Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Republika Bosna i Hercegovina
←
1992–1997 →
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem
Jedna si jedina
Једна си једина
"You are the one and only"
Green-Red: Full legal territory of the Republic.
Green: Territory controlled by the government at any
one time during the Bosnian War (1992–1995).
Capital Sarajevo
Languages Bosnian
Government Parliamentary republic
President
 •  1992–95 Alija Izetbegović
Prime Minister
 • 1992 Jure Pelivan
 • 1992–93 Mile Akmadžić
 • 1993–95 Haris Silajdžić
Legislature National Assembly
Historical era Bosnian War
 •  Independence declared 3 March 1992
 • Washington Agreement 1 March 1994
 •  Dayton Agreement 14 December 1995 (Implementation process until 1997.) 1997
Currency BH Dinar

The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnian: Republika Bosna i Hercegovina, Република Босна и Херцеговина) was the direct legal predecessor to the modern-day state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[1]

Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina existed legally until co-signing the Annex 4 of the Dayton Agreement, containing the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 14 December 1995, but official documents reveal that the state existed up until the end of 1997 when the implementation of the Dayton Agreement was finished and only then it fully came into effect.[2] Most of this period is taken up by the Bosnian War, in which each of the two other main ethnicities of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats) established their own entities (Republika Srpska and Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia respectively), which left the republic representative primarily of its Bosniak population. By the Washington Agreement of 1994, however, Bosniaks were joined by ethnic Bosnian Croats in support for the Republic by the formation of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a sub-state joint entity. In 1995, the Dayton Peace Accords joined the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the Serb entity, the Republika Srpska into the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

History

Alija Izetbegović during his visit to the United States in 1997.

The 1990 parliamentary elections led to a national assembly dominated by three ethnically based parties, which had formed a loose coalition to oust the communists from power. Croatia and Slovenia's subsequent declarations of independence and the warfare that ensued placed Bosnia and Herzegovina and its three constituent peoples in an awkward position. A significant split soon developed on the issue of whether to stay with the Yugoslav federation (overwhelmingly favored among Serbs) or seek independence (overwhelmingly favored among Bosniaks and Croats). A declaration of sovereignty in October 1991 was followed by a referendum for independence from Yugoslavia in February and March 1992. The referendum was boycotted by the great majority of Bosnian Serbs, so with a voter turnout of 64%, 99% of which voted in favor of the proposal, Bosnia and Herzegovina became an independent state.[3]

While the first casualty of the war is debated, significant Serbian offensives began in March 1992 in Eastern and Northern Bosnia. Following a tense period of escalating tensions and sporadic military incidents, open warfare began in Sarajevo on 6 April.[3] International recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina meant that the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) officially withdrew from the republic's territory, although their Bosnian Serb members merely joined the Army of Republika Srpska. Armed and equipped from JNA stockpiles in Bosnia, supported by volunteers, Republika Srpska's offensives in 1992 managed to place much of the country under its control.[3] By 1993, when the Croat-Bosniak conflict erupted between the Sarajevo government and the Croat statelet of Herzeg-Bosnia, about 70% of the country was controlled by the Serbs.[4]

In 1993 the authorities in Sarajevo adopted a new language law (Službeni list Republike Bosne i Hercegovine, 18/93): "In the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ijekavian standard literary language of the three constitutive nations is officially used, designated by one of the three terms: Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian."[5]

In March 1994, the signing of the Washington accords between the Bosniak and ethnic-Croatian leaders led to the creation of a joint Bosniak-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This, along with international outrage at Serb war crimes and atrocities (most notably the Srebrenica genocide of as many as 8,000 Bosniak males in July 1995[6]) helped turn the tide of war. The signing of the Dayton Agreement in Paris by the presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Alija Izetbegović), Croatia (Franjo Tuđman), and FR Yugoslavia (Slobodan Milošević) brought a halt to the fighting, roughly establishing the basic structure of the present-day state. The three years of war and bloodshed had left between 95,000 and 100,000 people dead and more than 2 million displaced.[7]

Sarajevo issue RBiH passport; and Zagreb Embassy issue RBiH passport.

Travel documents

In October 1992, a limited number of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina passports were printed and available to its citizens.[8] The document allowed the holders to enter and leave the newly formed country legally as well as other nations traveled to.

Osama bin Laden was known to possess a passport of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was issued to Osama through Embassy of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Vienna in 1993.[9][10] German magazine Zeitenschrift revealed Osama bin Laden travelled with the passport to Sarajevo in order to meet with then 1st Chairman of the Presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Alija Izetbegović in 1994.[11]

The Republic's official documents and passports were valid up until the end of 1997 when the implementation of the Dayton Agreement commenced the modern-day state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The R. BiH passports were replaced by Bosnia and Herzegovina passport and Bosnian-Herzegovinian identity card.

RBiH Elementary School wartime student report card.

Education system

During the Bosnian War, schools were resumed primarily in major cities. In besieged Sarajevo schools operated in dispersed basement classrooms in neighborhoods across the capital city and operating under the constant threat of enemy guns and mortar fire.[12] Depending on the part of the country, teaching staff needed to adjust to the war circumstances so that the classrooms were also held in houses and hallways. In some places the school buildings have been turned into refugee camps, hospitals or military headquarters.

In 1992-93 school year, the subjects and curriculum were closely linked to those from Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina period, however education in the war had many shortcomings, as infrastructure and a lack of teachers, textbooks made it difficult for students.[13]

The names of many schools in Sarajevo had been changed throughout the R BiH period and remain changed even today (present-day Bosnia). Ideology of socialist Yugoslavia and the achievements of the National Liberation Struggle burdened school names, and as such the names of predominantly non-Bosniak historical figures, have not stood the test of time. Only 3 schools from sixty-odd in the capital had not been changed.[14]

Seal of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Army (ARBiH)

Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was the armed forces of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. ARBiH was established on 15 April 1992, and most of the structure is transferred from the former Territorial Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Army after the Dayton Agreement was defined as Bosniak component of the Army of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and after defense reforms transformed into Bosnian rangers, one of the three brigade of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Currency

Following the introduction of the Bosnian dinars and replacement of the Yugoslav dinar, Bosnian dinar was in circulation in most of the territory controlled by the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The areas under Croatian control used the Croatian dinar and also kuna, and the Bosnia and Herzegovina territory held by Serb forces, proclaimed Republika Srpska, dinar was also introduced as a means of payment. Shortly after the dinar introduction, Deutsche Mark was preferred as the new means of payment in the Bosniak and Croat dominated RBiH. In present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina the currency is convertible mark which replaced the dinar and German currency in 1998. Euro is also accepted anywhere in Bosnia and Herzegovina today.

Postal service and philately

The country produced its first stamps since independence in 1993 under the command of the Sarajevo government and began inscribing them as Republika Bosna i Hercegovina.[15] Prior 1993, newly formed Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina used SFR Yugoslav stamps but with words sovereign Bosnia over the face of stamp.

Sport

Some prominent sporting achievements of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1997):

1992

1993

Footballer Nermin Zolotić, born in 1993 in Sarajevo, then a Republic of BiH.

1994

1995

1996

1997

See also

References

  1. ↑ "CONSTITUTION OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA" (PDF). The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
  2. ↑ "HUMAN RIGHTS CHAMBER DOM ZA LJUDSKA PRAVA FOR BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA REPORT" (PDF). www.hrc.ba. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Malcolm, Noel (1994). Bosnia A Short History. New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-5520-8.
  4. ↑ Riedlmayer, Andras (1993). A Brief History of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Bosnian Manuscript Ingathering Project.
  5. ↑ Bugarski, Ranko; Hawkesworth, Celia, eds. (2004). Language in the Former Yugoslav Lands. Bloomington: Slavica Publishers. p. 142. ISBN 0-89357-298-5. OCLC 52858529.
  6. ↑ Federal Commission for Missing Persons; "Preliminary List of Missing and Killed in Srebrenica"; 2005  PDF (522 KB).
  7. ↑ November. 21, 2005. Bosnian war "claimed 100,000 lives". Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
  8. ↑ "Hronologija opsade Sarajeva 1992 – 1996.". pescanik.net.
  9. ↑ "Kratka, ali smrtonosna selefijska tradicija u BiH". bilten.org.
  10. ↑ "I Osama bin Laden ima Bosanski pasos!". bhdani.ba.
  11. ↑ "Bin Laden in Sarajevo". zeitenschrift.com.
  12. ↑ "The Heroes of Treca Gimnazija: A War School in Sarajevo, 1992-1995". readings.com.au.
  13. ↑ "Devedesete: Rat i nakon rata u Bosni i Hercegovini". 6yka.com.
  14. ↑ "STAV – Ko bi gori, sad je doli: Imena sarajevskih osnovnih škola u zagrljaju ideologija". faktor.ba.
  15. ↑ Stamps of the World. Stanley Gibbons. 2004. p. 392.
  16. ↑ "FIFA Men's Ranking 23 October 1996". FIFA.com. 1996.
  17. ↑ "FIFA Men's Ranking 20 August 1997". FIFA.com. 1997.

External links

Coordinates: 43°52′01″N 18°25′01″E / 43.8670°N 18.4170°E / 43.8670; 18.4170

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