Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In the fall of 1991, Bosnia-Herzegovina's president, Alija Izetbegovi
ć
, began to pursue
independence. While most Bosnian Croats and virtually all Bosniaks supported this move,
Bosnia's substantial Serb minority resisted it. Bosnian Serbs preferred to remain part of an
increasinglydominantethnicgroupinabigcountry(Yugoslavia)ratherthanbecomesecond
fiddle in a new, small country (Bosnia-Herzegovina). And so the Serbs within Bosnia-
Herzegovina created their own “state,” called the Republic of the Serb People of Bosnia-
Herzegovina. Its president, Radovan Karadži
ć
, enjoyed the semisecret military support of
Slobodan Miloševi
ć
and the Yugoslav People's Army. The stage was set for a bloody seces-
sion.
In the spring of 1992, as a referendum on Bosnian independence loomed, the Serbs
madetheirmove.Tolegitimizetheirterritorialclaims,theSerbsbeganacampaignofethnic
cleansing against Bosniaks and Croats residing in Bosnia. Initially Karadži
ć
's forces moved
to take control of a strip of Muslim-majority towns (including Fo
č
a, Goražde, Višegrad,
and Zvornik) along the Drina River,between Serbia proper and Serb-controlled areas closer
to Sarajevo. They reasoned that their claim on this territory was legitimate, because the
Ustaše had decimated the Serb population there during World War II. The well-orchestrated
Karadži
ć
forcessecretlynotifiedSerbresidentstoevacuatebeforetheyinvadedeachmixed-
ethnicity town, then encircled the remaining Bosniaks and Croats with heavy artillery and
