session of the new Bosnian Serb parliament on 27th December (BBC). |
| Jan 19, 1998 | Deputies of the Bosnian Serb Republic People's Assembly, who supported President Biljana Plavsic, elected a new cabinet led by Milorad Dodik. (BBC) Dodik, whose party of Independent Social Democrats has only two delegates in the 83-seat Bosnian Serb parliament, was able to form a government of national unity with the support of Moslem representatives. (01/19/98 Financial Times). |
| Jan 20, 1998 | Bilijana Plavsic nominated Milorad Dodik as Prime Minister elect of the new Serb Republic government. (BBC) |
| Feb 16, 1998 | German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel urged former Bosnian Serb leader and war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic to surrender to the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia.(Agence France Presse) |
| Feb 25, 1998 | The top international envoy to Bosnia criticized the major nationalist parties' overwhelming influence in politics, saying there was more pluralism in the country's Serb -run entity than in its Moslem-Croat Federation.(Agence France Presse) |
| Mar 3, 1998 | Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik said that his government has accomplished more in a month than the previous government achieved in two years. He says that the international community's attitude towards the Serbs had changed because he and President Biljana Plavsic are cooperating, instead of obstructing, the implementation of the Dayton Agreement. (BBC) |
| Mar 14, 1998 | Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic said she is prepared to stand again as president in the next elections, which she expects will take place under OSCE regulations. She also said that she had not been maintaining contact with her rivals in Pale, Bosnian Serb leader Momcilo Krajisnik and the former Bosnian Serb ruling party - who have frequently objected to OSCE election regulations. (BBC) |
| Mar 23, 1998 | Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik says that the future of the republic depends on the full implementation of the Dayton Agreement. He also made clear that Brcko, currently under international supervision, was "the main goal of the Serb Republic" and that he would resign if the town was not given to the Serb side. (BBC) |
| Apr 3, 1998 | NATO's helicopters, dozens of tanks and armored cars, and 500 troops were sent into the Bosnian village of Pale and surrounded the headquarters of Radovan Karadzic, in an attempt to push him to surrender to the Hague tribunal. (The Guardian) |
| Apr 28, 1998 | International officials pushed Bosnia and Croatia to do more in repatriating the many remaining refugees of the 1991-95 Balkan conflicts. The officials said these countries must do so despite a disturbing upsurge in violent incidents aimed at blocking refugee returns. (Agence France Presse) |
| Apr 28, 1998 | Up to 50,000 Croatian Serb refugees were inside Bosnia, hoping to be able to go back to their native Krajina region. In northern Bosnia Serbs and Moslems blocked a busy highway as they accused each other of carrying out a weekend grenade attack.(Agence France Presse) |
| Jun 3, 1998 | A new party, the Bosnia-Herzegovina Croatian Democratic Union was founded by Kresimir Zubak, the Croat member of Bosnia's joint presidency. Zubak says, the new political party would back Bosnia's peace process, but not at the expense of those it aims to represent. The new party was created out of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), set up in 1990, and intends to contest the September 12-13 elections. (Agence France Presse) |
| Jun 6, 1998 | A Sarajevo daily commented that the split in the main Bosnian Croat party - the Bosnian wing of Croatia's ruling HDZ - broke the monolithic power it has wielded since before war broke out it 1992. The daily says, Bosnian Croat leader Kresimir Zubak's supporters form the moderate "pro-Bosnian" faction of the HDZ, while the pro-Zagreb faction is based in the southern Hercegovina region.(BBC) |
| Jun 12, 1998 | President Alija Izetbegovic announced that he will run for another term in Bosnia's inter-ethnic presidency when elections take place on September 12-13.(Agence France Presse) |
| Jun 19, 1998 | Delegates of the Croat National Union (HNZ) called all Croat parties to join the Croat Democratic Alliance in order to achieve better success at the forthcoming elections.(BBC) |
| Jul 19, 1998 | The Chairman of the New Croat Initiative NHI , Kresimir Zubak said that by unambiguously supporting the return of refugees and displaced persons and the constitutive status of Croats throughout Bosnia -Hercegovina, his party has become a political threat to the monopoly of the Croatian Democratic Union HDZ - the Croatian and the Bosnian Croat ruling party (BBC) |
| Sep 2, 1998 | The leader of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the defence minister of the federation of B-H, Ante-Jelavic said at an election rally attended by 5,000 participants at the center of Capljina that his party supported the Dayton peace agreement and added that the freedom and sovereignty of Bosnian Croats would remain the party's ultimate goal (BBC). |
| Sep 7, 1998 | The OSCE remove 4 HDZ candidates from canton election list because of alleged biased reports on the Croatian Radio-TV (BBC). |
| Sep 8, 1998 | The New Croat initiative NHI party founded by Bosnian-Croat member of Presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina Kresimir Zubak said that it was unable to hold an election rally in the southern Bosnian town of Mostar. The NHI said that the Croatian Democratic Union HDZ - the Bosnian Croat and the Croatian ruling party of Bosnia-Herzegovina, hampered his party's activities.(BBC) |
| Sep 14, 1998 | Bosnia's second post-war national elections took place 13 and 14 September.(The Scotsman) |
| Sep 26, 1998 | Election results confirmed the victory of the extreme nationalist candidate Nikola Poplasen as president of the Bosnian Serb Republic. Ante Zelovic, the leader of Bosnia's branch of Croatia's ruling nationalist party, was elected as the Croatian member of the Bosnian Presidency. The Muslim member of the Presidency remained Alija Izetbegovic who favors strong national government.(The New York Times) |
| Oct 21, 1998 | Mirza Hajric, an aide to Mr.Izetbegovic said that Sarajevo set itself the goal of wooing back 20,000 non-Muslim refugees this year. Mr. Hijric admitted that fewer than half this number were likely to return to Sarajevo. But he complained that far fewer ethnic minorities were returning to Serb-, or Croat held territory than to Muslem controlled areas, which were absorbing 80% of all refugees (Financial Times), |
| Dec 28, 1998 | Bosnia's two main social democratic parties merged in order to confront their dominant nationalist rivals in upcoming local elections. The new party which unlike its rivals eschews politics along ethnic lines took the name SDP-BiH. (Agence France Presse) |
| Dec 31, 1998 | The US and its European allies which oversaw Bosnian politics rejected Dragan Kalinik as President Poplasen's nomination for premier. (Agence France Presse) |
| Mar 9, 1999 | International representatives in Bosnia-Herzegovina dismissed on March 5 the Serb republic's president Nikola Poplasen after he refused to permanently appoint the pro-Western caretaker prime-minister Milorad Dodik.(Inter Press Service) |
| Mar 9, 1999 | The international community's top representative in Bosnia Carlos Westendrop announced plans to place the key town of Brcko under neutral control. The move was immediately rejected by the Bosnian Serb parliament. The parliament also rejected the sacking of Poplasen. Westendorp said the decision to remove Poplasen was 'final and irrevocable' but he was prepared to discuss the decision to make Brcko a neutral district. A handful of small demonstrations passed without violence. (Inter Press Service) |
