Republic of Serbian Krajina

File:Krajina ethnic map.jpg

The borders of the RSK c. 1994 (both Serb-held and UNPA areas) superimposed on 1981 census ethnic data. Serbs are shown in blue, Croats in orange, and Muslims by nationality in green. The overwhelmingly majority of those who declared as Muslims by nationality today consider themselves Bosniaks.There were some reports about incorrections of this map.

The Republic of Serb Krajina (Serbian: Република Српска Крајина, РСК; sometimes also translated "Republic of Serbian Krajina") was a self-proclaimed Serbian entity in Croatia during the 1990s. Established in 1991, it was not recognized internationally. Its main portion was overrun by Croatian forces in 1995; a rump remained in existence in eastern Slavonia under UN administration until its peaceful reincorporation into Croatia in 1998.

Origins of Krajina

The name Krajina was adopted from the Military Frontier that was carved out of parts of the crown lands of Croatia and Slavonia by Austria in 1553–1578 as a means of defending against the expansion of the Ottoman Empire. Many Serbs and Vlachs immigrated into the region and helped bolster and replenish the numbers of autochonous Croats as well as the garrisoned German troops in the fight against the Ottomans. The Austrians controlled the Frontier from military headquarters in Vienna and did not make it a crown land, though it had some special rights in order to encourage settlement in an otherwise deserted, war-ravaged territory. The abolition of the military rule took place between 1869 and 1871. In order to attract Serbs to be part of Croatia on 11.5.1867 the Sabor solemnly declared that "the Triune Kingdom recognizes the Serbian/Vlach people living in it as a nation identical and equal with the Croatian nation." After that, the Military Frontier was reincorporated in Croatia in 1881.

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Map of the original Krajina, the Military Frontier

Following World War I, the regions formerly part of the Military Frontier became part of Yugoslavia where it was in the Sava Banovina with most of old Croatia-Slavonia. Between the two world wars the Serbs of the Croatian and Slavonian Krajinas, as well as the Bosnian Krajina and other regions west of Serbia, organized a notable political party, the Independent Democratic Party under Svetozar Pribićević. In the new state there existed much tension between the Croats and Serbs over differing political visions, with the campaign for Croatian autonomy culminating in the assasination of their leader Stjepan Radic in the federal parliament and repression by the Serb dominated security structures.

Between 1939-1941, in an attempt to resolve the Croat-Serb political and social antagonism in the first Yugoslavia, an autonomous Banovina of Croatia was created incorporating (amongst other territories) much of the former Military Frontier as well as well as parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1941, the axis powers invaded Yugoslavia and in the aftermath the Independent State of Croatia (which included whole of today's Bosnia and Herzegovina and parts of Serbia (Srijem) as well) was declared. The Ustasha (who were allegedly behind the assasination of the Serbian king of Yugoslavia were installed by the Germans as rulers of the new country and promptly pursued a genocidal policy of persecution of Serbs, Jews and Croats (from opposition groups) leading to hundreds of thousands being killed. During this period, Croats coalesced around the ruling authorities or the anti-fascist Partisans. Serbs from around the Knin area tended to join the collaborationist chetniks, whilst Serbs from the Banija and Slavonia regions tended to join the anti-fascist Partisans.

At the end of the war, the communist dominated Partisans prevailed and the region was part of the People's Republic of Croatia until 7 April 1963, when the federal republic changed it's name to the Socialist Republic of Croatia. The autonomous political organisations of the region were also suppressed by Tito (along with others such as the Croatian Spring); however, the Yugoslav constitutions of 1965 and 1974 did give substantial rights to national minorities including the Serbs in SR Croatia.

The emerging Serbian Krajina would include three kinds of territories:

• a large section of the historical Military Frontier, in areas with a majority or a plurality of Serbian population
• areas such as parts of northern Dalmatia, that were never part of the Frontier but had a majority or a plurality of Serbian population
• areas that bordered with Serbia and where Serbs were in a plurality or in a significant minority.

It should also be noted that large sections of the historical Military Frontier were outside of the Republic of Serb Krajina and contained a largely Croat population including much of Lika, the area centred around the city of Bjelovar, central and south-eastern Slavonia.

The creation of the RSK

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Coat of Arms of the Republic of Serbian Krajina

Flag of the Republic of Serbian Krajina

The Serbian Krajina was a central concern of the Croatian and Serbian nationalist movements of the late 1980s, led respectively by Franjo Tuđman and Slobodan Milošević. The incidents started in 1988 and turned into full-scale Serbian political rallies in 1989. The Croatian nationalists' victory in 1990, based on a platform of achieving independence for Croatia, only made things worse, especially since the country's Serbian minority was supported both politically and militarily by the Serb dominated Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and Serbia under President Milošević.

At the time, Serbs comprised about 12.2% of Croatia's population: 581,663 people declared themselves Serbs in the census of 1991.

Serbs became opposed to the regime of Tuđman because of his desire for an independent Croatia. More specifically, they saw this process as ruining their image of a Greater Serbia, as new Croatian government changed some of its right's. After the election of Tuđman in April 1990, a new Croatian constitution was passed in December 1990. Many Serbs try to justify their so called independent state by saying the constitution contradicted the Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, despite Croatia still being legally part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. But as Yugoslavia fell apart and Croatia declared its independence , the Yugoslav constitution was not valid any more, but the new Croatian one. The Serbs responded to these rejections by leaving parliament. The rebellion of the radical Serbs was thus set in motion.

Nationalist Serbs in the Krajina established a Serbian National Council in July 1990 to coordinate opposition to Croatian indpendence. Milan Babić, a dentist from the southern town of Knin, was elected its President. The Krajina Serbs established a paramilitary militia under the leadership of Milan Martić, the police chief in Knin. Barricades of logs were erected across roads throughout the Krajina as a physical expression of separation from Croatia. This effectively severed the Croatian coastal region of Dalmatia from the rest of the country, in an incident which became commonly known as the "log revolution".

In August 1990, a referendum was held in the Krajina on the question of Serb "sovereignty and autonomy" in Croatia. The resolution was confined exclusively to Serbs and, not surprisingly, passed by a majority of 99.7%, showing they were unable to accept an independent Croatia. Equally unsurprisingly, it was declared illegal and invalid by the Croatian government, given the fact that Serbs had no constitutional right to break off of Croatian territory.

Babić's administration announced the creation of a Serbian Autonomous District (Srpska autonomna oblast or SAO) of Krajina on December 21, 1990. On April 1, 1991, it declared that it would secede from Croatia. Other Serb-dominated communities in eastern Croatia announced that they would also join the SAO and ceased paying taxes to the Zagreb government.

Croatia held a referendum on independence on May 19, 1991, in which the electorate—minus many Serbs, who chose to boycott it—voted overwhelmingly for independence with the option of confederate union with other Yugoslav states. On June 25, 1991, Croatia and Slovenia both declared their independence from Yugoslavia. As the JNA attempted unsuccessfully to suppress Slovenia's independence in the short Slovenian War, clashes between Krajina Serbs and Croatian security forces broke out almost immediately, leaving dozens dead on both sides.

Serbs began numerous attacks on Croatians in the area, with many calling themselves Chetniks. They massacred Croatian villages and ruined Croatian towns, killing a large number of people. They were supported by the JNA, which provided them military arms. Many Croatians fled their homes, or were forced out by the rebel Serbs. The European Union and United Nations attempted to broker ceasefires and peace settlements, to no avail.

Around August 1991, the leadership of the Serbian Krajina, and that of Serbia, allegedly agreed to embark on what war crimes prosecutors would later describe as a "joint criminal enterprise" . This consisted of permanently and forcibly removing the non-Serb population of Krajina in order to make them part of a new Serb-dominated state. The leaders are documented to have included Milan Babić, and other Krajina Serb figures such as Milan Martić, the Serbian militia leader Vojislav Šešelj and Yugoslav Army commanders including General Ratko Mladić, who was at the time the commander of JNA forces in Croatia.

According to testimony given by Babić in his subsequent war crimes trial, during the summer of 1991 the Serbian secret police—under Milošević's command—set up "a parallel structure of state security and the police of Krajina and units commanded by the state security of Serbia". Shadowy groups of paramilitaries with names such as the "Vukovi sa Vucjaka" ("Wolves from Vucjak") and the "Beli Orlovi" ("White Eagles"), funded by the Serbian secret police, were also a key component of this structure.

A wider-scale war was launched in August 1991. Over the following months, a large area of territory, amounting to a third of Croatia, was seized by the Serbs. The non-Serbian population suffered heavily, fleeing or evicted with numerous slaying, leading to ethnic cleansing. The Serbs nonetheless, continued their land grabbing and killing sprees. The bulk of the fighting occurred between August and December 1991, during which time approximately 80,000 Croats and Muslims were expelled (and some were killed). Many more died and or were deplaced in fighting in eastern Slavonia (this territory along the Croatian/Serbian border is not part of the Krajina, and it was the JNA that was the principal actor in that part of the conflict). The score by then, in the undeclared war against Croatia, was 2,200 Croats killed, 140,000 refugees, razed villages, shelled towns, destroyed cultural monuments, churches, hospitals, old people's homes, kindergartens. TV transmitters were also destroyed, cameramen and journalists of the Croatian Radio and Television were killed.

Map of the territory held by the RSK, circa 1992–1995

On December 19, 1991, the SAO Krajina proclaimed itself the Republic of Serbian Krajina. On February 26, 1992, the SAO Western Slavonia and SAO Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem were added to the RSK, which initially had only encompassed the territories within the SAO Krajina. The RSK occupied an area of some 17,028 km² at its greatest extent. Croatia then was just beginning to form an army, their main defenders, local police, were overpowered by the JNA military supported Krajina Serbs. The RSK was located entirely inland, but they soon started advancing deeper into Croatian territory, expelling or killing Croatians as they went, and burning towns and villages. They shelled the Croatian coastal town of Zadar, killing over 80 people in nearby areas and damaging the Maslenica bridge that connected north and south Croatia. They also tried to overtake Šibenik, but the defenders successfully saved the city from the JNA, but not before Chetniks bombed the main theater. The city of Vukovar, however, was completely devastated by Chetnik attacks. Vukovar eventually fell; the town that had for months warded off Serb attack and destroyed its elite units. 2,000 defenders of Vukovar and civilians were killed, 800 went missing and 42,000 were forced into exile. The wounded were taken from Vukovar Hospital to Ovcara near Vukovar where they were executed.

The uneasy peace of 1992

A ceasefire agreement was signed by Presidents Tuđman and Milošević in January 1992, paving the way for the implementation of a United Nations peace plan put forward by Cyrus Vance. Under the Vance Plan, four United Nations Protected Areas (UNPAs) were established in Croatian territory which was claimed by RSK. The Vance Plan called for the withdrawal of the JNA from Croatia and for the return of refugees to their homes in the UNPAs. The JNA officially withdrew from Croatia in May 1992 but much of its weaponry and many of its personnel remained in the Serb-held areas and were turned over to the RSK's security forces. Refugees were not allowed to return to their homes and the few Croats and other non-Serbs who had remained in the RSK were expelled or killed in the following months. On February 21, 1992, the creation of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) was authorised by the UN Security Council for an initial period of a year, to provide security to the UNPAs.

The agreement effectively froze the front lines for the next three years. Croatia and the RSK had effectively fought each other to a standstill. The ceasefire had little effect on the RSK's international standing. It was not recognized in the sense that it exchanged diplomatic credentials with other countries, but the republic's de facto independence had to be acknowledged by the countries of the region as a fact of life. It gained support from Serbia's allies, Greece, Russia, and Romania.

With the creation of new Croatian counties on December 30, 1992, the Croatian government also set aside two autonomous regions (kotar) for ethnic Serbs in the areas of Krajina. However Serbs considered this too late, as it was not the amount of autonomy they wanted, and by now they had declared defacto independence.

War in former Yugoslavia

UNPROFOR deployed throughout the region in order to maintain the ceasefire, although in practice its light armament and restricted rules of engagement meant that it was little more than an observer force. It proved wholly unable to ensure that refugees returned to the RSK. Indeed, the Krajina Serb authorities continued to make efforts to ensure that they could never return, destroying villages and cultural and religious monuments to erase the previous existence of the Croatian inhabitants of the Krajina. Milan Babić later testified that this policy was driven from Belgrade through the Serbian secret police—and ultimately Milošević—who he claimed were in control of all the administrative institutions and armed forces in the Krajina. This would certainly explain why the Yugoslav National Army took the side of the Krajina Serbs in spite of its claims to be acting as a "peacekeeping" force. It should be noted that Milošević has denied this, claiming that Babić had made it up "out of fear". Babic's suicide put shadow and suspicion on validity and free-will of Babic's testify on court.

Demographics

The official census held in the spring of 1991, just before the war began, is recorded in Republic of Croatia statistics books, but not currently available online. During the period when the RSK was formed, it was difficult to determine the exact population due to the war situation. Many Serb refugees from elsewhere in Croatia and Bosnia settled in the Krajina and a steady stream of people left the region to escape its pervasive poverty. Before the war, about 79% of the population in Knin were Serbs, and many villages in the surrounding area were ethnically Serbian.

The decline of the RSK

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A 5,000 Dinar bill of RSK (1992)

The partial implementation of the Vance Plan drove a wedge between the governments of the RSK and Serbia, the RSK's principal backer and supplier of fuel, arms and money. Milan Babić strongly opposed the Vance Plan but was overruled by the RSK's assembly. On February 26, 1992, he was deposed and replaced as President of the RSK by Goran Hadžić, a Milošević loyalist. Babić remained involved in RSK politics but as a considerably weaker figure.

The position of the RSK eroded steadily over the following three years. On the surface, the RSK had all the trappings of a state: an army, a parliament and president, a government with its own ministries and even its own currency and stamps. Its economy was, however, wholly dependent on support from the rump Yugoslavia, which had the effect of importing that country's hyperinflation. The RSK issued its own currency, the Krajina dinar (HRKR), in parallel with the Yugoslav dinar in July 1992. This issue was followed by the "October dinar" (HRKO), first issued on October 1, 1993 and equal to 1,000,000 Reformed Dinar, and the "1994 dinar", first issued on January 1, 1994, and equal to 1,000,000,000 October dinar.

The economic situation in the Krajina soon became disastrous. By 1994, only 36,000 of its citizens were employed out of a population of 430,000. The war severed its trade links with the rest of Croatia, with its few industries left idle. It had few natural resources on which to rely and had to import most of its resources, goods and fuel. Its agriculture was devastated, operating at little more than a subsistence level.[1] Professionals went abroad to Serbia or elsewhere to escape the Republic's grinding poverty. To make matters worse still, the RSK's government was grossly corrupt and the region became a haven for black market and other criminal activity. It was clear by the mid-1990s that the RSK was economically unviable without a peace deal and reintegration into Croatia. This was especially clear in Belgrade, where the RSK had become an unwanted economic and political burden for Milošević. His government sought to push the Krajina Serbs into settling the conflict but was rebuffed, much to its frustration.

The republic's weakness also affected its armed forces, the Vojska Srpske Krajine (VSK). Since the 1992 ceasefire had been agreed, Croatia had spent large sums of money importing weapons and training its armed forces with the aid of American contractors. At the same time, the VSK had grown steadily weaker, with its soldiers poorly motivated, trained and equipped. The VSK had only about 55,000 soldiers available to cover a front of some 600km in Croatia plus 100km along the border with the Bihać pocket in Bosnia; 16,000 of these were stationed in eastern Slavonia, leaving only some 39,000 to defend the main part of the RSK. In reality, only 30,000 of the theoretical 55,000 were capable of being fully mobilised. The VSK had little mobility and faced a far stronger Croatian army. It was also politically divided between supporters of Hadžić and Babić. On occasion, this rivalry broke out into clashes between rival units, which left several people wounded.

An early demonstration of the new Croatian capabilities came in January 1993, when the revitalised Croatian army launched an attack on Serbian positions around Maslenica in southern Croatia (which prevented them from utilizing sea access via Novigradsko more). In a second offensive in September 1993, the revitalised Croatian army overran the Medak pocket in the southern Krajina in an attempt to gain back the Serb-held Croatian land. The Croatian action was halted by the successful intervention of Canadian UN peacekeepers, but the Croatian army continued to strengthen. Although the Krajina Serbs were able to bring up reinforcements fairly quickly, the strength of the Croatian forces proved a shock. Hadžić sent an urgent request to Belgrade to send reinforcements, arms and equipment. In response, around 4,000 paramilitaries under the command of Vojislav Šešelj (the "White Eagles") and the notorious "Arkan" (the "Serb Volunteer Guard") arrived to bolster the VSK. They found that the RSK's government and military was in a chaotic state.

The fall of the RSK

Following the rejection by both sides of the Z-4 plan for reintegration, the RSK's end came in 1995, when Croatian forces captured western Slavonia in Operation Flash (May) and overran the rest in Operation Storm (August). The RSK was disbanded, and almost the entire Serbian population fled. Croatia celebrates the liberation on August 5 as Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day.

A number of Croatian army officers (such as general Ante Gotovina) were indicted by the ICTY in the Hague for alleged command responsibility for the atrocities committed by Croatian soldiers against the civilian Serbian population. Serbia did not intervene, having earlier indicated in the state-controlled media that it was finally washing its hands of the Krajina Serbs.

Around 150,000–200,000 Serbs fled the RSK in 1995, most of whom ended up in Serbia, and some went to eastern Slavonia. The bulk of them were evacuated immediately by the RSK authorities, while others fled after the operation due to fear and uncertainty caused by the aftermath of the operation. The widespread fear wasn't unsupported, because a number of Serb civilians were indeed killed by advancing Croatian forces and in several atrocities following the operation - UNPROFOR documented more than two hundred murders by November. There was also widespread arson committed by the Croatians, in what ICTY judged to be an action organized to prevent the Serbs from returning (much in the same way the RSK forces tried to prevent the Croats from returning four years earlier, events also processed by the ICTY). The end result was that only 4,000 Serb inhabitants remained in the main part of the former RSK (i.e. excluding eastern Slavonia) after the offensive.

Some Serbs and most of the expelled Croats have since returned, but the Krajina Serb population is still only a fraction of its pre-1995 numbers. The autonomous regions planned by the government in 1992 were disbanded on February 7, 1997 and the areas were integrated into civic counties.

The parts of Krajina in eastern Croatia (along the Danube) remained in place as the Republic of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and western Srijem (previously the Srpska Autonomna Oblast Slavonija, Baranja i zapadni Srem, or sometimes called Sremsko-Baranjska Oblast). The national and local authorities signed the Erdut Agreement in 1995, sponsored by the United Nations, that set up a transitional period during which the UNTAES peacekeepers would oversee a peaceful reintegration of this territory into Croatia. This process was completed in 1998.

Legality status

During the time of its existence(1992-95), this entity did not achieve international recognition, and according to the constitution of SFRJ (and SRH) of 1974 it did not have any right to self-determination, nor succession from (S)R H. SR H (later renamed in RH) is one of the successors of SFRJ which broke apart(study of Baudilare commission) in 1992, when R H became independent. During that time ('90ties) the only state which was internationally recognized in that area, (and which had continuiny) was RH.

Government in exile

Main article: Republic of Serbian Krajina Government in Exile

This is a self-proclaimed government in exile for the Republic of Serbian Krajina. This government existed for a short time period after Operation Storm, but was reconstituted in 2005. This self-proclaimed government has changed the official name of the Republic of Serbian Krajina to Republic of Serb-Krajina.

See also

• Heads of State of Krajina
• Heads of Government of Krajina
• Republika Srpska
• Z-4 plan

Sources

• "The Army of Serbian Krajina", Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 October 1993
• Final Report of the United Nations Commission of Experts, 28 December 1994: The military structure, strategy and tactics of the warring factions
• "Operation Storm - Attack on the Krajina", Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 November 1995
• Initial Indictment of Slobodan Milošević - Croatia, ICTY, 8 October 2001
• Initial Indictment of Milan Babić, 17 November 2003

• Serb Order 1995 - document, [[]], 04 August 1995
• Operation Storm Destroyed “Greater Serbia”
• The Homeland War

External links

• (Serbian/English) Glas prognanih Krajisnika / Voice of exiled Krajishniks Krajinaforce
• (English) Resolution adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations A/RES/49/43 The situation in the occupied territories of Croatia