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Chronology for Serbs in Croatia
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| Date(s) |
Item |
| 601 - 700 |
Serb tribes and clans in continual struggle for dominance. |
| Jan 1, 602 |
Slavic invasion of Balkans. Slavic control established over most of Yugoslavia during 7th and 8th centuries, splitting into three main Slavic groups - Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs. |
| 701 - 1000 |
Bulgar and Byzantine rule over Serb territory. |
| 850 - 900 |
Serbs converted to Christianity by Byzantine rulers. |
| 1101 - 1200 |
First Serb States Established and Alliance With Eastern Orthodox Church. Loss of Byzantine control and strong tribal leaders unite Serbs into two independent Serbian states; Zeta, in the region of present-day Montenegro and Hercegovina; and Raska, in the area of present-day Serbia. In about 1170, Stephen Nemanja became grand ‘zupan’ of Raska, shook off Byzantine hegemony, and united both states into one Serbian kingdom which remained the strongest state in the Balkans for the next 200 years. Serbian leaders enlisted support of Eastern Orthodox church in efforts to unite various tribes. |
| Jan 1, 1219 |
Nemanja eventually abdicated his throne to establish Serbian Orthodox monastery and his son was named as the first Serbian archbishop. |
| 1301 - 1400 |
Height of Serbian Empire achieved 1331-1335. Under Tsar Stephen Dusan, Serbian arts and economy flourished and in 1349 he formalized the existing mixture of Byzantine laws and Serbian customs into a legal code known as the Dusanov Zakonik. Dusan expanded the empire’s boundaries to include All of modern-day Albania, Macedonia, Epirus, and Thessaly. Rebellion of Subordinate Nobles After Tsar Dusan’s Death. Ottoman empire expanded into southern Balkans by mid-14th century. Serbs Defeated by Turks at Battle of Kosovo, 1389. |
| 1400 - 600 |
Gothic, Hunic, Avaric invasions. Although invasions did cover entire Yugoslav territory, their successes were short-lived. No direct control was established and no profound ethnic changes resulted. |
| 1459 - 1877 |
Beginning of Turkish Occupation After Serbs Defeated by Turks at Battle of Smedorovo, 1459. Occupation lasted 350 years. Bosnia fell to Turks in 1463, and Hercegovina in 1483. Only Serbian area to successfully resist occupation was the most inaccessible and mountainous area north of Lake Scutari - in present-day Montenegro. Slav nobles in Serbia and Macedonia were either killed or fled into mountains or Hungary. The Turkish sultan awarded ownership of large landholdings to Turkish ‘spahis’ (cavalry officers), who imposed feudal system in which Christian Slavs were lowered to serf-like status, while being forced to pay burdensome taxes and bestow kind treatment on Turkish nobles. Turks also seized portion of each villages healthiest young boys every four years to be raised and educated as Muslims in the Turkish capital, Constantinople. Many of the captured and converted Slavs later came to occupy high positions in the Turkish government. Daily life for Serbs during the first 200 years of Turkish occupation was described in a U.S. State Department Country Study as ‘not intolerably oppressive’, as long as they paid their taxes to the Turkish authorities. Serbian customs and their Christian religion were tolerated, they were given private property rights and could not be removed from their land, they were given relatively large amounts of local governing autonomy. Distinct social and cultural differences developed as Serbs largely reverted to an agrarian society while towns cities were inhabited mainly by Turkish nobility and administrators, along with non-Slav craftsmen. The Serbian Orthodox Church was also described in the Country Study as becoming >the major perpetrator of Serbian tradition and national consciousness’ during this period as Serbs came to recognize members of the church hierarchy as their leaders in the absence of an indigenous nobility. Rebellion, Reprisals, and Migration, late 17th - mid-18th Century. Serb peasants supported several attempts by Habsburgs to force Turks out of Serbia, provoking Turkish reprisals and mass migration of 30-40,000 Serb families in 1691 to Habsburg-controlled Vojvodina. Increasing Harshness of Turkish Rule and Eroding Empire, mid-18th - early 19th Century Central control over local Turkish nobility declined during second half of 18th century, as they initiated period of >unrestrained oppression and plundering’ of Serb population. Habsburg Austria and tsarist both sought to expand their control over Balkan territory and joined forces against Turks in late 18th century, but efforts were indecisive until Napoleonic wars. First Serb Peasant Revolt, 1804-1813. While Turkish forces were simultaneously faced with Napoleonic war in the Mediterranean region and Russian forces occupying provinces in the eastern Balkans, Serb peasant Djordje Petrovic (Black George) led Serbs in uprising against Turkish occupation. Revolution succeeded for a time and even established short-lived government in Belgrade, which lasted until Russia’s withdrawal from the eastern Balkans in 1812, and was finally defeated in October 1813 when Black George fled to Austria. Second Serb Peasant Revolt, 1817. Serb Peasant Milos Obrenovic led a second revolt which forced the Turks to grant substantial autonomy to Serbia. First Revolt leader Black George was also murdered, leading to a dispute between both revolt leaders’ descendants which lasted until early in the 20th Century. With Russian support, Serbia obtained status as >autonomous principality’ in 1830. Growing Independence and Internal Dissension, 1817-1878. Serbian independence gains were described as having been >created by the peasant masses’, who Obrenovic rewarded by dividing confiscated Turkish lands among them. Early government leadership was provided largely by Serb immigrants from Vojvodina who were the only educated Serbs because there were few educational opportunities for Serbs under Turkish rule. The leadership and growing literacy of the Serb immigrants introduced strong concern for native language and folkways, which in turn promoted Serbs’ national self-consciousness. Dissension caused by Milos Obrenovic’s rule forced him to abdicate throne to his son in 1839. A group of advisers named by the Turkish sultan forced the younger Obrenovic from the throne in 1842 and replaced him with Alexander Karadjordjevic, the son of the first revolt leader, Black George. Internal Serbian rivalries weakened that powers of the emerging state, whose competing Austrian and Russian influences forced it to remain neutral during the Crimean War when both sides fought each other. Serbia accepted terms of Treaty of Paris in 1856, which ended Russia’s role a sole protector of Serbia and placed under joint protection of Austria, Britain, France, and Turkey. Milos Obrenovic briefly became Serbian prince again until his death in 1860, when he was succeeded by his son Michael, also a former ruler returning to power. Michael Obrenovic was assassinated in 1868 and replaced by his brother Milan 1868. Under Milan Obrenovic, the first well-organized Serb political parties emerged. Liberals were initially most influential during the 1870s, then superseded by more conservative progressives during the 1880s. Serbia Supports Bosnian Peasant Uprisings and Declares War Against Turks, 1876. |
| 1878 |
Serbia Gains Independence from Turkish Rule, 1878. Serbia was granted full independence from Turkey with the signing of the Treaty of Berlin in 1878. |
| 1882 - 1902 |
Milan Obrenovic was named Serbia’s King. Serbian independence was portrayed largely as a reward given by Austria, however, and Austrian influence over Serbian affairs continued to grow until the early 20th century. Continuing Dissension and Unrest-Late 19th to Early 20th Centuries. Milan Obrenovic’s ‘scandalous private life’ and inattention to state affairs’ led to widespread unrest. In 1889, King Obrenovic attempted to regain popular support by adopting a new liberal constitution. The new constitution was rejected by his successor Alexander Obrenovic in 1893, and a new era of oppressive and oligarchic rule began. Disorder and plots against the government became widespread. Progressives’ close ties to the Serbian monarchy led to their losing influence upon Milan’s death and being replaced by the Radical Party, led by Nikola Pasic until his death in 1926. Serbian Radicals claimed ideological inspiration from the first Serbian Socialist, Sviatozar Markovic, and favored localization of government, bureaucratic reform, and a variety of reforms favoring interests of peasants and the needy. Serbia Declared >Kingdom’, 1882 Growing Austrian influence and internal unrest continued in spite of further nominal independence. |
| 1903 |
Assassination of King Alexander Obrenovic, 1903. Peter Karadjordevic elected by parliament as successor to Serbian throne. |
| 1903 - 1908 |
Liberalization and Greater Independence Under Peter Karadjordevic. Reorganization of Serbia’s finances and establishing independent trade relations with other countries led to tensions with Austria. Harsh tariffs on Serb livestock reinforced Serb hostility towards the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Expansionist platforms of the governing Radical Party were directed toward Macedonia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, which led to conflict with the Austro-Hungarian empire and Bulgaria. Austrian concerns were heightened by Serbia’s rapprochement with Habsburg-controlled Croatia. Austrian Annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, October 1908 Political opposition by Serbia and Montenegro was supported diplomatically by Russia and Britain while Germany supported Austria’s right to the territories, forming the outlines of competing alliances during World War I. |
| 1912 - 1913 |
First and Second Balkan Wars and Serb Expansion into Macedonia. Activity by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) since the 1890s was accompanied by violent groups representing Serb, Greek, and Bulgarian interests challenged Ottoman Turks’ rule over Macedonia. Temporary alliance between Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria led to quick defeat of Turkey. Dispute over sharing territory of Macedonia arose between Serbia and Bulgaria, leading to Second Balkan War during June and July 1913, in which Serbia was supported by Greece, Montenegro, and Romania, and Bulgaria was defeated. |
| 1914 - 1918 |
World War I and the First Yugoslav State. World War I and the Yugoslav Movement, 1914-1918. Serbia held Austrian forces to a stalemate until Bulgaria joined the German-Austrian alliance in 1915, which led to fall of Belgrade on October 9, 1915, and the Serbian army’s retreat to the Adriatic island of Corfu. Serb army was placed under French command and played important role in French offensive of 1918 which led to defeat of Bulgaria and liberation of Serbia from remaining Austrian, German, and Bulgarian forces there. Conflict inspired Serbia’s first support for Yugoslav unity as Serb King Alexander called for destruction of Austria-Hungary and unification of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. Serbian Premier Nikola Pasic originally opposed Yugoslav Committee because he wanted to ensure that a unified Yugoslav state would be Serb-led while the committee advocated a more equal federation. With Russia’s collapse in 1917, Pasic was threatened with diplomatic isolation and he subsequently switched to sign on with the Yugoslav Committee’s Declaration of Corfu on July 20, 1917, calling for the establishment of a constitutional and democratic monarchy with freedom of religion, language rights, and equal rights for both Muslims and Christians. Yugoslav movement was further motivated by secret Treaty of London provisions in which the Allies had agreed to grant Italy control of Slav-inhabited territory in Dalmatia, Istria, and western Slovenia. This territory was supposed to become part of the new Yugoslav state, which led to fears of an Italian invasion to assert its claims. |
| Jun 28, 1914 |
Assassination of Archduke Franz-Ferdinand and beginning of World War I. Serbia’s successful expansion and inspiration of other Slav people under Austrian rule were seen as threat by Austria. When the Austrian Archduke was assassinated in Sarajevo by a Bosnian member of a pro-Serbian terrorist society in Sarajevo, Austria presented Serbia with an ultimatum whose terms were unacceptable to Serbia. Austria declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. Germany aligned itself with Austria while Britain, France, and Russia aligned with Serbia. |
| Dec 1, 1918 |
Voluntary unification of Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Macedonia was complete by the time King Alexander proclaimed the formation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. Territorial settlements after World War I still left some Slav-inhabited border regions under control of Albania, Austria, and Italy. Approximately 720,000 Yugoslavs remained outside the territory of Yugoslavia, while more than one million non-Slavs -- mostly German, Hungarian, and Romanian -- were now included in Yugoslavia. |
| 1919 - 1940 |
Widespread Agrarian Reform, Economic, and Social Development. Reforms’ impact was less in Serbian due to its earlier land reform and abolition of feudalism under Turkish rule, but was greater in other regions where large landowners and feudal relationships still existed. |
| Jan 1, 1929 - Oct 31, 1934 |
Dictatorship Imposed by Serbian King Alexander, January 1929 - October 1934. Diversity of groups’ interests led to fractious political climate, especially between the Croat Republican Party which favored a loose confederation of autonomous republics while Serbs and other parties imposed a centralist governing constitution on January 28, 1921, which led to the Croats’ refusal to cooperate in governing the country until 1925, rendering much of the governing system unworkable. The assassination of Croat Republican leader Stjepan Radic and four other Croats by a Montenegrin in parliament in 1928 led Alexander to seek a stronger, more stable government through his personal dictatorship as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Although Alexander eventually permitted weakened political parties to return, this did not prevent non-Serb separatist groups such the Croatian Ustase and Macedonian IMRO from seeking support from neighboring countries, and strengthening support for non-Serb political parties who remained suspicious of the Serb-dominated kingdom while weakening Serb parties since the Kingdom was already dominated by Serbs. |
| Oct 9, 1934 |
Assassination of King Alexander and establishment of Regency, October 9, 1934. Alexander was assassinated in Marseilles France by IMRO members who reportedly hired by the Croat Ustase. |
| May 1, 1935 |
Since Alexander’s son was only eleven years old, Prince Paul was appointed as ‘Regent’ and a new government elected in May 1935. Election of Prime Minister Milan Stojadinovic -- who led a coalition of Serbian radicals, Slovene populists, and Muslims -- led to reversal of foreign relations and treaties being signed with Italy and Bulgaria, and efforts to improve relations with Germany. |
| 1939 |
Election of Prime Minister Dragisa Cvetkovic and Rapprochement with Croat Republican Party, 1939. |
| Aug 20, 1939 |
Establishment of Largely Autonomous ‘Banovina of Croatia’ Within Yugoslavia, August 20, 1939, and Emergence of Ustase Movement. Croat Peasant Party leader Vladko Macek led Croat separatist and nationalist movement which included threats to secede from Yugoslavia and align with either Italy or Germany against Yugoslavia. Separatist pressure led to establishment of ‘Banovina’ which included territory of Croatia, most of Slavonia, Dalmatia, and parts of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Policies of persecuting political opponents and Jews initiated under Macek. Ustase members opposed Macek’s agreement with Yugoslavia and attracted widespread public support among Croats. |
| Mar 1 - Apr 30, 1941 |
World War II Spreads to Yugoslavia, March-April 1941. Under pressure from German and Italian powers, Prince Paul and Prime minister Cvetkovic agreed to align with Axis. Opposition to new alignment led to coup by military officers and Peter II being proclaimed new King. New Prime Minister Dusan Simovic pledged to honor the Axis agreement while refusing to be drawn into the war. |
| Apr 6, 1941 |
Axis forces attacked on April 6. World War II and the Independent State of Croatia German/Italian/Albanian Occupation, Independent State of Croatia, and Resistance |
| May 1, 1941 - Dec 31, 1944 |
During World War II. Most Serbian territory was placed under German military authority, with most of Kosovo being given to Italian-controlled Albania, and the remainder of Kosovo and eastern Serbia going to Bulgaria. Other Yugoslav regions were divided among Axis powers, except for Croatia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, which were set up with Italian support as nominally Independent State of Croatia under Croat Ustase control. Ustase leader Ante Pavelic launched anti-Serb policy of massacres, expulsions, and forced conversions to Catholicism against Serbs under Croatian control -- population of the Croatian state was about 6,300,000, about one third of them Serbs. Croatia’ own admitted policy towards Serbs was to convert one third, deport one third, and ‘eliminate’ the remaining third. All Serbian Orthodox schools were closed, the Cyrillic alphabet was outlawed, and Serbs were ordered to wear colored armbands. Estimates of number of Serbs killed range from 300,000 to over a million, with numbers between 500,000 - 700,000 being generally accepted. About 50,000 Jews and 20,000 Gypsies were also killed under the Ustase. Yugoslav Royal Army Colonel Draza Mihailovic led a group of Yugoslav Royal Army officers who refused to surrender to the German authorities, established center of resistance in western Serbia, and formed Cetnik Detachments to prepare for uprising. Cetniks did not actively resist German occupation forces, however, and were later found to actually be found collaborating with German-controlled government of Milan Nedic in Serbia. The Communist Party of Yugoslavia, led by Josip Broz Tito, initially avoided confrontation with German forces until Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. Partisan resistance units were organized and fighting erupted in Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. Differences between tactics of Cetniks and Partisans led to civil war between the groups when the Cetniks tried unsuccessfully to take over the Partisan headquarters. After being forced out of Serbia, the Partisans retreated to Bosnia and formed >Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia’ a coalition of democratic and other anti-fascist parties with some autonomy, but still controlled by Tito. Partisans’ fortunes improved during 1943 when the Partisans managed to capture most supplies left behind by retreating Italian forces and the Allies decided to divert most of their military aid from the Cetniks to the Partisans. Tito was strengthened further by his establishment of the Council of National Liberation with himself as Prime Minister and Mihailovic’s failure to counter with his own congress of Serbian, Croatian, and Slovenian representatives. Tito’s dominance was secured after Russia, Britain and the Soviet Union all agreed to switch to support the Partisans instead of the Cetniks and King Peter was forced to agree to cooperate with Tito’s Council. With the defeat of the Axis powers, Ante Pavelic and about 250,000 other Croat refugees tried to flee to Austria, but were forcibly turned back and executed by Partisans. Cetnik leader Mihailovic was also captured and executed by Partisans. |
| Nov 29, 1945 |
Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia Established |
| Jan 31, 1946 |
New constitution signed on January 31, 1946, establishing six republics of Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Macedonia, and autonomous regions of Vojvodina and Kosovo within Serbia. In spite of nominal Federalism, authority of republics was largely subordinate to central control under Tito’s governing cabinet. |
| Jun 28, 1948 |
Tito’s Break With Stalin and Yugoslavia Expelled from Communist Bloc During Cominform Meeting |
| 1950 - 1954 |
Decentralization of Economy and Increasing Local Political Autonomy |
| 1967 - 1971 |
Reemergence of Croat-Serb Tensions. Initial demands for official recognition of separate Croatian language led to further economic and political demands, which forced Yugoslav parliament to grant republics more autonomy in economic policy. |
| 1970 - 1979 |
Persecution of Croat Nationalists and Sporadic Terrorist Attacks by Croat Nationalist Groups Abroad, Mid- to Late 1970s |
| Apr 1970 |
Republics were officially declared to be sovereign units bound only by ‘an institutionalized agreement’ in April 1970. Croatia was primary agitator for decentralizaton reforms while reforms were strongly opposed by Serbia. Continuing Croat nationalist protests and demonstrations led to suspension of Matica Hrvatska group which initiated cultural and linguistic movement and purge of Croat Communist Party leaders. |
| 1972 - 1974 |
Serbian Communist Party Members Purged by Tito to Counter Increasing Serb Nationalism and Challenges to Central Government Authority |
| Feb 17, 1975 |
Fifteen Croatian nationalists were sentenced Feb. 17, 1975, to prison terms on charges of belonging to a terrorist organization which sought the secession of Croatia from Yugoslavia. The 15 allegedly formed an organization known as the Croatian Revolutionary Liberation Army and established contacts with Croatian exiles of the extremist Ustase movement. According to sources close to the closed trial, the defendants admitted their separatist aims but denied that such an organization existed. |
| Apr 28, 1976 |
Three Croatian students were by an Austrian court for constituting an armed subversive group whose goal was the creation of an independent Croatian state on April 28, 1976. |
| Jun 8, 1976 |
Uruguay’s Ambassador in Paraguay was accidentally shot dead by a Croat who mistook him for Yugoslavia’s new ambassador on June 8, 1976. |
| Sep 10 - 12, 1976 |
Five Croatian nationalists hijacked a New York-to-Chicago Trans World Airlines (TWA) jet Sept. 10, 1976. The flight ended in Paris Sept. 12, with the arrest of four men and one woman. The hijackers were returned to the U.S. and prosecuted on air piracy charges. The same Croatian hijackers were also charged in the bombing death of a New York City police officer who was killed Sept. 11, 1976, while attempting to defuse the bomb. |
| Jun 14, 1977 |
Three armed Croatian nationalists invaded the Yugoslav mission to the United Nations in New York on June 14, 1977, and barricaded them selves inside during an alleged attempt to kidnap Yugoslavia’s delegate to the UN. |
| 1978 |
Two Croatian-Americans were murdered in the United States during 1978, a factory owned by a Croatian-American was bombed, and at least 25 threats against other Croatian-Americans were reported. A group called the ‘Croatian Nationalist Army’ claimed responsibility for the attacks and signed the threatening letters. Croatian-Americans accused the Yugoslav government of staging the attacks and U.S. authorities claimed to have evidence supporting that claim. |
| Mar 1978 |
Six Serbs were charged in the United States with plotting to assassinate Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito during his March, 1978 visit and to bomb a meeting in Chicago. Two were arrested in Chicago, and three were arrested in New York where FBI agents uncovered a cache of bombs. |
| Aug 13, 1978 |
More than 200 Croatian exiles demonstrated in Cologne Aug. 13 to protest a West German high court ruling that permitted the suspect’s and two bombs were planted in New York City Aug. 14 with the demand the West Germany release the suspect. |
| Aug 17, 1978 |
Two Croats took over and held six hostages at the West German consulate in Chicago on August 17, 1978, demanding that West Germany release a Croat serving a life sentence for the attempted assassination of Yugoslavia’s consul general in Dusseldorf. |
| Sep 5, 1978 |
An armed group of 19 Croatians was arrested by Australian police in a remote camp on Sept. 5, 1978. The Croatians had weapons, maps of their homeland and instructions on planting land mines. |
| Oct 16, 1978 |
Exiled Croat writer Bruno Busic was shot and killed Oct. 16, 1978, in Paris. The killing was believed to be a politically motivated assassination. |
| Feb 20, 1981 |
Future Croatian President Franjo Tudjman was sentenced Feb. 20, 1981, to three years in jail for criticizing Yugoslavia in articles and interviews intended for Western audiences. |
| Jul 30, 1983 |
Exiled Croatian publisher Stjepan Durekovic was shot dead near Munich, Germany, on July 30, 1983, with Yugoslav secret police being name on August 3 as suspects by Croatian National Congress leader Ernest Bauer in New York. Durekovic was a former Communist Party member who had written five books critical of the Yugoslav government and smuggled them out of the country. West German authorities at the time said the possibility of Yugoslav agents’ involvement was being investigated. |
| Jan 31, 1984 |
West German authorities arrested 11 Croatians and one West German man, and seized weapons during raids in nine West German towns. Members of the group were suspected of responsibility for 11 bombings of Yugoslav targets in the Stuttgart area between November 1981 and December 1982. Members of the group were said to have been arrested previously in 1976 for planning bomb attacks, but were freed in 1981. A December 1981 trial of Croatian bombing suspects had been followed by threats of more attacks by “Croatian freedom fighters” and responsibility for the 1981-1982 attacks had been claimed by a group called the "United Revolutionary Movement for Freedom and Independence in Croatia and Kosovo." |
| Mar 6, 1985 |
Yugoslav authorities arrested a group of Croats from three different Croatian towns on March 6, 1985, accusing them of being terrorists with links to Croatian groups in West Germany, and having planned to carry out several bombings during 1981-1983. |
| Apr 25, 1985 |
Yugoslav authorities sentenced alleged Croatian guerrilla leader Stjepan Deglin to 20 years’ imprisonment on April 25, 1985, for allegedly smuggling weapons, ammunitions and bombs into Croatia, and carrying out five bombings in Zagreb and other towns during 1982-1983 as a leader of the >Croatian Militant Association’, with the assistance of exiled Ustase members in West Germany. Several other alleged separatists were on trial simultaneously with Deglin, while other trials of alleged Croat separatists were underway or recently concluded in Belgrade, Osijek, and other cities elsewhere in Yugoslavia. |
| Jul 20, 1985 |
Six Croats convicted and given jail terms for spreading propaganda hostile to the Yugoslav state, which extolled the virtues of World War II Ustase leaders, on July 20, 1985. |
| May 14, 1986 |
Former Croatian Ustase Interior Minister Andrija Artukovic sentenced to death by firing squad in Yugoslavia. As Interior Minister for the Independent State of Croatia during World War II, Artukovic was allegedly responsible for the deaths of 900,000 Serbs, Gypsies, Jews in concentration camps, as well as for numerous massacres of partisans and their alleged supporters. |
| Sep 23, 1986 |
Yugoslav authorities in Zagreb sentenced two Croatian students on September 23, 1986, to prison terms of 18 months and two years for conspiring with Ustase groups in West Germany to bomb targets in Yugoslavia, including several monuments and bridges. |
| 1987 - 1989 |
Civil Unrest and Emerging Conflict in Yugoslavia 1987-1989 |
| Feb 18, 1987 |
Croatian radio broadcaster Frank Masic was found dead in his Chicago apartment on February 18, 1987, after reporting that he had received death threats for criticizing the Yugoslav government during his ‘Voice of Croatia’ programs. |
| Mar 1987 |
Federal wage freeze touches off numerous strikes and protests throughout the country during March, 1987, with the center of protest being Croatia, where 131 protests involving at least 17,900 workers reported in Croatia alone. |
| Mar 25, 1987 |
Croatia’s government proposes softening of wage-freeze measure to the Federal Parliament on March 25, 1987. Strikes and protests in Croatia were reported to have subsided by mid-April, 1987, after the Federal parliament after the wage-freeze law was amended and price controls were imposed. |
| Apr 17, 1987 |
Croatian Trade Union Federation officials refused to back demands for higher wages by 1,700 striking miners at the Rasa mines in Labin, who had won wage increases after strikes the year before. |
| Oct 30, 1987 |
Yugoslav court sentences two Croats to prison terms for smuggling “terrorist devices” into the country and having links with Croatian guerrilla groups abroad. |
| May 10, 1988 |
Croatia decides to join Slovenia in ousting Federal Prime Minister Branko Mikulic incompetence in handling the economy by proposing a no-confidence vote in upcoming Federal Assembly sessions. |
| Jul 2 - 5, 1988 |
Street protests in Croatia escalate as about 5,000 workers strike in Vukovar, demanding a doubling of wages in response to price increases caused by Federal austerity programs, and 129 protests are reported to have occurred during the first five months of this year. |
| Sep 27, 1988 |
Official newspapers in Slovenia and Croatia accuse Serbia of promoting ethnic unrest in response to anti-Albanian protests by Serbs in Kosovo. |
| Dec 30, 1988 |
Federal Prime Minister Mikulic resigns amid economic crisis and calls for his removal by Croatia and Slovenia. |
| Jan 19, 1989 |
Former Croatian President and Prime Minister Ante Markovic named as Federal Prime Minister in what is described as ‘compromise’ appointment of ‘liberal reformer’ to deal with economic crisis. |
| Mar 19, 1989 |
Fighting among Serbs and Croats at soccer match in Zagreb leads to 32 arrests and 11 hospitalized with injuries |
| Mar 22, 1989 |
Croatian government reported to be cracking down on both Croat and Serb nationalists in Croatia to thwart Serbs’ campaign for more power in Croatia and to deflect criticism that it is unfairly persecuting only Serbs. |
| Apr 13, 1989 |
Croatia appoints Croatian Communist Party leader Stipe Suvar as representative on federal collective presidency, despite strong objections by Serbia due to Suvar’s harsh criticism of Serbia’s leadership and actions suppressing unrest in Kosovo. |
| Apr 14, 1989 |
Serb delegates at Yugoslav Communist Party meeting try to prevent Croatian party leader Stipe Suvar from presiding over sessions of the policy-making central committee, April 14, 1989. |
| May 4, 1989 |
Scotland convicts suspected Yugoslav agent in shooting and wounding of émigré Croatian nationalist Nikola Stedul last October, May 4, 1989. |
| May 11, 1989 |
Yugoslav court convicts prominent Croat nationalist Marko Veselica for violating public speaking ban which had been imposed following previous five-year prison terms for participation in Croat nationalist movements |
| Jul 9, 1989 |
30,000 - 50,000 ethnic Serbs in Croatian region of Knin stage independence rally during Serbian Orthodox religious festival. |
| Jul 12, 1989 |
Croatian authorities arrest founder of Serbian cultural society and 14 others for disrupting public order during Serb protests in Knin three days earlier. |
| Dec 8, 1989 |
A dozen anti-Communist factions in Croatia issue joint statement calling for political opposition to be legalized, for free multi-party elections, release of political prisoners, and threatening non-violent protest if demands are not met. |
| Dec 13, 1989 |
Croatian Communist Party breaks with Yugoslav Party during Croatian party congress by endorsing free multi-party elections, paving the way for free elections next April, December 13, 1989. |
| Dec 15, 1989 |
Serbian Communist Party congress in Belgrade condemns Slovenia and Croatia for approving multi-party elections, accusing the two republics of jeopardizing Yugoslav unity. |
| Mar 21 - Sep 20, 1990 |
Serbia-dominated media campaign accuses Croatian nationalist government of planning to revive Ustase regime of World War II and systematic persecution of Serbs, which Croat leaders repeatedly deny, Spring-Summer, 1990. |
| Apr 22, 1990 |
Croatia holds first free elections and Franjo Tudjman is elected President of Croatia after campaigning on a pro-independence platform. Candidates from Tudjman’s ‘center-right nationalist’ party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), also won a majority of seats in all three houses of the Croatian parliament, with former Communists in the renamed Party for Democratic Change finishing a distant second. |
| May 13, 1990 |
Croats and Serbs clash at Zagreb soccer match between teams from Zagreb and Belgrade, injuring more than 100 people. |
| Aug 1990 |
Serb-Croat confrontations and Croatian Serb separatist referendum, August, 1990. Armed Serbs set up roadblocks and barricades in southwestern Croatia to keep out the police. There were no clashes, but tensions remained high throughout the month. |
| Aug 17, 1990 |
Yugoslav Army jet fighters turned back a flight of Croatian police helicopters which were headed for the southwestern region on. |
| Aug 18, 1990 |
Serbs in Croatia opened voting August 18 on an unofficial referendum on political autonomy. Voting on the ballot initiative, which had been declared illegal by the republic's government. The autonomy referendum was spearheaded by Jovan Raskovic, the leader of Croatia's Serbs. Raskovic had suggested that he would seek military intervention if Croatia attempted to stop the voting. |
| Jan 1991 |
Croat-Serb confrontations, Croat-Slovene moves towards independence, January-February, 1991. |
| Jan 26 - Feb 22, 1991 |
Attempts at negotiation between Croatia, the collective state presidency, and military leadership on January 26 and 31 failed when Tudjman stormed out of the January 31 meeting, saying that he would no longer participate in talks with the military. Talks in Belgrade among the republics’ presidents, federal President Borisav Jovic and federal Premier Ante Markovic on February 8 failed again as Tudjman boycotted the talks and Slovene President Kucan walked out, complaining of a noisy Serbian nationalist demonstration outside. Serbian President Slobodan restated a warning that if Yugoslavia ceased to be a federation, Serbia would seek to incorporate all Yugoslav areas where ethnic Serbs were predominant. Yugoslav President Jovic said he was prepared take "all measures" at his disposal to "prevent the onset of chaos" in the country. The next round of talks in Belgrade on February 13 were attended by Tudjman and the leaders agreed to have the federal government calculate a division of property and assets between the republics and the federal government. The participants also agreed to rotate future meetings among the capitals of each republic and held the first of these meetings was held in Sarajevo on February 22. |
| Jan 30 - Feb 27, 1991 |
Tension surrounding Croatian Defense Minister Martin Spegelj. A military prosecutor in Belgrade charged Croatian Defense Minister Martin Spegelj with plotting an armed rebellion against the nation, it was reported February 27. According to the military, Spegelj had planned to smuggle weapons from Hungary for Croatian guerrilla attacks on military officers. He had denounced the allegation, first made public in January, as a frame-up devised by Serbia, which dominated the military's officer corps. Spegelj went into hiding on or about February 1, following Croatia's rejection of a January 30 federal order for the republic's authorities to detain him. On February 15, the military its troops to arrest Spegelj on sight. An adviser to Croatian President Franjo Tudjman warned on February 1 that any attempt by the military to arrest the defense minister would "lead immediately to civil war." |
| Feb 14, 1991 |
Slovenia and Croatia also concluded a mutual defense pact on February 14, calling for both republics to declare independence if the Yugoslav military intervened in either republic. |
| Feb 21, 1991 |
The Croatian parliament passed legislation on February 21 asserting veto power over all federal laws that applied to the republic, barring the federal government from declaring a state of emergency in Croatia without Croatia's permission, barring the use of federal security forces in Croatia in peacetime and making Croatia's leadership immune from federal prosecution. Croatian lawmakers also overwhelmingly approved a Slovene resolution on turning Yugoslavia into "two or more independent" states. (Croatian officials repeatedly had stated that Croatia would follow Slovenia out of the Yugoslav federation.) |
| Mar 2 - 3, 1991 |
Clashes between armed ethnic Serbs and Croatian paramilitary police in central Croatia, March 2-3, 1990. Armed ethnic Serbs in Pakrac seized the town's police station on March 2 and declared Pakrac's allegiance to the southwestern Krajina region, where ethnic Serbs predominated. After clashes involving hundreds of police reserves, Croat authorities regained control, but were forced to withdraw under protest on March 3 after a contingent from the Yugoslav federal army arrived in the predominantly Serb village. |
| May 7, 1991 |
Croatian President Tudjman accuses Serbia and high-ranking Serbs in the military of bringing Yugoslavia to the brink of civil war, being particularly critical of General Blagoje Adzic, the military chief of staff. |
| May 9, 1991 |
Bosnia-Herzegovina’s President Alija Izetbegovic ends blockade of key road by Bosnians at the border town of Listic, which had prevented a military armored convoy from entering neighboring. |
| May 9, 1991 |
Yugoslav army reportedly has control of three bridges over the Danube River at the border between Croatia and Vojvodina, Serbia's northern province, May 9, 1991. |
| May 9 - 10, 1991 |
Yugoslavia’s collective presidency votes unanimously to give the military sweeping powers to end the ethnic fighting in Croatia, but still falls short of approval for martial law, May 9, 1991. The executive body empowered the military to disarm civilians and paramilitary groups in Croatia and Serbia, and demanded a demobilization of Croatia's special police reserves. In addition, the presidency said it would form a commission made up of Croats and Serbs to investigate the roots of the conflict. More than 20 people had been killed since the end of March in fighting between Croats and secessionist ethnic Serbs in Croatia. Hundreds of ethnic Serbs, mainly women and children, were fleeing Croatia in the wake of the bloodshed. Meanwhile, extremist nationalist groups in Serbia were forming armed "volunteer brigades" to go to Croatia and fight on the side of the secessionists. Croatian President Tudjman said he accepted a peacekeeping role for the military. But he rejected the idea of disarming Croatia's police and barred any negotiations with the Serb secessionists, whom he called "terrorists." Serbian nationalist groups rejected the peace plan on May 10. |
| May 10, 1991 |
Croatia's opposition parties issue a joint statement saying that Croatia was "at war," and urging the republic's government to use "all means" to defend Croatian sovereignty, May 10, 1991. |
| May 12, 1991 |
Ethnic Serbs in the disputed Krajina region of Croatia support unification with Serbia and the continuation of the Yugoslav federation in an unauthorized referendum which was declared illegal by the Croatian government, May 12, 1991. |
| May 13, 1991 |
Croatia’s Vejsnik newspaper group bars British-financed newspaper from use of printing facilities on same day publication is set to begin, allegedly acting in behalf of Croatian government to thwart success of truly independent newspapers publishing in Croatia. |
| May 15, 1991 |
Serbia blocks succession of Croatian representative Stipe Mesic’s to state presidency through annual rotation. Under rotating presidency system set up after Tito’s death, republics would take turns having one of their representatives serve one-year term as president. When the presidency was due to rotate to Croatia’s representative, Serbia voted against Mesic’s succession. With representatives from the autonomous regions of Vojvodina and Kosovo within Serbia also voting against Mesic, and Montenegro abstaining, Mesic was denied the necessary majority of votes from the six republics and two autonomous regions. Macedonia, Slovenia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina had voted with Croatia in support of Mesic’s confirmation. |
| May 19, 1991 |
Croatia votes for independence in public referendum. |
| May 24, 1991 |
U.S. Aid Restored to Yugoslavia despite Secretary of State Baker’s concern over “intensified repression” in Kosovo and “some concern...about rights abuses” in Croatia. |
| May 28, 1991 |
Emergency meetings to resolve dispute over presidency boycotted by Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. |
| May 30, 1991 |
Croatian parliament votes to declare independence by June 30 if a new Yugoslav confederation pact is not negotiated by June 15. Croatian parliament’s deadline for independence closely follows Slovenia’ June 26 deadline set earlier, and Croatian government’s decision to form own Croatian army. Serbia’s President Milosevic warns that Croatia could obtain independence only if Serb-inhabited Krajina region is excluded. Yugoslav Premier Ante Markovic said he opposed Croatia and Slovenia’s independence moves and that disarming of militias in Croatia and Slovenia had begun. |
| Jun 20, 1991 |
Croatia and Slovenia boycott another emergency aimed at resolving the presidency succession crisis. |
| Jun 23, 1991 |
European Community informs Slovenia and Croatia that they would not receive early recognition from the EC if they left Yugoslavia. |
| Jun 24, 1991 |
Yugoslav Premier Ante Markovic warns Slovenia and Croatia that secession could lead to war, but stops short of declaring martial law in either republic. |
| Jun 25, 1991 |
Slovenia and Croatia declare independence, but stop short of formal secession. Both republics retain willingness to negotiate further over continued Yugoslav federation. |
| Jun 25, 1991 |
Yugoslav federal parliament in Belgrade urges Yugoslav military to "undertake measures to prevent the division of Yugoslavia and changes in its borders." Military has no immediate response. |
| Jun 25, 1991 |
United States and several European countries, including Britain and France, bar recognition of Slovenia or Croatia as sovereign states. |
| Jun 26, 1991 |
Gun battles break out in Krajina region of Croatia between ethnic Croats and Serbs, leaving at least five people dead, including two Croat policemen. |
| Jul 7, 1991 |
Truce agreement mediated by the EC takes effect with Slovenia and Croatia agreeing to suspend independence moves for three months while Yugoslav leaders try to resolve the crisis through negotiation. Fighting between Slovenes and Yugoslav army in Slovenia stops while Serb-Croat clashes in Croatia continue on an almost daily basis. |
| Jul 14, 1991 |
Yugoslav collective presidency group had orders all paramilitary and guerrilla organizations in Yugoslavia to disarm by midnight July 18. |
| Jul 15, 1991 |
Teams of observers from the EC nations arrive in Yugoslavia July 15 to oversee compliance with the July 7 truce. |
| Jul 16, 1991 |
Attempt to begin peace talks with collective presidency and leaders of all six republics fails after Serbia, Montenegro, Vojvodina, and Kosovo refuse to meet on the Croatian island of Bironi, the same site where the truce agreement had been reached. Serbia and its allies insisted that the talks be held in Belgrade, where Croatia and Slovenia refused to send representatives. Ohrid, Macedonia was chosen as neutral site for talks to begin on July 22. |
| Jul 18, 1991 |
Presidency’s disarmament order widely ignored by all sides. |
| Jul 18, 1991 |
Yugoslav Army Pullout from Slovenia for 3-month “cooling off” period ordered by federal collective presidency. ome foreign analysts regard order as tacit approval for Slovenia to pursue independence, while at the same time isolating the other rebel republic, Croatia. |
| Jul 21, 1991 |
Some army units begin exiting border areas in Slovenia but do not appear to be complying with order to leave the republic. |
| Jul 22, 1991 |
Battle between Serbs and Croats in the predominantly ethnic Serb town of Mirkovci in eastern Croatia kills between 14 and 20, many of them Croatian militiamen. |
| Jul 22, 1991 |
Yugoslav leaders reach agreement on tentative peace plan calling for demobilization of Croatian paramilitary units, return to barracks of all federal military units in Croatia and monitoring by the EC in Croatia, but it is whether the peace plan was reached before Croat President Tudjman’s walkout prompted by news of battle in Mirkovci. Tudjman vowed not to participate in further talks until all Serbs in Croatia were disarmed. Both he and federal President Stipe Mesic, a Croat, refused to sign the pact. Mesic accused Serbia a day later of "attempting to annex parts of Croatia" by waging "a war with a sea of victims." Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, commenting on the collapse of the Croatia peace plan, July 23 told reporters, "Now everyone will have to face the consequences and take responsibility for the fate of their own people." |
| Jul 23, 1991 |
Continued Croat-Serb clashes in Croatia kill two Croat policemen. |
| Jul 25, 1991 |
At least nine Croatian guardsmen killed in their barracks in the eastern Croatian town of Erdut when federal tanks shell the town from positions inside Serbia. |
| Jul 26, 1991 |
Serb guerrillas seize the town of Struga, about 60 miles (95 km) south of Zagreb. |
| Jul 27, 1991 |
Up to 30 people, including a German news photographer and 14 Croatian policemen, die in rebel attacks in central Croatia. |
| Jul 29, 1991 |
Yugoslav Premier Ante Markovic had confers with EC foreign ministers in Brussels. |
| Jul 30, 1991 |
Yugoslav air force jets had strafe the town of Kostajnica, a key mountain town 55 miles south of Zagreb, killing two Croatian policemen and wounding at least a dozen others. |
| Jul 31, 1991 |
EC envoys who had mediated Slovenia cease-fire arrive in Belgrade to try and stem fighting in Croatia. |
| Jul 31, 1991 |
Croatian forces retreat from Kostajnica and Croatia offers ethnic Serbs measured autonomy and a guarantee of civil rights in return for a truce. |
| Jul 31, 1991 |
Serb rebels in Croatia ignore Croatia’s truce offer. |
| Aug 1, 1991 |
As many as 80 Croatian policemen killed in fighting between Croats, Serbs, and federal forces, in and around Dalj, a northeastern town on the Danube River. |
| Aug 1, 1991 |
Fighting in Dalj represents highest one-day death toll so far in the ethnic war. Croatian President Tudjman fires his defense minister, Sime Djodan, and concedes in a televised address that Croatia's forces were out-gunned. Tudjman refused to call a republic-wide mobilization of volunteers because, he said, Croatia lacked the arms it would need to defeat both the rebels and the federal military. |
| Aug 2, 1991 |
Croatian parliament compels President Tudjman to accept opposition figures in his government. |
| Aug 2, 1991 |
Soviet Premier Valentin S. Pavlov warns against "internationalization" of the Yugoslav crisis, in apparent reference to France's suggestion that an armed Western European peace-keeping force be sent to Croatia. |
| Aug 3, 1991 |
Yugoslav presidency and republic leaders get Serbia, Croatia and the federal military to accept in principle a truce in Croatia that would be monitored by lightly armed Yugoslav national police, but within a few hours, Serbs and Croats resume clashes in eastern Croatia. |
| Aug 4, 1991 |
EC mediated peace talks in Belgrade fail after they are boycotted by Serbs. |
| Aug 5, 1991 |
French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas proposes that Western European Union send armed peacekeeping force to Croatia. |
| Aug 6, 1991 |
EC foreign ministers urge the U.S., Soviet Union and United Nations to play more active roles in resolving the Yugoslav crisis. EC envoys take no action on proposal to impose direct economic sanctions on the Yugoslav republics as a means of forcing peace. |
| Aug 6, 1991 |
Yugoslav presidency and Serb guerrillas in Croatia accept truce agreement calling for all armed forces in Croatia, including the federal military, to remain in place and cease hostilities. |
| Aug 7, 1991 |
Ethnic Serbs shell village about 30 miles south of Zagreb with mortars as previously agreed to truce is to take effect. |
| Aug 7, 1991 |
Western European Union members fail to agree on French proposal for peacekeeping force in Croatia during London meeting. |
| Aug 7, 1991 |
German Chancellor Helmut Kohl threatens Serbia with economic sanctions and diplomatic recognition of Croatia and Slovenia, if truce violations continued in Croatia. Anti-Serbia feelings were reported to have swept Germany in the wake of the slaying of a German photographer by Serb rebels July 27. At the same time, anti-German sentiment was high in Serbia. |
| Aug 7, 1991 |
As many as 300 people reported to have been killed since Croatia’s declaration of independence on June 25. Battles in Croatia so far, mostly fought in rural areas, have pitted Croatia's national guard and police against ethnic Serb militias (made up of civilian volunteers in the south-central Krajina and northeastern Slavonia regions of Croatia) and so-called Cetniks, or nationalist fighters from the Serbian republic. Croatia was believed to have up to 40,000 men under arms while the figure for the pro-Serbia forces was not known, but those forces seemed to be at least as well armed and were much more skilled than the Croats in guerrilla tactics. Serbia was sending arms and medical supplies to the guerrillas in Croatia. In addition, Croatia had accused the federal military, which was dominated by a Serb officer corps, of secretly supplying the Serbs in Croatia. Federal military forces had sided openly with the Serb rebels in some battles. |
| Aug 8, 1991 |
Federal President Mesic, a Croat, says that Croatia would not negotiate any changes to its borders or allow rebel Serbs to keep Croatian territory they had seized in the war, August 8, 1991. |
| Aug 8, 1991 |
U.S. authorities arrest four people in Miami on a charge of attempting to illegally ship weapons to Croatia, August 8, 1991. One of the suspects, Andjelko Jurkovic, is identified by the U.S. Customs Service as a member of the Croatian National Resistance (OTPOR in the Croatian acronym), a terrorist group that operated in North America. |
| Aug 8 - 9, 1991 |
Yugoslavia agrees to accept more EC observers during Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe emergency session in Prague, Czechoslovakia. CSCE officials offer "good offices" for mediation of the crisis and back the idea of holding an international peace conference on Yugoslavia. |
| Aug 12, 1991 |
Representatives of Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina approve plan that calls for a new, overwhelmingly Serb, Yugoslav federation at meeting in Belgrade, the federal and Serbian capital, August 12, 1991. Foreign analysts regard the plan as a blueprint for the "Greater Serbia" envisioned by Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. The plan, originally drawn up by the Serbia Academy of Sciences in 1987 (when Milosevic came to power), suggested a Yugoslavia made up solely of Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, excluding the republics of Slovenia, Macedonia and Croatia. In essence, the plan aimed for a Yugoslavia with a total population of about 14 million, of which more than nine million would be Serbs. According to the plan, the Serbian provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo would be totally integrated into the republic, thus ceasing to exist as political entities. Second, the plan called for the heavily ethnic Serb areas of Croatia, perhaps one-third of the republic, to become part of the new Serbia. By way of compensation, the plan would allow Croatia to annex the southeastern part of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was heavily ethnic Croat. The Bosnian representative at the Belgrade meeting was Serbian Democratic Party leader Radovan Karadzic, one of the partners in Bosnia-Herzegovina's ruling coalition, who participated against the wishes of Moslem Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, who refused to attend the meeting. "Milosevic wants the whole of Bosnia. He wants it all," Izetbegovic said of the Serbian leader August 22. |
| Aug 15, 1991 |
Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia each devalue national currency, the dinar, by 40% against the German mark, without federal permission. |
| Aug 16, 1991 |
Helicopter bearing EC observers makes forced landing after being struck by ground fire while flying near the Croatian town of Novska, southeast of Zagreb. No one on board was injured. |
| Aug 16, 1991 |
Diplomats at German and Austrian embassies in Ottawa, Canada receive death threats signed "Crna Ruka" (Black Hand), the name of a Serbian nationalist group, August 16, 1991. The original Black Hand had plotted the 1914 assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, the event that had triggered World War I. |
| Aug 19, 1991 |
Bombs explode at a Jewish community center and in a Jewish cemetery in Zagreb. No one is hurt and Croatian officials blame the blasts on Serb terrorists. |
| Aug 21, 1991 |
Yugoslav federal presidency leaders agree to support efforts of federal Premier Ante Markovic to secure agreement among all republics to support emergency measures to prevent collapse of Yugoslavia's national economy during emergency session in Belgrade. |
| Aug 22, 1991 |
Croatian President Tudjman orders federal forces to leave the republic and Serb rebels to honor the cease-fire and lay down their arms by August 31. "If the demands are not fulfilled, what stands ahead is a decisive battle, perhaps an all-out war for the defense of the republic," Tudjman said in a letter to the federal collective presidency. |
| Aug 22 - 23, 1991 |
The Hungarian government lodges diplomatic protest over incursions into Hungarian airspace by Yugoslav air force MiG jets attacking villages in northeastern Croatia on August 22-23, 1991. A Hungarian spokesman warned that his country would take "strong countermeasures" if the violations continued. |
| Aug 23, 1991 |
At least 200 documented cease-fire violations and more than 70 deaths since August 7 truce agreement which still remained technically in existence. Serbs, Croats, and federal forces in Croatia all blamed, according to a federal peace commission overseeing the truce. The commission blamed Croats, Serbs and the military for the violations. The federal military claimed to have a neutral, peace-keeping role, but more often than not had sided actively with the Serb insurgents against the Croats. |
| Aug 23 - 24, 1991 |
Representatives of main political parties in all six Yugoslav republics and two provinces confer near Sarajevo, in an effort to resolve the national crisis, August 23-24, 1991. |
| Aug 24, 1991 |
German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher threatens diplomatic recognition of Croatia and Slovenia and says it is ready to push for EC recognition, if the Yugoslav military continues to ally itself with Serb guerrillas in Croatia. |
| Aug 24 - 26, 1991 |
Aerial bombs and artillery fire kill dozens of people in the northeastern town of Vukovar, where Croatian forces are besieged by Serb rebels. Fierce fighting also reported in and around Osijek, Vinkovci, Kijevo and several other communities in the Slavonia region of Croatia. Yugoslav armored units, planes and gunboats shell and bomb Croat positions in the central and northeastern Slavonian regions of Croatia, in what appears to be full-scale offensive in support of Serb rebels in Croatia. Serb guerrillas had gained substantial territory in Slavonia, across the Danube River from the Serbian province of Vojvodina. More than 100,000 Croat and ethnic Serb villagers had fled from Slavonia. Thousands of refugees had crossed the Yugoslav border into Hungary to escape the fighting. "With these attacks on Vukovar and Kijevo, given the magnitude of the operations and the weaponry used, the Yugoslav army has clearly taken over the military initiative in its support for the creation of a 'Greater Serbia,' " maintained Milan Brezak, the Croatian deputy interior minister. |
| Aug 27, 1991 |
Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and Yugoslavia's two top military leaders -- defense minister Colonel General Veljko Kadijevic, and chief of staff General Blagoje Adzic -- reach new agreement on a cease-fire, during unprecedented meeting on the Adriatic island of Brioni. |
| Aug 27, 1991 |
Austrian Foreign Minister Alois Mock urges Western governments to consider military intervention to bring an end to the violence in Croatia. |
| Aug 28 - Sep 1, 1991 |
August 27 cease-fire agreement falls through almost immediately as fighting breaks out again throughout Croatia and Serb forces gain in most battles. Serbian and federal forces intensify artillery fire and aerial assaults on Croatian forces in Vukovar, in the northeastern region of Slavonia. Fierce fighting was also reported in Osijek and other communities in Slavonia. Serbian guerrillas launch attacks on Croatian forces in Dalmatia, the region of Croatia along the Adriatic coast, on August 29. Violent clashes had been reported in and around Gospic, Knin, Krusevo and other towns in the region. Serbian guerrillas seized the Benicanci oil field in eastern Croatia, it was reported August 29. Benicanci accounted for more than one-third of Yugoslavia's oil production. Serbia had been forced to resort to fuel-rationing and importing oil after trade ties between Croatia and Serbia were severed. |
| Aug 29, 1991 |
Team of EC observers in Croatia, says it has gathered conclusive evidence that the Yugoslav army is on the offensive against Croatian forces. Yugoslav army officials previously had insisted that federal troops were playing a peace-keeping role and that they had engaged in combat with Croatian militia only when fired upon. |
| Aug 29, 1991 |
Germany renews export credit guarantees for Croatia and Slovenia while continuing to freeze credit guarantees to Yugoslavia. |
| Aug 30 - Sep 3, 1991 |
In Macedonia, police had confiscated all draft-related records and documents from federal army offices, it was reported August 29. Meanwhile, thousands of women whose sons were conscripts in the federal army had staged protests in cities throughout the country to demand that the army release their sons from service. |
| Aug 31, 1991 |
Yugoslav army claims to have found 19 tons of ammunition and weapons aboard an Air Uganda passenger plane, one of two civilian jets that it forces to land at the airport in Zagreb. |
| Sep 1 - 5, 1991 |
Sporadic clashes at Zagreb airport between the Yugoslav army and Croatian police were reported. |
| Sep 2, 1991 |
Yugoslav federal presidency votes 7-1 to approve a European Community plan to end civil warfare in the republic of Croatia. The signing of the peace agreement followed all-night negotiations September 1-2 between the Yugoslav republic leaders and Dutch Foreign Minister Hans Van den Broek, the current EC president and leader of EC mediation efforts in Yugoslavia. Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic had signed the agreement only after the EC had threatened Serbia with diplomatic and economic isolation. The republic of Montenegro, a staunch ally of Serbia, voted against the EC plan. The peace plan, which had been approved by the EC foreign ministers August 27, provided for a cease-fire monitored by EC observers in Croatia. The plan also called for the convening of an international peace conference to settle disputes between Serbs and Croats. |
| Sep 2, 1991 |
After a brief lull in fighting, Serbian bombardments of Vukovar and Osijek resume, and a new Serbian offensive is reported near Petrinja in south-central Croatia. |
| Sep 2, 1991 |
More than 100 Yugoslav air force pilots stationed at a base near Belgrade refuse to fly combat missions against Vukovar, September 2, 1991. |
| Sep 2 - 3, 1991 |
EC announces September 2 that international talks on the Croatia crisis would begin September 7 at The Hague. Under the EC peace plan, the ultimate aim of the talks would be the resolution of Yugoslav ethnic and national disputes through arbitration by a panel of two Yugoslav and three EC judges. The EC nominated its three constitutional law judges to the arbitration panel on September 3. |
| Sep 4, 1991 |
Serbian forces effectively blocked the main highway linking Slavonia with Zagreb, the Croatian capital, September 4, 1991. |
| Sep 4, 1991 |
Renewed violence since August 28 is reported to have claimed at least 100 lives, and Serbian guerrillas control more than 20% of Croatia, according to Western estimates. |
| Sep 4, 1991 |
Continued fighting in Croatia keeps EC from deploying its unarmed cease-fire observers in Croatia. |
| Sep 4, 1991 |
Yugoslav federal army and Serbian officials accuse Germany of providing clandestine military aid to Croatia, September 4, 1991. |
| Sep 5, 1991 |
Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia join Slovenia in refusing to send new conscripts to the federal army. |
| Sep 18, 1991 |
EC mediates truce agreement in Croatia. |
| Sep 19, 1991 |
EC foreign ministers reject proposal to send armed peace-keeping force to Yugoslavia. British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd swayed the envoys with a strong warning against an "open-ended" commitment of troops without an effective truce or a guarantee of the cooperation of the Yugoslav factions. Germany, Italy and France backed intervention. |
| Sep 20, 1991 |
Yugoslav federal military forces launch a massive armored offensive into the republic of Croatia, breaking September 18 truce mediated by EC, September 20, 1991. |
| Sep 22, 1991 |
Yugoslav federal defense minister Colonel General Veljko Kadijevic accepts Croatian offer to halt fighting and federal gunboats ease blockade of Croatian ports on the Adriatic. |
| Sep 22, 1991 |
Fighting continues in Slavonia region and Croats refuse to restore food, water and electricity to about 40 federal garrisons in Croatia that are under siege by the republic's forces. |
| Sep 22, 1991 |
Yugoslav federal 32nd Armored Corps, based in the Croatian town of Varazdin, surrenders to Croatian forces, providing Croatia with 120 Soviet-made main battle tanks. |
| Oct 2 - 3, 1991 |
Yugoslav military cuts off Dubrovnik by land and sea and renews naval blockade of Croatian coast. Federal forces shut off electricity, food and water to the Dubrovnik area and subjected the area to frequent artillery barrages and naval shelling. The attacks did not appear to be limited to Croatian military targets in and around the city. |
| Oct 3, 1991 |
Croatian President Tudjman’s chief foreign policy adviser, Mario Nobilo, attacks British Prime Minister John Major for sabotaging effective EC action in Croatia. |
| Oct 3 - 4, 1991 |
Yugoslav Federal Presidency splits October 3 after the four pro-Serbia members of the federal collective presidency announced that they had assumed the powers of the federal parliament, including statutory control of Yugoslavia's finances. The move, led by federal Vice President Branko Kostic of Montenegro, split the eight-member presidency group. Kostic's allies were Borisav Jovic of Serbia, Jugoslav Kostic of Vojvodina and Sejdo Bajramovic of Kosovo. The Kostic faction held a presidency meeting in Belgrade October 4. The same day, the four anti-Serbia members of the presidency met on the Croatian island of Brioni. Federal President Mesic, the leader of the anti-Serbia faction, accused the Kostic group of staging a "coup." Mesic's allies were Janez Drnovsek of Slovenia, Vasil Tupurkovski of Macedonia and Bogic Bogicevic of Bosnia-Herzegovina. |
| Oct 4, 1991 |
EC mediator Lord Carrington of Great Britain brokers cease-fire accord signed by Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic in The Hague. Milosevic, in a development that seemed to be significant, renounced any Serbian territorial claims on Croatia, but the fighting continued as Croatia insisted that all federal forces (which were not party to the truce accord) leave the republic. |
| Oct 6, 1991 |
EC foreign ministers authorize use of economic sanctions against Yugoslavia, including possible oil embargo. |
| Oct 6, 1991 |
Croatian President Tudjman authorizes full call-up of volunteers to join armed forces in Croatia. Thousands of young men rushed to join the republic's armed forces in response to the call, but Croatia was reported to have only enough weapons to arm one in five volunteers. |
| Oct 7, 1991 |
Croatian President Tudjman and Yugoslav federal defense minister Kadijevic negotiate immediate cease-fire by messages sent through facsimile machines in Zagreb and Belgrade. |
| Oct 7, 1991 |
Croatia and Slovenia formally declare immediate secession from Yugoslavia, October 7, 1991. Parliaments of both republics back declarations October 8. The three-month "cooling-off" period in Yugoslavia, set by the European Community in July, expired at midnight October 7. |
| Oct 7, 1991 |
Yugoslav air force jets attack Croatian presidential palace and adjoining parliament building in Zagreb with rockets. The attack caused only minor injuries but did extensive damage to the government buildings. The rockets struck as Croatian President Tudjman was lunching in the presidential headquarters with federal President Stipe Mesic and federal Premier Ante Markovic. None of the officials was hurt. Tudjman characterized the attack as a "political crime" and suggested that it was a deliberate attempt to kill Yugoslavia's three most prominent Croats. Markovic demanded the resignation of federal Defense Minister Kadijevic, whom he accused of being behind the attack. The premier vowed not to return to Belgrade until the defense minister stepped down. The federal military high command denied involvement of any air force pilots, suggesting that Croatia -- which has no warplanes -- staged the incident. |
| Oct 7, 1991 |
More than 30,000 Yugoslavs in refugee camps in Hungary, according to International Red Cross data reported in the West as of October 7, 1991. The refugees, mainly women and children, had fled into Hungary to escape the fighting in the Slavonia region of Croatia. |
| Oct 7 - 8, 1991 |
Both Croatian and federal forces ignore October 7 cease-fire agreement between Tudjman and Kadijevic. |
| Oct 8, 1991 |
EC diplomat Dirk-Jan van Houten, Croatian Defense Minister Gojko Susak and General Andrija Raseta, the deputy commander of federal forces in Croatia, sign six-point peace accord after talks mediated by van Houten, October 8. The core of the pact was a pledge by Croatia to free the besieged federal garrisons in return for at least a partial withdrawal of federal troops from the republic. EC observers were to monitor the pullout. Truce was reported to be holding in most of Croatia, except for southern areas near Vukovar, for at least two days. |
| Oct 8, 1991 |
Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev issues appeal to all sides in Yugoslavia to stop fighting and warns Yugoslav military of "unpredictable consequences" if it attacks Zagreb. Action effectively ends earlier Soviet stand that crisis is purely a Yugoslav internal matter. |
| Oct 8, 1991 |
UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar appoints former U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance as the U.N.'s mediator in the Yugoslav crisis, October 8, 1991 |
| Oct 8, 1991 |
EC indefinitely delays possible imposition of economic sanctions on Yugoslavia to allow latest peace effort chance to succeed, October 8, 1991. |
| Oct 9, 1991 |
Serb-Croat clashes reported south of Zagreb and the federal army fired missiles into Vukovar, where Croatian forces had been surrounded for two months. |
| Oct 9, 1991 |
Yugoslav forces ease attacks on Dubrovnik, allowing city to go off alert. |
| Oct 15, 1991 |
Croatian and Serbian presidents Tudjman and Milosevic sign truce pact after separate meetings with Soviet President Gorbachev and Russian President Yeltsin in Moscow. |
| Oct 16, 1991 |
Pro-Serbian faction of the Yugoslav federal collective presidency (Kosovo, Vojvodina, Montenegro, Serbia) rejects Moscow agreement. The faction asserted that only the presidency group, not republic leaders, was empowered to authorize a cease-fire. |
| Oct 21, 1991 |
Croatia had manages to open a road between its Dalmatia coastal region and the central part of the republic. Dalmatia had been cut off by land by rebel forces and the Yugoslav military since mid-September. |
| Oct 23, 1991 |
Yugoslav army demand’s Dubrovnik's surrender and intensifies artillery barrages which now appear to be designed to do maximum damage to the city's medieval architecture and cultural treasures. |
| Oct 31, 1991 |
Under international pressure, Yugoslav navy allows flotilla of private boats carrying relief supplies to enter Dubrovnik and allows Yugoslav federal President Mesic to visit the city. |
| Nov 3, 1991 |
Yugoslav navy blockade and shelling of Dubrovnik resumes. |
| Nov 5, 1991 |
Croatian artillery shells kill four people in the Serbian town of Sid, near the northeastern (Slavonia region) border of the two republics, November 5, 1991. It was the first reported incident of a Serbian community being bombarded in the civil war. |
| Nov 5, 1991 |
Serbia rejects EC peace proposal that had been tentatively accepted by Yugoslavia's five other republics. The proposal called for Yugoslavia to be transformed into a loose confederation of independent republics, with the traditional internal borders left unchanged. Each republic would guarantee the civil rights of its ethnic minorities. Serbia rejected the proposal on the ground that it would break up Yugoslavia as a federal entity. |
| Nov 5, 1991 |
Warring parties in Croatia agree to the 12th official EC-mediated cease-fire. |
| Nov 6, 1991 |
Croatia truce collapses. |
| Nov 8, 1991 |
The rejection, and another broken cease-fire, spurred the EC to impose sanctions on November 8. |
| Nov 8, 1991 |
EC foreign ministers impose economic embargo on Yugoslavia in an effort to halt the civil war in that country. Thus far, 12 official EC-mediated truces had failed to stop the fighting, in addition to several unsuccessful cease-fires declared by the Yugoslav government or by the factions involved, and a Soviet-mediated peace effort. The EC foreign ministers also said they would ask the United Nations Security Council to order an oil embargo on Yugoslavia. EC envoys also vowed that the EC mediation campaign would continue and pledged EC compensation for any Yugoslav republic that cooperated with peace efforts. |
| Nov 9, 1991 |
Serbia denounces the EC economic embargo imposed on Yugoslavia, November 9, 1991. Petar Skundric, the general secretary of the ruling Serbian Socialist Party, contended that the embargo evinced a "reckless" disregard for "those who are forced to fight a defensive war for political, economic . . . and even biological survival." |
| Nov 9, 1991 |
U.S. President Bush says the U.S. will "apply sanctions on Yugoslavia comparable to those of the European Community" and sponsor a Security Council resolution "looking toward a possible oil embargo" while meeting with EC foreign ministers at the Hague. |
| Nov 9, 1991 |
Pro-Serbia faction of Yugoslav federal presidency calls for U.N. peace-keepers in Yugoslavia. |
| Nov 11, 1991 |
EC orders peace monitors in Dubrovnik to leave the city. |
| Nov 13, 1991 |
Great Britain, France and Belgium urge U.N. Security Council to send a peace-keeping force to Yugoslavia if Croatia and Serbia would agree to another cease-fire. |
| Nov 13, 1991 |
EC mediator Lord Carrington of Great Britain says he was "encouraged" about the prospects of securing a new cease-fire agreement after separate meetings with Croatian and Serbian presidents. |
| Nov 13, 1991 |
Dubrovnik and Vukovar on the brink of falling to the Serbian forces, with much of Vukovar reduced to rubble by steady shelling and house-to-house fighting beginning. |
| Nov 13, 1991 |
Seven Italian businessmen detained in Venice on charges of attempting to smuggle about $4 million worth of arms to Croatian forces, and three Croats arrested in Munich while trying to transfer a small cache of arms to Zagreb. |
| Nov 13, 1991 |
Japan suspends technical assistance and economic aid to Yugoslavia. |
| Nov 14, 1991 |
All sides in Croatia conflict agree to allow the presence of peace-keeping forces, but not until after a full cease-fire is reached, following meetings with European Community mediator Lord Carrington. |
| Nov 14, 1991 |
Yugoslav navy allows about 2,000 people to be evacuated from the besieged Croatian port of Dubrovnik, as intermittent shelling continues. |
| Nov 15, 1991 |
EC mediator Dirk-Jan van Houten negotiates cease-fire between Croatia and the federal army. |
| Nov 15, 1991 |
One of the two chambers of the Serb-controlled federal parliament approves vote of no confidence in federal Prime Minister Ante Markovic and Foreign Minister Budimir Loncar. The parliament accused the two men, both Croats, of mishandling the current crisis. |
| Nov 15, 1991 |
At least three people killed when Yugoslav battleships bombard Croatian port of Split. |
| Nov 16, 1991 |
EC cease-fire agreement fails within a few hours as Yugoslav army and Serbian guerrillas launch final offensive against Vukovar. |
| Nov 17, 1991 |
Croatian authorities concede loss of Vukovar, saying they had surrendered largely to spare Vukovar's inhabitants from further suffering. According to Western press accounts, Vukovar had been almost completely leveled by the 86-day siege and bombardment. Only about 10,000 of Vukovar's original population of 50,000 remained in the city, and Yugoslav television reports cited November 25 said as many as 5,000 people, including civilians, had died during the siege. |
| Nov 17 - 21, 1991 |
Chief U.N. mediator Cyrus Vance travels back and forth between Belgrade and Zagreb to arrange Croat-Serb summit in Geneva. |
| Nov 18, 1991 |
Foreign and defense ministers of the Western European offer to send warships to the Adriatic Sea to create a "humanitarian corridor" to protect ships ferrying refugees out of Yugoslavia. Britain, France and Italy lent strong backing to the proposal. The WEU ministers stressed that the ships would play no combat role. |
| Nov 19, 1991 |
U.N. officials report shots fired at a U.N. boat sent to evacuate children from Dubrovnik, but that the boat had completed the mission unharmed. |
| Nov 19, 1991 |
Yugoslav navy allows French and Italian hospital ships to evacuate wounded civilians from Dubrovnik. |
| Nov 19 - 21, 1991 |
Serbs and Croats accuse one another of committing atrocities against civilians in the last days of the battle for Vukovar, but neither side's allegations are independently verified. |
| Nov 22, 1991 |
Croatian police arrest Dobroslav Paraga, the leader of the Croatian ultranationalist Party of the Right who had stridently criticized Croatian President Tudjman for being too willing to compromise with Serbia, on charges of plotting an armed rebellion. |
| Nov 22, 1991 |
Croatian forces reported to have begun lifting their sieges of some federal army bases in Croatia as part of truce agreements. |
| Nov 22, 1991 |
Tensions between Serbian nationalists and Yugoslav federal army reported in Washington Post article with some Serbs accusing federal army of seeking personal gain, rather than advancing Serbian rights, in Croatia.. |
| Nov 22 - 25, 1991 |
Federal forces began shelling Osijek and Vinkovci, two predominantly Croat cities near Vukovar. |
| Nov 22 - 25, 1991 |
Serbian nationalists begin taking steps to resettle about 20,000 displaced Serbs in the homes of Croatians who had fled the eastern Baranja region near Vukovar, and appoint local Serbs to lead a new regional government, according to reports. Mile Jankovic, the organizer of the resettlement program, said November 21 that the Baranja plan was a "test case" that could be applied to other areas of Yugoslavia. "It is obvious that [Serbs and Croats] cannot live together, and a demarcation line is necessary," he said. |
| Nov 23, 1991 |
Croatian, Serbian and Yugoslav army leaders sign United Nations-mediated cease-fire in Geneva, agreeing in principle to allow a multinational peace-keeping force into Yugoslavia to help end the country's five-month-old civil war, but not until after a full cease-fire is reached. The accord was the 14th mediated truce to be initiated since the civil war began in June. A 13th truce negotiated earlier in the month had collapsed as Serbian guerrillas and the federal army made a final push to capture Vukovar following a three-month siege. The cease-fire agreement was signed by Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and Colonel General Veljko Kadijevic, the Yugoslavian defense minister. The U.N. cease-fire accord did not specify where the peace troops would be placed after Croatian and Serbian leaders disagreed over whether troops should be positioned along Croatia’s original borders, or between current front lines, effectively conceding Serbian control of Croatian territory captured during the conflict. |
| Nov 23, 1991 |
About one-third of Croatia currently held by Serbian nationalist guerrillas or the Yugoslav federal army. |
| Nov 25, 1991 |
Peace-keeping forces still not deployed in Croatia since no full cease-fire has yet been successfully implemented. |
| Nov 25, 1991 |
Amnesty International accuses both Serbians and Croatians of committing atrocities against civilians during the civil war, in a report released. |
| Nov 27, 1991 |
U.N. Security Council passes resolution pledging to send peace-keeping force of up to 10,000 members to Croatia, conditional upon Serbian and Croatian forces adhering to a U.N.-mediated cease-fire accord. U.N. officials said that the peace force would be deployed along Serb-Croat combat lines, rather than along Croatia's official borders as Croatian leaders had previously demanded. Croatian President Tudjman November 28 agreed to cooperate with the U.N. measure. The Yugoslav federal government had signaled its agreement to U.N. intervention November 26. |
| Nov 29, 1991 |
Croatian forces allow Yugoslav army to evacuate two of its besieged barracks near Zagreb, November 29, 1991. |
| Dec 2, 1991 |
EC lifts sanctions against all Yugoslav republics except for Serbia and Montenegro, Serbia's ally. |
| Dec 3, 1991 |
Yugoslav navy lifts blockade of Croatian ports other than Dubrovnik, December 3, 1991. |
| Dec 3, 1991 |
EC observers in Croatia accuses Yugoslav army of escalating the civil war and "brutally attacking civilian targets" in a report leaked to the press, December 3, 1991. The document characterized the Yugoslav forces as "cowardly" and suggested that a "selective show and use of force" by European troops could curb their aggression. |
| Dec 4, 1991 |
Germany severs transport links with Serbia and the Yugoslav government, further weakening their ability to conduct trade, December 4, 1991. |
| Dec 5, 1991 |
Yugoslav federal president, Stipe Mesic, a Croatian, resigns, December 5, 1991. Serbia, Vojvodina, Kosovo, and Montenegro members of presidency were described as having effectively prevented Mesic from exercising his executive powers since early October. |
| Dec 5, 1991 |
Serbian nationalists reported to be organizing civilian governments in the largely Serb-controlled regions of Baranja and Krajina in eastern Croatia, December 5, 1991. New York Times reported that a Serbian clerk from the city of Vukovar, Goran Hadzic, had been installed as premier of a newly founded "Serbian Province of Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem." |
| Dec 6, 1991 |
Yugoslav forces step up shelling of Croatian cities of Dubrovnik and Osijek, December 6, 1991. Shelling of Dubrovnik during 1991. was later reported to have damaged 56% or its buildings, with the historic old town taking 650 hits from artillery shells. |
| Dec 6, 1991 |
U.S. levels trade sanctions against all six Yugoslav republics in response to renewed cease-fire violations in Croatia, December 6, 1991. U.S. President Bush had threatened to take such action in a meeting with EC leaders in November. The sanctions suspend duty-free tariff privileges for Yugoslav goods, but do not prohibit U.S.-Yugoslav trade. |
| Dec 9, 1991 |
UN mediator Cyrus Vance assesses conditions in Yugoslavia, says intensified shelling is “appalling” and makes peacekeeping force deployment “much harder even to consider,” December 9, 1991. |
| Dec 11, 1991 |
Serbian Premier Dragutin Zelenovic resigns, effectively dissolving the republican cabinet of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, December 11, 1991. Zelenovic's resignation came amid growing discontent in Serbia, where economic disarray was prompting widespread opposition to the war. |
| Dec 12, 1991 |
Ukraine recognizes independence of Slovenia and Croatia eleven days after voting for its own independence from the Soviet Union, December 12, 1991. |
| Dec 15, 1991 |
U.N. Security Council votes to send small observer team to Croatia to prepare for possible deployment of a larger force, December 15, 1991. |
| Dec 17, 1991 |
EC foreign ministers agree to recognize independence of Croatia and Slovenia, but as compromise, official recognition date is postponed until January 15, 1992. Drive for recognition by EC was led by Germany, but opposed by the U.S., UK, France, and most other EC members. Opponents of early recognition feared move would exacerbate conflict, while Germany countered that recognition would promote end to conflict by placing diplomatic pressure on Serbia. Germany said that it would grant recognition to the republics, with or without EC support. EC decision was to recognize any Yugoslav republics that sought independence, on the condition that they meet a complex set of criteria, including respect for human rights and the rights of ethnic minorities, commitment to democratic government, and recognition of existing territorial and international boundaries. |
| Dec 18, 1991 |
Serbia warns that it will recognize Serb-inhabited regions of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina as separate republics as counter to EC’s recognition. Such a move is described as de facto annexation of those regions by Serbia, December 18, 1991. |
| Dec 19, 1991 |
Iceland recognizes independence of Slovenia, and Croatia just hours before Germany, December 19, 1991. |
| Dec 19, 1991 |
German government recognizes independence of Croatia and Slovenia and says it will give economic assistance to Croatia, without waiting for rest of EC to grant recognition, December 19, 1991. Germany indicated that it would not begin diplomatic relations with the two republics, however, until the EC’s January 15 deadline date. |
| Dec 19, 1991 |
Number of war deaths so far reported to be 10,000, and 500,000 civilians displaced, December 19, 1991. |
| Dec 19, 1991 |
UN Peacekeeping force still not deployed due to Croat and Serbs’ failure to adhere to UN-mediated cease-fire accord, December 19, 1991. |
| Dec 19, 1991 |
Two ethnic Serb enclaves in Croatia declare an independent "Serbian Republic of Krajina" and ask for EC recognition, December 19, 1991. The enclaves, in the southwest and northeast, had no common border but together encompassed most of the one-third of Croatia occupied by the federal army and rebel forces. |
| Dec 19 - 20, 1991 |
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia petition EC for recognition of independence, December 19-20, 1991. |
| Dec 20, 1991 |
Yugoslav federal Premier Ante Markovic, a Croat and the last remaining non-Serb to hold a major post in the federal administration, resigns, December 20, 1991. Markovic said he had resigned after a dispute over the 1992 federal budget, 81% of which reportedly had been allotted to the federal army to pay for its efforts in the Croatian war. |
| Dec 23, 1991 |
Serbia recognizes Krajina's independence,. |
| Dec 23, 1991 |
Serbian parliament overwhelmingly approves new republican government, replacing the cabinet that had dissolved after the resignation of Premier Dragutin Zelenovic two weeks earlier. Radoman Bozovic was named premier in the 25-member cabinet. Federal army General Marko Negovanovic, a hard-line supporter of the war against the breakaway republics, was named defense minister, in a move that observers said signaled Serbia's determination to pursue the war in Croatia. |
| Dec 23, 1991 |
Croatia introduces its own currency. |
| Dec 26, 1991 |
Yugoslav federal government issues new currency notes and declares old ones worthless to head off possible attempts by Croatia to flood other republics with worthless Yugoslav currency. |
| Dec 26 - 30, 1991 |
Federal and Serbian forces launch assault on industrial city of Karlovac, 30 miles southwest of Zagreb, and continue shelling of Osijek. At least 11 people were killed and hundreds wounded in Karlovac as the city was bombarded by artillery, rocket launchers and Yugoslav air force jets. |
| Dec 30, 1991 |
EC observers based in Zagreb confirm that federal army forces fired Soviet-made ground-to-ground missiles in fighting south of the capital during the previous week. Senior Yugoslav army officials had previously denied using the missiles. |
| Dec 31, 1991 |
Yugoslav central government and republic of Serbia agree to peace plan presented by Cyrus R. Vance, the United Nations special envoy, after meeting in Belgrade. The plan called for the implementation of a cease-fire in war-torn Croatia and the deployment of about 10,000 U.N. peace-keepers in the republic. As soon as the cease-fire took hold, the warring forces were to simultaneously pull back from zones of conflict in Croatia. The Yugoslav military pledged to withdraw all its forces from Croatia, but Croatia was slow to grant its approval. Vance was adamant that no U.N. peace-keepers would be deployed until a working cease-fire was in place. Fighting was still raging in Croatia on a broad front, from the central coast to the northeastern Slavonia region. |
| Jan 1 - 3, 1992 |
Croats and Serbs begin their 15th mediated cease-fire as a prelude to deployment of U.N. peacekeepers after negotiations mediated by U.N. envoy Cyrus Vance, January 3, 1992. Croatia agreed to the U.N.'s terms January 1, during a visit by Vance. On January 2, Vance had met with top federal and Croatian military officials. The military officials signed a pact pledging a withdrawal of their forces from zones of conflict in Croatia when a cease-fire took effect. |
| Jan 4, 1992 |
Milan Babic, president of the self-styled “Serbian Republic of Krajina”, notifies Vance and the U.N. Security Council that Krajina would not accept any peace-keepers on its soil, nor would it disarm its guerrilla forces unless Croatian forces also disarmed. |
| Jan 7, 1992 |
A Yugoslav air force jet shoots down an unarmed European Community helicopter over the republic of Croatia, killing five EC observers. The attack occurred on the fourth day of a United Nations-mediated cease-fire that had been holding. The truce explicitly barred military aircraft -- but not EC aircraft -- from Croatia's airspace. The incident took place near Varazdin, a town 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Zagreb. The helicopter, along with another EC helicopter carrying a Belgian diplomat and more observers, had been en route to Zagreb from Belgrade, via Hungary. The attack happened in clear daytime weather, and both helicopters bore EC markings. |
| Jan 7, 1992 |
Yugoslav federal defense ministry accepts responsibility for attack on EC helicopters over Croatia several hours later and expressed its "deep regret" over the "tragic event," promising a full investigation. Foreign governments including Italy, France, and Portugal express outrage at shooting down of EC helicopter while U.N. Secretary General Boutros Ghali expresses ‘shock’ and ‘grief’, stressing the need “to bring peace back to Yugoslavia”. |
| Jan 8, 1992 |
European Community suspends its observer mission in Yugoslavia pending assurances from the federal government that the observers could travel in safety, and the outcome of a federal inquiry into the incident.. |
| Jan 8, 1992 |
Yugoslav federal defense minister, Colonel General Veljko Kadijevic, citing ill health, and is replaced by military chief of staff, General Blagoje Adzic, who is described as “a Serb hard-liner”. |
| Jan 8, 1992 |
U.N. Security Council votes to continue peace efforts by sending a team of observers to pave the way for a deployment of peace-keepers in Croatia. Serbian Republic President Milosevic urges Serbian support for U.N. efforts. In a Presdiential statement read by commentators over Serbian television, Milosevic said, "The United Nations presence prevents the continuation of bloodshed and enables the return to normal peaceful life." |
| Jan 9, 1992 |
European Community reconvenes peace talks after a two-month recess. The talks were attended by the presidents of the six Yugoslav republics. EC officials stressed to Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic that his republic would be isolated in the world community if it did not embrace peace. |
| Jan 9, 1992 |
Yugoslavia's deputy defense minister, Admiral Stane Brovet, says in an interview that the EC helicopter shooting on Jan. 7 was instigated by die-hard military officers in hopes of sabotaging the U.N. peace plan, January 9, 1992. Brovet was one of the few non-Serbs in the military hierarchy. |
| Jan 9, 1992 |
Disagreement over U.N. deployments leads to split between Republic of Serbia and Bosnian Serbs. Serbian President Milosevic assailed “Serbian Republic of Krajina” leader Milan Babic for being "extremely irresponsible" in an open letter published in a Belgrade newspaper. In response, Babic told reporters that he commanded 30,000 guerrillas in Croatia who were prepared to keep fighting the Croats, with or without Serbia's support. |
| Jan 9, 1992 |
Ethnic Serbs in the republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina proclaim autonomous republic. |
| Jan 11, 1992 |
Yugoslavia's acting defense minister, General Blagoje Adzic, widely regarded as a hard-liner, pledges military's support for U.N. peace plan. |
| Jan 13, 1992 |
The Vatican extends recognition to Croatia and Slovenia. |
| Jan 14, 1992 |
Multinational contingent of U.N. observers arrives in Zagreb and Belgrade to pave the way for a large-scale deployment of U.N. peace-keepers in Croatia. |
| Jan 15, 1992 |
European Community and several individual countries formally recognize independence of Croatia and Slovenia. The EC stressed that it also was recognizing the official pre-war borders of the rebel republics while one-third of Croatian territory is occupied by the Yugoslav military or Serb guerrillas. Germany had decided to go ahead with recognition in December 1991, pushing the other 11 EC nations to follow suit for the sake of EC unity. |
| Jan 15, 1992 |
Germany establishes formal diplomatic relations with Croatia and Slovenia. Most of the other EC countries indicated that they would establish ties in the near future. France and Great Britain did not plan to establish ties with Croatia until they were certain that the state would adhere to human-rights norms. The EC's decision to go ahead with recognition had been influenced by reports by Robert Badinter, a former French justice minister who headed a special commission to study the recognition applications of Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The EC declined, for the time being, to recognize either Macedonia or Bosnia-Herzegovina due to concern that immediate recognition might spread the Yugoslav civil war to those republics. |
| Jan 15, 1992 |
U.S. State Department spokesman Richard A. Boucher says that U.S. would not consider recognizing any Yugoslav republic unless the independence question was settled through peaceful negotiations involving all parties to the civil war, and assurances were given by all parties that the rights of ethnic minorities would be respected. |
| Jan 15, 1992 |
Non-EC countries Austria, Australia, Canada, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Switzerland, and Bulgaria recognize Croatia and Slovenia. Bulgaria also recognized Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, becoming the first country to recognize four Yugoslav republics as independent. |
| Jan 15, 1992 |
Republic of Serbia foreign minister Vladislav Jovanovic criticizes Germany for leading foreign recognition drive, and criticizes EC for setting a “very serious precedent” by encouraging the dissolution of a “multinational state”. Bosnian officials charge Bosnian ethnic Serb leader Nikolai Koljevic of meeting in secret with Croatian President Franjo Tudjman on January 11 to plan partition of Bosnia between ethnic Croats and ethnic Serbs. |
| Jan 16, 1992 |
Remaining Yugoslav federal presidency -- now described as only a “four-member pro-Serbia faction” -- accuses EC for violating UN charter by recognizing independence of separatist republics. A communiqué from the Presidency said, “It does not solve the Yugoslav crisis, but only worsens it.” |
| Jan 16, 1992 |
Serbian Premier Radoman Bozovic tells reporters that his republic would never accept the idea of ethnic Serbs being forced against their will to be part of an independent Croatia. |
| Jan 16, 1992 |
Confidential report by EC observers in Croatia asserts that the Yugoslav military and Serb guerrillas had carried out a deliberate campaign of atrocities, looting and destruction in Croatia. The report was leaked to the Washington Post and said that violations were continuing in the Serb-occupied areas of Croatia. The EC report also said that the preponderance of evidence showed that most of the outrages had been committed by the federal army and its Serb guerrilla allies. Violations of the Geneva Conventions catalogued by the observers included premeditated attacks on Croat noncombatants, the mutilation of Croat corpses, the looting and destruction of churches and hospitals, and the organized looting of captured houses and shops. |
| Jan 16, 1992 |
Casualties from civil war estimated at 10,000 killed, since June 1991, Croatian government claims as many as a million people, most of them Croats, had been turned into refugees by the fighting.. Croatian government also claims that three-quarters of the dead had been Croats, including many civilians. |
| Jan 17, 1992 |
Members of advance team of U.N. military observers begin deployment throughout Croatia to establish communications links between Croatian and Yugoslav forces. |
| Jan 17, 1992 |
Yugoslav general Andrija Biorcevic displays split in Yugoslavia’s military hierarchy when he insists that federal troops should not withdraw from Croatia as called for in U.N. peace plan, and contends that "treason at the top of the state and in the army" had undermined the federal military. |
| Jan 17, 1992 |
Italian President Francesco Cossiga is first head of state to visit Croatia and Slovenia after independence, and signs documents making Italy the second country, after Germany, to establish formal diplomatic relations with the former Yugoslav republics. |
| Jan 18, 1992 |
Serbian President Milosevic meets with Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Pavle after the church’s Holy Synod issues statement suggesting that ethnic Serbs in Croatia were being betrayed by the Serbian and federal governments. |
| Jan 23, 1992 |
Helsinki Watch report accuses Serb guerrillas of murdering at least 200 Croat civilians and captured Croat soldiers in 14 separate incidents, and claims that at least 5,000 Croats missing in Serb-held areas of Croatia. |
| Jan 24, 1992 |
Yugoslav Federal army investigators gather evidence that Croats have kidnapped and slain 24 unarmed men and women from the ethnic Serb village of Gospic last October. Ethnic Serbs claimed that Croat gunmen had abducted as many as 150 people from the Gospic area in southwestern Croatia. |
| Jan 29, 1992 |
U.N. undersecretary for peacekeeping operations fails to recommend deployment of peacekeepers due to continued opposition and new demands by Croatia and the self-declared “Serbian Republic of Krajina” leaders. Krajina President Milan Babic continued to insist that the Yugoslav federal army remain in Croatia and refused to disarm ethnic Serbs unless all Croatian forces disarmed. The U.N. plan did not require Croatian forces to disarm, but only to withdraw from Serb-held areas. Croatian leaders made two new demands: (1) A Croatian government role in the appointment of local officials in Croatia, thus threatening the autonomy of ethnic Serb communities, and (2) A Croatian right to police areas of the republic where ethnic Serbs were predominant. Under the U.N. plan, the only armed forces in those areas were to be U.N. peace-keepers. |
| Jan 30, 1992 |
Yugoslav presidency and senior Serbian officials attempt to pressure the Croatian Serbs to allow a deployment of U.N. peace-keepers during about 30 hours of talks with Krajina’s president Babic, January 30, 1992. |
| Feb 2, 1992 |
Krajina's parliament head Mile Pappalj signs pact indicating support for U.N. peace plan, but president Babic issues statement later the same day saying that Paspalj had not been empowered to sign any agreements on behalf of the enclave's government. In a television interview the next day Babic said Krajina still opposes the peace-keeping operation and accused the federal presidency of plotting to overthrow him. |
| Feb 6, 1992 |
U.N.-mediated cease-fire reported to be holding in spite of several violent incidents, including January 20 ambush killing of three federal soldiers near the Croatian coastal city of Zadar. |
| Feb 6, 1992 |
Croatia’s President Franjo Tudjman says he "fully and unconditionally" backs deployment of U.N. peace-keepers in a letter to U.N. Secretary General Boutros-Ghali, following pressure from Germany to drop its demands which were raised in meetings with a U.N. representative last month. |
| Feb 8, 1992 |
Croatia’s President Tudjman reiterates some objections to U.N. peace plan during interview on Croatian state television, saying peace-keepers should remain in Croatia no longer than one year. |
| Feb 16, 1992 |
Group of Serbia-backed politicians forms second Krajina parliament and names Krajina interior minister Milan Martic, an associate of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, as president of Krajina in place of President Babic. |
| Feb 21, 1992 |
United Nations Security Council unanimously approves resolution to send nearly 14,400 peace-keepers to Croatia to enforce truce in civil war and to protect the ethnic Serb minority in Croatia. The resolution called for peace-keepers to remain in Croatia for at least a year pending an agreement by the current and former Yugoslav republics on the future of the federation. Agreement among Security Council members was reached after five permanent members’ concerns over costs were accommodated by beginning with an initially scaled-back deployment. An effort by Western nations to invoke U.N. charter provision calling for possible economic sanctions or force against Croatia if it attempts to expel U.N. forces was dropped due to objection by India and other >Third World’ nations. |
| Feb 21, 1992 |
Following President Babic’s refusal to surrender presidency of Krajina, original Krajina parliament confirms Babic's claim to the presidency and dismisses Martic as interior minister. |
| Feb 22, 1992 |
Serb Krajina President Babic reported to have ended his opposition to a deployment of U.N. peace-keepers in Croatia, but he gives no assurance that Serb guerrillas would disarm voluntarily. |
| Feb 27, 1992 |
Serbian President Milosevic says decision to send in U.N. peace-keepers marks end of civil war in Croatia and is a "great success for Serbian policy" in remarks to Serbia’s parliament. |
| Feb 29 - Mar 2, 1992 |
Voters in Bosnia-Herzegovina overwhelmingly support independence in referendum, but result is marred by ethnic Serbs’ boycott, and number of violent clashes, bombings, and roadblocks erected by armed opponents. |
| Mar 1, 1992 - Jan 31, 1993 |
Stalemate in Croatia and Shifting Alliances in Bosnia |
| Mar 8, 1992 |
350 peace-keepers, including senior officers and an advance unit of airborne troops from the Commonwealth of Independent States, arrive in Croatia. |
| Mar 9, 1992 |
Bosnian Moslem and ethnic Croats agree on a federation structure for Bosnia-Herzegovina when it becomes independent during EC peace talks in Brussels. |
| Mar 22 - Apr 9, 1992 |
Ethnic Serb guerrillas and elements of Yugoslav military opposed to Bosnia's secession battle Moslem Slavs and ethnic Croats in Bosnia-Herzegovina. |
| Mar 23, 1992 |
Six Yugoslav soldiers and two Croat militiamen reported killed in fighting in Neum, on Bosnia's Adriatic coast. |
| Mar 24, 1992 |
U.N. General calls for cease-fire after nine people are slain in fighting in Croatia, the highest single-day death toll since the U.N.-mediated truce. |
| Apr 4, 1992 |
Contingent of 1,200 more U.N. peace-keeping troops arrives in Croatia. Troops arriving so far have included units from Argentina, Canada, France, Kenya, Nigeria and Russia. Great Britain had made a commitment to send about 1,200 soldiers to Croatia, but later announced that no troops would be sent until after the British general election. Although U.N. operation is headquartered in Sarajevo, the forces only have a mandate to conduct operations in Croatia, none in Bosnia itself. Dozens of people -- many of them civilians -- reported killed in artillery duels and gun battles between Croatian forces on one side and ethnic Serb insurgents and the federal military on the other since U.N. cease-fire went into effect January 24. Fighting had been most intense in the northeastern Slavonia region of Croatia, but clashes had broken out throughout the republic. |
| Apr 5, 1992 |
Yugoslav federal air force jets attacked the predominantly Croat town of Kupres, in west-central Bosnia-Herzegovina. |
| Apr 7, 1992 |
United States grants recognition to Croatia and Slovenia after earlier refusal, and joined EC in granting recognition to independent Bosnia-Herzegovina. |
| Apr 9, 1992 |
More than 30 people killed in and around Bosanski Brod, on the Bosnia-Croatia border, in clashes with Yugoslav federal troops openly sided with ethnic Serbs against Bosnian Moslems and ethnic Croats, March 25. |
| Jul 29, 1992 |
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees reports a total of 2.3 million people displaced by Yugoslav civil war; with about 1.8 million remaining within borders of former Yugoslavia, and about 500,000 who left the region. Most countries were reluctant to admit large numbers of the refugees, except for Germany, which had accepted approximately 200,000; Hungary, which had taken about 60,000; and Sweden, which had admitted 41,000. The U.N. blamed the Serb policy of "ethnic cleansing," or expelling non-Serbs from captured areas in Bosnia and Croatia, for creating the mounting refugee problem. However, there was evidence that Croats and Moslems had adopted the same practice against Serbs on a lesser scale. |
| Aug 2, 1992 |
Croatian President Franjo Tudjman reelected in Croatia's first direct presidential election while his ruling Croatian Democratic Union party outdistances competitors in parliamentary voting, August 2, 1992. |
| Sep 6, 1992 |
Croatian Defense Council (HVO in the Serbo-Croat acronym), the largest ethnic Croat militia in Bosnia, threatens to attack Moslem militias unless their fighters withdraw from Croat neighborhoods in six Sarajevo suburbs, but an HVO spokesman plays down the threat a day later. |
| Oct 1992 |
Ethnic Croats and ethnic Serbs in Bosnia reportedly declared a truce in early October, which both sides largely honor as they appear to concentrate on consolidating territorial gains and foreign press even reports some instances of Croat-Serb military cooperation in Bosnia. |
| Oct 19 - 20, 1992 |
Yugoslav President Cosic and Croatian President Tudjman sign accord stating opposition to "ethnic cleansing" and support for humane treatment of refugees, and sign declaration aimed at reopening main highway between Zagreb and Belgrade during meetings in Geneva. |
| Oct 21 - 22, 1992 |
Fighting between Croats and Moslems in two Moslem-held towns in central Bosnia compels U.N. to suspend aid flights to Sarajevo for one day due to their proximity to flight paths into the city. |
| Oct 24, 1992 |
Bosnian Croat militiamen turn against Bosnian Moslems by seizing town of Prozor, killing as many as 300 people and forcing hundreds of Moslem residents out of the area in what they claimed was a Croat version of “ethnic cleansing”. Prozor, about 70 miles (110 km) miles west of Sarajevo, was on the border of the central Moslem-held region of Bosnia and the south-central Croat-held region of "Herzeg-Bosna." The attack on Prozor apparently was aimed at expanding the Croat realm. |
| Oct 24, 1992 |
Serb militias reported to give 1,000 ethnic Croats in Serb-held Bosnia safe passage to Croat-held territory after the people had voluntarily agreed to relinquish their villages. |
| Oct 31 - Nov 1, 1992 |
Bosnian Serb leader Rodovan Karadzic announces confederation of self-proclaimed "Serbian Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina" with the "Serbian Republic of Krajina" in Croatia after joint session of the two regions’ parliaments. |
| Nov 1, 1992 |
Presidents Izetbegovic of Bosnia and Tudjman of Croatia reaffirm cooperation in overcoming the Serbs despite current fighting between Croats and Bosnian Moslems. |
| Nov 5, 1992 |
Official pledge of support between Croatian and Bosnian Presidents undermined by Bosnian commander Arif Pasalic’s comment that "The Croats have carried out a classic military takeover. Their aim is clear: to create a state within a state and eventually merge it with Croatia,". |
| Nov 9, 1992 |
Serbs reported to control 70% of Bosnia, compared with the Bosnian Croats' 20% and the Moslems' 10%. |
| Nov 9, 1992 |
Bosnian Serb leader Rodovan Karadzic demands pullout of Croatian forces in Bosnia and threatens to defend Serbs in Krajina if they are attacked by Croatian army. |
| Nov 9, 1992 |
Croatian army succeeds in cutting supply corridor between Serbia and northern Bosnian town of Bosanski Brod in “only significant non-Moslem military action against the Serbs in the first half of November”. |
| Jan 1 - Feb 28, 1993 |
Resurgence of Civil War in Croatia |
| Jan 20, 1993 |
Croatia and Slovenia join International Monetary Fund, paving the way for the two ex-Yugoslav republics to receive IMF loans and join World Bank. |
| Jan 22, 1993 |
Croatian army launches ground offensive against Serbian-held enclave near Adriatic coast, shattering year-old United Nations-supervised truce and threatening to derail the ongoing peace talks in Geneva aimed at ending the war in neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina. Croat attacks were focused on restoring bridge and road links with southern port of Zadar, and in recapturing airport at Zadar. |
| Jan 22, 1993 |
U.N. Security Council unanimously condemns Croatian offensive. Serbs raid lightly guarded U.N. arms depots and seizing most tanks, rocket launchers, heavy artillery and mortars that they had stored under terms of cease-fire agreement. |
| Jan 24, 1993 |
Croatia’s President Tudjman January 24 claimed that Croatia's limited offensive had achieved its objectives and was "finished”, but fighting continues for several days. |
| Jan 25, 1993 |
Two French members of U.N. peacekeeping forces killed and three others wounded by random artillery fire near Zadar, 13 others rescued after being pinned down in a village for three days, and 21 U.N. police advisers detained by Serb militiamen. |
| Jan 25, 1993 |
U.N. Security Council demands in French-sponsored resolution that all attacks on U.N.-patrolled areas cease and that Serbs return all heavy weapons removed from U.N. depots. Resolution also authorizes heavier weapons for U.N. troops to defend themselves more forcefully after frequently being caught in crossfire and drawing contempt of both Serbs and Croats for their ineffectiveness. |
| Jan 25, 1993 |
Yugoslav federal army is placed on higher state of alert and chief of staff General Zivota Panic warns UNPROFOR that his forces were prepared to intervene to protect the Serbian enclave in Croatia, but words are reported to be of little significance since they are not backed up by action or by Serbia’s President Milosevic. |
| Jan 25, 1993 |
International medical and forensic investigators conclude that a mass grave outside Vukovar contains remains of 200 injured Croat men who had been taken from a hospital in November 1991 and shot by Yugoslav army and Serb paramilitary troops, according to a Washington Post story. |
| Jan 26, 1993 |
Relatively passive reaction by Serbia provokes speculation among analysts and diplomats that Croatia's Tudjman had reached a secret deal with Cosic and Milosevic, according to a Washington Post report. It was theorized that in return for Serbia's not seriously contesting the limited Croatian offensive, the Croats would consent to eventual Serbian control of a disputed corridor in northern Bosnia that would link Serbia with Serb-occupied territory in both Bosnia and Croatia. |
| Jan 26, 1993 |
Russia -- a traditional ally of the Serbs -- says it might press for international sanctions against Croatia unless it ended its attacks. |
| Jan 26, 1993 |
Germany, Croatia's chief trading partner and foreign patron, condemns the resort to force, although it said it understood Croatia's frustration over not regaining territory called for under the U.N. plan. |
| Jan 27, 1993 |
Serbs begin counterattack against Croatian army, and U.N. warns that an outbreak of general war across the former Yugoslav republics might force an end to the U.N. peace-keeping role there. Under a year-old U.N. truce, Serbs in Croatia agreed to store many of their heavy weapons in depots under U.N. supervision. The agreement also called for much of the territory seized by the Serbs to be returned to Croatia's control and for hundreds of thousands of Croatian refugees to be allowed to return home. But with the U.N.'s attention focused on the worsening bloodshed in Bosnia for most of 1992, those terms had not been implemented. While Croatia's frustration mounted, the government of President Franjo Tudjman succeeded in building up its army and supplying it with weapons and other military equipment despite the U.N. Security Council's arms embargo on Yugoslavia and all of its breakaway republics. With its extensive coastline and friendly border with Hungary, Croatia apparently had had little difficulty circumventing the embargo by buying arms on the international market and smuggling them into the country. |
| Jan 31, 1993 |
Croatian President Franjo Tudjman vows to "liberate every inch of Croatia" from the Serb "imposters as soon as possible" with or without the help of the U.N., during tour of recently recaptured Croatian territory. |
| Feb 1 - 3, 1993 |
Renewed heavy fighting between the two sides flares, but in weeks that follow, conflict settles down into a stalemate marked by regular skirmishes and exchanges of fire, February. |
| Feb 1, 1993 - Dec 31, 1994 |
Continuing Stalemate in Croatia and Conflict in Bosnia |
| Feb 16, 1993 |
U.N. and E.C. mediators urge ethnic Serbs to drop independence demands for Krajina during talks at U.N. headquarters involving Croatian government and ethnic Serb separatists. |
| Feb 16, 1993 |
E.C. observers say Croatian military police had beaten and forcefully evicted men and women, mostly Serbs and Macedonians, who refused to vacate apartments formerly owned by the Yugoslav federal army and hand them over to Croatian soldiers in Zagreb and other cities. |
| Feb 19, 1993 |
U.N. Security Council votes unanimously to extend original peacekeeping mandate of the 16,000-member U.N. Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in Croatia for five more weeks, in a move meant to pressure Croats and Serbs into restoring cease-fire. |
| Feb 25 - 26, 1993 |
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development president Jacques Attali warns Croatia that "We cannot finance projects in Croatia if Croatia is going to war," during visit to Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia to scout out possibilities for financial aid. |
| May 18, 1993 |
Bosnian Moslems and Croats May 18 agree to begin observing parts of a U.N. peace plan in Bosnia, but fighting between the two sides continues nearby in the southwestern city of Mostar. The Moslem-Croat agreement included provisions to follow plan proposed by the U.N’s. Vance and the E.C’s. Owen to divide Bosnia into 10 ethnic provinces, to share power by providing proportional representation for each ethnic group in regional governments, and have a Moslem president while allowing the Croats’ primary militia leader in Bosnia to become premier. |
| May 19, 1993 |
Gun battles between Bosnian Moslems and Croats resume around Vitez in central Bosnia. |
| May 19, 1993 |
Croats and Serbs in Croatia agree to cease-fire during talks, to take effect the next day. |
| May 19, 1993 |
U.N. Secretary General Boutros-Ghali advises Security Council to consider withdrawing the 13,400 U.N. peace-keepers in Croatia because the force is unable to fulfill its duties due to hostility directed against it by the Croatian government and the Serbs, endangering U.N. personnel. Boutros-Ghali added that Serbs had been persecuting those Croats who remained in three predominantly Serb-populated U.N. safe areas. More than a quarter of a million Serbs had fled from elsewhere in Croatia to the safe areas and to Serbia, according to the Washington Post in an article datelined May 19. |
| Jun 16, 1993 |
Croatian president Tudjman announces Croat-Serb plan to divide Bosnia into three ethnically based states. |
| Jun 17, 1993 |
U.S. admits failure of Vance-Owen plan to retain Bosnia’s territorial integrity as President Clinton expresses acceptance of Serb-Croat partition plan and Owen urges Bosnian Moslems to accept it, June 17, 1993. |
| Jun 19 - 20, 1993 |
Croatian Serbs in Krajina claim overwhelming vote in favor of unification with Serbs in Bosnia in referendum held June 19-20, 1993. |
| Jun 21, 1993 |
German Chancellor Helmut Kohl urges E.C. partners to reconsider their opposition to lifting the U.N.-imposed arms embargo against Bosnia. Kohl’s urgings were reportedly in response to U.S. letter reaffirming support for lifting of embargo against Bosnia, but was strongly rejected by other E.C. members whose representatives expressed ‘annoyance’ at the move. |
| Jun 21, 1993 |
Bosnian President Izetbegovic meets in Copenhagen with several EC foreign ministers to seek an end to the arms embargo against Bosnia, but Izetbegovic was urged instead to join new Geneva peace negotiations with Serbian and Croatian leaders. |
| Jun 22, 1993 |
Leaders of the 12 EC nations back commitment of more troops and resources to protect six U.N.-designated "safe areas" in Bosnia. The meeting effectively endorses new peace talks on partitioning Bosnia. The EC's communiqué said, however, that the community would not accept a pact "dictated by Serbs and Croats at the expense of Bosnian Moslems." Danish Premier Nyrup Rasmussen, whose nation held the rotating EC presidency, predicted that individual EC nations would commit about 7,500 new troops to the effort. It was uncertain, however, which nations would supply the troops. |
| Jun 23, 1993 |
Representatives of warring Serb, Croat and Moslem factions in Bosnia hold talks in Geneva on Serb and Croat proposal to divide the country into three states. Talks end without agreement and no plans to resume negotiations. The proposal was opposed by Bosnia’s Moslem president Alija Izetbegovic, who refused to attend the meeting, while the U.S. and E. C. reluctantly endorsed the division plan, which signaled the death of the more complex Vance-Owen peace plan. |
| Jul 22, 1993 |
U.N. confirms that Croatian army troops had crossed into Bosnia to assist Bosnian Croat militia units in the Mostar fighting, despite Croatian government’s previous denials that any of its troops were involved in the war in Bosnia. |
| Jul 30, 1993 |
Croat, Moslem and Serb representatives agree during Geneva meetings to principles for division of Bosnia into ethnic republics as a step toward ending warfare, but some members of Bosnia's collective leadership oppose agreement and President Izetbegovic calls it only a basis for negotiation. Under the plan, Croatian- , Moslem- and Serbian-held territories yet to be defined would become ethnically based republics in a loose federation known as the Union of the Republics of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The republics would have their own constitutions, and a weak central government would be responsible only for external relations and trade. There would be no common armed forces or police, and no single currency or central bank. Precise boundaries were not discussed, but the Moslems were to be given back some territory won from them by force so that they would have about 25% to 30% of Bosnia's land area, while Serbs would get about 60% and Croats 10% to 15%. Moslems had represented about 44% of the prewar population. Serbs and Croats represented about 31% and 17%, respectively, of the prewar population. The partition accord was opposed by various members of Bosnia’s collective leadership and President Izetbegovic eventually refused to participate in further talks on August 2 after continued fighting around Sarajevo and elsewhere. |
| Aug 2, 1993 |
Serbs in Krajina shell and sink part of a pontoon bridge at Maslenica, which the Croats had reopened July 18 and was the sole land route not controlled by the Serbs linking central Croatia with the coastal province of Dalmatia. |
| Aug 3, 1993 |
Croatian President Tudjman renounces agreement reached with Croatian Serbs on July 16 in which the Serbs dropped objections to the bridge provided that it was administered by the U.N. upon the withdrawal of Croatian troops from the area. |
| Sep 29, 1993 |
Bosnian parliament rejects plan to end war in Bosnia by partitioning the country among its Moslems, Serbs and Croats. |
| Oct 21 - 22, 1993 |
Rebel Moslems in northwestern Bosnia conclude separate peace agreements with Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Serbs. Fikret Abdic, the Moslem leader of the self-declared Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia, October 21 signed a peace accord with Mate Boban, the head of the Bosnian Croat entity of Herzeg-Bosna. Western Bosnia consisted of the one-quarter of the Bihac area controlled by Abdic's followers. Abdic October 22 signed a peace agreement with Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic. |
| Oct 23, 1993 |
Members of the main Bosnian Croat militia, the Croatian Defense Council (HVO), reportedly massacre at least 80 civilians during attack on Moslem village of Stupni Do, near Vares in central Bosnia. |
| Nov 1 - 3, 1993 |
Secret cease-fire talks between Croatian President Tudjman and Krajina Serb representatives in Norway fail to end fighting which has recently resumed. Tudjman had insisted on November 2 that Krajina remain part of Croatia, then subsequently said he was willing to negotiate an end to hostilities within 15 days and give Krajina Serbs guarantees of autonomy. The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says that the war in the territory of former Yugoslavia has created more than four million refugees. Of that number, more than 3.5 million people had been displaced internally and at least 595,000 had fled to other European countries by the end of 1992. |
| Nov 4, 1993 |
Central Bosnian town of Vares Falls to Moslems, sending several thousand Croat civilians and fighters into flight. Vares was an important center, lying on the road between the capital, Sarajevo, and Tuzla, the main Moslem enclave in north-central Bosnia. |
| Nov 9, 1993 |
Croatian gunners destroy the Stari Most, the old bridge that had spanned the Neretva River at Mostar since the Ottoman era. |
| Nov 17, 1993 |
U.N. war crimes tribunal opens in The Hague, with 11 judges taking oaths to indict, try and sentence suspects accused of crimes against humanity in the former Yugoslavia. |
| Nov 18, 1993 |
Leaders of the warring Moslem, Croatian and Serbian factions in Bosnia-Herzegovina agree to allow safe passage to United Nations relief convoys in the republic at a meeting in Geneva with U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata, November 18, 1993. The U.N. had suspended convoy transport on October 26 after a Danish driver was killed by a sniper in central Bosnia October 25. |
| Feb 1994 |
U.N., United States, and Russia step up diplomatic intervention to push Bosnian Croat-Moslem agreements following the withdrawal of Serb heavy weaponry around Sarajevo. Agreement between Croats and Moslems is portrayed as a legitimizing precedent and face-saving measure needed to secure future agreement with Serbs. |
| Feb 1, 1994 - May 31, 1995 |
Croat-Muslin Alliance in Bosnia, Stalemate in Croatia |
| Mar 1994 |
France announces plan to withdraw 900 peacekeeping from Serb-held Krajina region of Croatia in June. |
| Mar 18, 1994 |
Moslem-dominated government of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the republic's Croats sign Confederation charter joining territories under their respective control as single federation which excludes Bosnian Serbs in ceremonies presided over by U.S. President Clinton in Washington. That new entity was to join in a confederation with Croatia under another agreement signed the same day. The accords were aimed in part at motivating the Serbs to stop fighting. The Bosnian-Croatian confederation pact was signed by Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic and his Croatian counterpart, Franjo Tudjman. Full implementation remained contingent upon a compromise yet to be reached with the Serbs over disputed areas of Bosnia. Until each faction's de facto control of the areas in question was acknowledged, no maps of the Moslem-Croatian federation could be drawn. That, in turn, would hold up the definition and administration of the Bosnia-Croatia confederation. The speaker of the self-proclaimed Bosnian Serb parliament, Momcilo Krajisnik, March 18 said the Moslem-Croatian federation was "an unnatural creation" that could not work. The federation charter provided for about 15 cantons or municipalities covering about one-third of Bosnia's land area. In each canton, all residents regardless of ethnicity were to have equal rights under the law. The cantons were to have a large measure of local autonomy, while the central government, based in Sarajevo, would look after commerce, defense and foreign affairs. The agreement gave the Moslems a much-coveted outlet to the Adriatic Sea. The Bosnian factions' confederation with Croatia would focus primarily on economic cooperation. |
| Mar 19, 1994 |
Prisoner of war exchanges between the Bosnian government and Bosnian Croats begin hours after the Confederation signings in Washington. |
| May 11, 1994 |
Bosnian Croat leaders and officials from the Moslem-dominated Bosnian government meeting in Vienna reach a federation agreement that calls for the creation within Bosnian territory of eight cantons (provinces), four of which would be predominantly Moslem, two heavily Croat and two ethnically mixed. The federation's presidency would be held alternately by Croats and Moslems, and the cabinet would be composed of 11 Moslems and six Croats. The plan reportedly was based on the federation controlling about 58% of Bosnia and was meant to replace March’s Geneva agreement that divided one-third of Bosnia into 15 cantons and only gave the Moslem-Croat federation 51% of the territory. |
| May 13, 1994 |
Foreign ministers and diplomats from the U.S., Russia and five other European nations unveil plan after meeting in Geneva urging combatants in Bosnia to agree to a four-month cease-fire and accept a new partition proposal which would give about 49% of Bosnian territory to Serbs, and 51% to the Moslem-Croat federation. The plan was described by French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe as "the first time since the beginning of the war that the Europeans, Americans and Russians have agreed not on a vague formula, but on numerous details for an overall settlement." Neither the Bosnian government nor any Bosnian Serb official had, as of May 25, indicated that the new proposals were acceptable, however. All warring parties were also urged to resume peace talks that had been dormant for several months because of territorial disagreements and fighting in several disputed enclaves. The partition formula backed at the Geneva meeting had been authored primarily by European nations, and its endorsement represented a compromise for the U.S. The U.S. officially considered Bosnia's Moslems to be the victims in the 25-month-old conflict, and thus was reluctant to back a plan that seemed to reward Bosnian Serb aggression with territorial concessions. At the meeting the U.S. reportedly reaffirmed, however, that it would not take action to force the Moslem-Croat federation to accept the proposed boundaries. Under the proposals, sanctions against Serbia would be lifted while the partition plan was being implemented, thereby not forcing Serbia to wait until all hostilities ceased for a formal end to the blockade. |
| May 14, 1994 |
Bosnia's premier, Haris Silajdzic, criticizes Geneva plan because it does not outline procedures to insure that Bosnian Serbs withdrew from the territory they were called upon to relinquish and appeared to reward the Bosnian Serbs for their aggression. Silajdzic indicated that he feared the Serbs would renege on withdrawal promises even after leaving certain regions. |
| Aug 1994 |
Serbian President Milosevic withdraws official support for Bosnian Serb forces. |
| Sep 10 - 11, 1994 |
Pope John Paul II visits Croatia after canceling trips to Sarajevo and Belgrade, supports Croatia’s independence while urging reconciliation among the various ethnic and religious groups in Yugoslavia. The Pope’s planned visit to Sarajevo was canceled due to U.N. concerns for his safety and his planned visit to Belgrade was canceled due to lingering resentment over the Catholic Church’s support of the Ustase regime in Croatia during World War II. |
| Oct 26 - 27, 1994 |
Bosnian government forces capture northwestern territory around town of Bihac, driving about 10,000 Bosnian Serb forces into Serb-held regions of Croatia and Serb-held Bosnian town of Bosanski Petrovac. |
| Oct 30, 1994 |
Advancing Croat-Moslem forces accused of atrocities against Bosnian Serb civilians while Croats and Moslems claim villages were being burned and looted by fleeing Serb forces. |
| Oct 31, 1994 |
Milan Martic, president of the self-styled Serb Republic of Krajina in Croatia says that special Croatian Serb units are prepared to join Bosnian Serbs in resisting Bosnian government offensives and recapturing lost territory, but it was unclear whether Croatian Serb troops had actually crossed over into Bosnia. |
| Nov 1 - 3, 1994 |
Bosnian army and Croatian Defense Council, the Bosnian Croat militia capture central Bosnian town of Kupres and nearby Serb-held town of Donji Malovan. Capture of Kupres was described as strategically significant because it provided direct highway connection between central Bosnia and the Croatian seaport of Split. Bosnian-Croat success was also described as turning point in war brought about by withdrawal of Serbian forces for Bosnian Serb militias and increased cooperation between Croat and Bosnian Moslem forces. |
| Nov 1994 |
Tensions between Croats and Serbs over fighting in Bosnia threaten to derail U.N. and E.C. mediators’ effort to normalize relations between Croats and Serbs in Croatia. |
| Nov 1994 |
Bosnian government forces reported to have received arms from Iran and other Moslem countries which were smuggled through Croatia. |
| Nov 18, 1994 |
Serb jets flying from Ubdina air base, in the Serb-held Krajina region of Croatia, bomb villages near Bihac with napalm and cluster bombs. |
| Nov 19, 1994 |
U.N. Security Council approves NATO air-raid on Serb air base in retaliation for Serb napalm and cluster bomb attacks on Bosnian villages near Bihac. |
| Nov 21, 1994 |
NATO warplanes bomb Ubdina air base in the Serb-held Krajina region of Croatia in response to at least three Serb air attacks launched from the air base on the area around the Moslem-held town of Bihac in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Serb officials in Croatia said that one person had been killed and seven wounded and that two villages near Ubdina had been damaged. The attack on Ubdina was described as the largest in NATO’s history, involving 39 French, British, Dutch, and American warplanes. The runway at Ubdina was reportedly damaged, but planes themselves were deliberately left intact in what was called a >limited attack’ meant to display NATO’s resolve in enforcing ban on Serb flights over Bosnia while avoiding further escalation of hostilities. |
| Jan 1 - Apr 30, 1995 |
Four-month cease-fire in Bosnia declared by all sides in January 1995 leads to lull in fighting for most regions, except for Bihac, where fighting continues unabated. |
| Apr 29, 1995 |
Second incident of Moslem and Croat forces in Bihac being bombed by planes from Ubdina air base in Krajina reported, but no immediate retaliatory attack by NATO or UN forces. |
| May 1, 1995 |
Fighting escalates throughout Bosnia as four-month ceasefire expires. |
| May 1, 1995 |
Croat forces launch offensives into Western Slavonia region of Serb-held Krajina to disrupt links between Serbsn and neighboring Serbia, and into western region to re-establish strategic highway link with Dalmatian coast and neighboring Bosnian region near Bihac within hours of Bosnian cease-fire’s expiration. |
| May 1, 1995 |
Croatian Serbs retaliate against Croatian offensive by bombing Zagreb with rockets, striking the Foreign Ministry offices and other prominent targets. At least five Croats reported killed and more han 100 wounded. |
| May 1995 |
Resurgence of Civil War? |
| May 4, 1995 |
The UN negotiate a ceasefire between Croats and Serbs in eastern Croatia to interrupt fighting which has erupted with the Croat police and military units seizing the Serb enclave around the town of Pakrac, held by Serbs since the war in Croatia in 1991. Under the ceasefire the Croats remain in effective control of the enclave, while Serbs are to hand over their heavy weapons to the UN. All Serb soldiers and civilians who want to, are allowed to retreat under UN escort into Serb -held Bosnia. At least 7,500 Serbs are believed to have fled since the beginning of Croatian attacks. The ceasefire reduces fears that the fighting around Pakrac and the bombardment of Zagreb could lead to a wider war throughout the Serb-held land of Croatia, triggering even worse fighting in neighbouring Bosnia. (The Daily Telegraph) |
| May 15, 1995 |
The military victory of Croatian forces in Western Slavonia weakens the military alliance between rebel Serbs in Bosnia and Croatia. (Christian Science Monitor) |
| Jun 7, 1995 |
The leader of the breakaway Serb Krajina state in Croatia, Milan Martic, says that if the UN Security Council truly favors a peace option, it will find a way to push the Croatian Army back to their initial positions and proclaim the territory of western Slavonia a safe haven.(BBC) |
| Aug 6, 1995 |
Croatian forces retake Knin which they have lost to rebel Serb forces in 1991. The victory makes possible that the HV link up with Bosnian government forces in Bihac and Krajina. It is believed that Milosevic has brokered a deal with President Tudjman which allows Croatia to resume control of Krajina in return for Serbia assuming responsibility for the rich farmlands and oilfields of Eastern Slavonia.(Scottland on Sunday) |
| Aug 7, 1995 |
Serb secessionists in Eastern Slavonia warn of "imminent danger of a Croatian aggression@ against them following the fall of Knin to Croatian forces. Eastern Slavonia has been taken by Serbs in 1991 during a fierce battle.(Independent) |
| Aug 11, 1995 |
200,000 Serbian soldiers and civilians are displaced from their territory by the Croatian forces' advance. United Nations officials estimate that 75,000 Serbs uprooted from their homes in Croatia have already crossed into Yugoslavia, and that another 150,000 who reached the Serbian controlled region of Bosnia are also heading toward Yugoslavia. More than 200 Serbs are stoned and beaten by mobs as the convoy passes through the town of Sisak. Police stays by laughing.(The New York Times) |
| Aug 14, 1995 |
The Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in Geneva accuses Croatia of committing ethnic cleansing and criticizes some western nations of applying politics of double standards by remaining silent over the Krajina tragedy.(Xinhua News Agency) |
| Oct 24, 1995 |
Croatia holds election which are expected to capitalize on President Tudjman's success in winning back much of the territory lost to rebel Serbs at the start of the war in former Yugoslavia.(The Herald) |
| Nov 2, 1995 |
The Dayton talks begin in Ohio between the leaders of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia. Richard Holbrooke, the US official who has convened the talks, has stressed that success is far from certain.(Financial Times) |
| Nov 12, 1995 |
The Croat government and the rebel Serbs sign the Erdut agreement, which provides for the peaceful reintegration of East Slavonia in Croatia. The agreement says, a UN force will be deployed in the area from January 1996 for one year. Both sides agree that the mandate could be renewed for a further year if either side demands it.(BBC) |
| Mar 10, 1996 |
The foreign minister of rump Yugoslavia, Milan Milutinovic, makes the first official visit to Croatia since Croatia declared independence from Belgrade in 1991. Among the questions to be discussed between the Serb and the Croat parties are the question of people missing from the four-year Croatian war against Serb rebels; the return to Croatia of up to 200,000 Croatian Serbs who fled to Serbia during the Croatian offensive to retake Serb-held territory in 1995; and the position of Croatia's Serb minority.(Agence France Presse) |
| Jun 11, 1996 |
The former U.S. general Jacques Klein and head of the U.N. transitional administration for Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES)says that the United Nations mandate for the Serbian-occupied Croatian region of Eastern Slavonia, which is due to expire at the end of 1996, may have to be extended by another six months.(Deutsche Presse Agentur) |
| Jun 11, 1996 |
Jacques Klein, the UN official in charge of Eastern Slavonia says that the Serbs' demand for autonomy there is unrealistic.(Agence France Presse) |
| Sep 28, 1996 |
The Croatian parliament passes a unanimous resolution on calling for the mandate of the UN Transitional Authority in Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES) to end on January 15. A UN spokesman stresses, however, that the decision on how long the UN Transitional Authority in Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES) stays lays with the United Nations.(Agence France Presse) |
| Oct 8, 1996 |
The president of the parliamentary Independent Serbian Party (SSS) in Croatia, Dr Milorad Pupovac, advises his compatriots in the Serb region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem to apply for Croatian indentity papers to facilitate the future realization of their civic and other rights. Pupovac encourages the Serbs to try to increase their numbers in the ranks of police, administration and other public services in the region. Vojislav Stanimirovic, the local government head, points out the possibility of linking up all Serb municipalities in Croatia and creating the basic elements of local self-rule.(BBC) |
| Oct 23, 1996 |
At a session of the assembly of the Serbs of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem, Borivoje Zivanovic, the Speaker of the assembly, says that the implementation of a declaration granting Serbs special status within Croatia is definitely their option. The assembly analyzes the political and security situation in the region.(BBC) |
| Oct 29, 1996 |
Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic says that Croatia will carry out no military operation to reintegrate Eastern Slavonia, because this would jeopardize its credibility in the international community. A.The war is over, and we all have to get used to that crucial fact. Croatia and Yugoslavia signed the agreement on normalization@, - Granic says.(BBC) |
| Nov 9, 1996 |
Croatian President Franjo Tudjman says at a government session that it is not in Croatia's interest for all Serbs to leave Eastern Slavonia and that it is important to hold talks with the local Serbs with a view to creating conditions for the termination of the UN mandate in this region.(BBC) |
| Nov 11, 1996 |
Vojislav Stanimirovic, the chairman of the executive council of the Serb Region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem meets with Croatian President Franjo Tudjman. Stanimirovic stresses that during the meeting the Serb delegation has insisted on a precise definition of the way the regional elections would be organized. The Serb delegation has shown particular interest in preserving the territory of the region as a single territorial unit after its integration into Croatia. Other issues that have been discussed are, the question of military service in the region; the return of the Serb refugees' property; and the security of Serb citizens. Stanimorovic assesses the meeting as the first serious discussion on the future of the region.(BBC) |
| Nov 16, 1996 |
Croatia's ambassador to the United Nations, Mario Nobilo, says that it is important to reintegrate Eastern Slavonia into Croatia as soon as possible in order to prevent "a radicalization of the political scene" before elections in 1997.(BBC) |
| Dec 24, 1996 |
Harassment and physical attacks against Croatian Serbs continue. Military and police officials of the Croat government are involved in these incidents.(Presswire) |
| Feb 1997 |
The most striking human rights violations against Croatian Serbs in 1996 are the detention of 120-130 ethnic Serbs for acts related to the conflicts in 1995; the retarded pace of processing applications for return of refugees; the discrimination of Serbs in areas, such as the administration of justice, employment, housing, and the free exercise of cultural rights.(US Department of State) |
| Feb 7, 1997 |
Croatian Serbs’ political leaders, Milorad Pupovac (SSS), Milan Djukic (SNS), Vojislav Stanimirovic and Veselin Rejnovic meet to discuss the possibility of forming of alliance in the coming election.(BBC) |
| Mar 18, 1997 |
The mayor of Vukovar confirms that the referendum on the territorial division of Eastern Slavonia scheduled for April 6 will be held.(BBC) |
| Mar 20, 1997 |
The Serbian party in Eastern Slavonia merges with a party representing Serbs in the rest of Croatia. Independent Democratic Serb party (SDSS) of Vojislav Stanimirovic has merged with the Independent Serb Party (SSS) led by Milorad Pupovac. (Agence France Presse). The Croatian Serbs have unified under a single party bloc in order to avoid dispersion of votes in the coming elections.(11 April 1997: Inter Press Service) |
| Apr 12, 1997 |
Stanimirovic addresses the electorate saying that only an election victory for the Serbs can ensure proper functioning of the council of municipalities.(BBC) |
| Apr 15, 1997 |
Goran Hadzic, president of the self-proclaimed Croatian-Serb Srem-Baranja Region in Eastern Slavonia and Dr.Vojislav Stanimirovic, head of the regional government appeal to the Serb people of the region who have not yet received their Croation identification documents, to collect them and to go and cast their vote.(BBC) |
| Apr 19, 1997 |
Former rebel Serbs in Eastern Slavonia voting for the first time in six years in Croatian elections win 11 out of 28 municipalities in the region. The elections have coincided with vote for municipal and county assemblies and the Upper House of the parliament throughout the rest of Croatia.(Reuters World Service) |
| May 13, 1997 |
Vojislav Stanimirovic, Chairman of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) and the newly appointed councillor from Baranja decide that the joint council of municipalities must be formed without delay despite the fact that its mandate and authority as envisaged by the Erdut Agreement have not yet been clearly defined. |
| May 15, 1997 |
100 Croatian Serbs are expelled from Hrvatska Kostajnica where they have returned to their homes. The area is a part of the territory captured by rebel Serbs backed by the former Yugoslav People’s Army in 1991, and recaptured by the Croatian army in 1995. Major Mirko Antonic of Hrvatska Kostajnica says that the incidents are due to individual spontaneous excesses and that there is no organized violence against the Serbs.(Agence France Presse) |
| May 25, 1997 |
President Tudjman says that Croatia would solve the problem with the return of Serb refugees who are in Eastern Slavonia but it would be unreasonable to make conditions on the return of all Serbs who have left Croatia. AIt is contradictory to everything that is been happening in the world since its beginning. No one is making demands that Sudenten Germnans go back.@, - President Tudjman says. (Reuters World Service) |
| May 28, 1997 |
Eleven municipal and one city council have been established in the UNTAES Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia.(BBC) |
| Jul 23, 1997 |
Vojislav Stanimirovic, leader of the local Serb party says, that the issue of Serb returns is linked to that of the return of some 100,000 Croat refugees who fled Eastern Slavonia when it was captured by rebel Serbs backed by Belgrade in 1991. If Serb refugees are unable to return to their homes, then Croat refugees will also not be able to go back, - Stanimirovic says.(Agence France Presse) |
| Jul 23, 1997 |
The Croatian Helsinki Committee reports that for one month 15 Serbs have been killed and there have been 150 violations of the human rights of ethnic Serbs.(BBC) |
| Aug 12, 1997 |
The Croatian Serb radio Belje stops transmitting Serb Radio-TV programs because of the increase in the price of the press coming from Yugoslavia.(BBC) |
| Dec 20, 1997 |
Chairman of the Serb Peoples Party in Croatia Mulan Djukic sends a warning letter to the UN Secretary-General, saying it is premature to end the UN mandate in East Slavonia, because Croatian Serbs are still exposed to serious harassment and that the recent changes to Croatian constitution reduce them to the status of a national minority. |
| Dec 25, 1997 |
Since the beginning of November 1997 International Monitors report some 2,500 possible permanent departures from East Slavonia out of population of 120,000. There is no evidence for preparation for mass departure.(The New York Times) |
| Feb 24, 1998 |
Bosnian Serb News Agency says that the Serb exodus could be stopped by any of the three interested parties: Croatia, Serbia and the international community. |
| Feb 27, 1998 |
The Chairman of the Democratic Party of Serbia Vojislav Kostunica says that the Serbs from Eastern Slavonia are leaving with the blessing of Belgrade and Zagreb.(BBC) |
| Mar 5, 1998 |
Croatian Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa announces changes to a number of laws in implementation of the responsibilities taken by Zagreb on the occasion of the conclusion of the UNTAES mandate.(BBC) |
| Mar 12, 1998 |
In implementation of confidence building measures and improvement of security for Croatian Serbs and the realization of the peace reintegration of East Slavonia the Croatian government bans open air political rallies in East Slavonia until August 1, 1998. The ban comes after incidents at gatherings organized by Croat groups in Eastern Slavonia. (Agence France Presse) |
| Mar 16, 1998 |
Representatives from the federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Republic of Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia conclude that conditions have been created to set up a joint mixed commission for permanent accommodation and return of refugees and displaced persons, currently staying in the Bosnian Serb republic.(BBC) |
| Mar 18, 1998 |
French and German foreign ministers urge Croatia to speed up the return of refugees, improve relations with Croatian Serbs, support the peace process in Bosnia and use its influence to persuade the Bosnian Croats to implement the 1995 Bosnian Peace Accord. OSCE’s monitoring mission says that lack of progress on refugee returns and ongoing harassment are behind a >silent exhodus’ of Croatian Serbs. Croatian Foreign Ministry spokesman says, the government is going to abolish two laws which the OSCE said were a hindrance.(Agence France Presse) |
| Jun 30, 1998 |
Slavko Dokmanovic, former mayor of Vukovar in East Slavonia commits a suicide at the UN War Crimes Tribunal. The trial against Dokmanovic marks the first time when the UN court specifically considers crimes allegedly committed by the Serb-led former Yugoslav Army.(Independent) |
| Jan 8 - 8, 2004 |
The governing Croat party and the Independent Serb Democratic Party (SSDS) arrived at a deal, which gives 8 posts of assistant ministers to Serbs in exchange for SSDS support of the government. (BBC Worldwide Monitoring, 01/08/2004, "Croatia: Serb representatives given eight posts of assistant minister")
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| Jan 8 - 8, 2004 |
Police found weapons and ammunition in the house of a 40-year-old man in Ludvinci, Serb-dominated village. (BBC Worldwide Monitoring, 01/08/2004, "Croatian police find weapons cache near eastern town")
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| Feb 11 - 11, 2004 |
A Serb returnee's house was torched in Biljane Donje. (BBC Worldwide Monitoring, 02/11/2004, "Croatian Serb returnee's home torched after being rebuilt")
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| Nov 12 - 19, 2004 |
Twenty-six Serb inmates went on a week-long hunger strike until the Minister of Human and Minority Rights announced that they would be transferred to Serbia-Montenegro to serve out the remainder of their sentence. (BBC Worldwide Monitoring, 11/19/2004, "Serbs end hunger strike in Croatian prison")
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| May 22 - 22, 2005 |
A bomb exploded near a Serbian party's headquarters. (BBC Worldwide Monitoring, 05/22/2005, "Bomb explodes near Croatian Serb party HQ in Vukovar")
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| Dec 9 - 9, 2005 |
Spanish police arrested General Gotovina. He is to be brought to the Hague for war crimes regarding the deaths of 150 Serbs and the forced removal of up to 200,000. (The Independent, 12/9/2005, "Top Croat war crimes suspect found after four years on the run")
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