View Original - Middle East Technical University

Hence, just before the start of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina the country
was divided at the side of the three national parties, which were the Muslim Party of
Democratic Action (SDA), the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) and the Croat
Democratic Union (HDZ). Regardless of the delicate coalition preserved between
the Croat and Muslim parties, the three parties then had different visions about
the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina:
The Muslim party advocated a united and centralized Bosnia and
Herzegovina, independent from the remaining Yugoslav republics. The
Serb party advocated the division of Bosnia along national lines, while the
Croat party supported the independence of the country provided that its
exclusive control over the Croat populated parts, primarily in west
Herzegovina, remained uncontested. Each of the three positions was as the
result of a mixture of ideological and pragmatic considerations. 5
The Bosnian Muslims which composed the relative majority of the
population were seen by the other two communities intending to have political
dominance over the country. The Bosnian Serbs aspired to control the regions
inhabited with Serbs. This aim later evolved to the creation of an independent state
which could afterwards be merged to the Republic of Serbia. In response, the
Bosnian Croats desired the separation of Croat regions to be united with the
Republic of Croatia.
Delegates of the three communities invited the Bosnian President “to propose
a declaration of sovereignty that would reconcile differing views” but the war in
Croatia hindered those efforts and a compromise was never reached. 6 Thus, Muslim
and Croat parties passed a resolution without consent of the Serbs demanding
sovereignty for Bosnia. 7 In response members of the SDP left the parliament.
Consequently, Serbian districts were established and a plebiscite was organized to
demonstrate Serbian opposition to Bosnia’s secession from Yugoslavia. In short,
decision of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina to secede from the former
Yugoslavia, during its dissolution process, led to an armed conflict over the control
of territory and political dominance.
5 Aleksandar Pavkovic, The Fragmentation of Yugoslavia Nationalism and War in the Balkans,
London: MacMillan Press, (2 nd edition), 2000, pp. 157-158.
6 Robert J. Donia, John V.A. Fine, JR., Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Tradition Betrayed , p. 229.
7 Ibid., p. 229.
44