Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Federacija Bosne i Hercegovine Федерација Босне и Херцеговине
Location of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (yellow) within Bosnia and Herzegovina. Brčko District is shown in pale green.a
Capital and largest city	Sarajevo
Official languages	Bosnian Croatian Serbian
Ethnic groups (2013 census)	70.40% Bosniaks 22.44% Croats 2.55% Serbs 3.6% other
Government	Parliamentary system
• President	Marinko Čavara
• Prime Minister	Fadil Novalić
Formation
• Washington Agreement	18 March 1994
• Recognized	14 December 1995
Area
• Total	26,110.5 km2 (10,081.3 sq mi)
Population
• 2013 estimate	2,371,603
• Density	91/km2 (235.7/sq mi)
Currency	Convertible mark (BAM)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Calling code	+387
Formally, Brčko District is held in condominium by both parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina (namely, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska). De facto, however, it is a third entity, as it has the same powers as the Federation and Republika Srpska and is under the direct sovereignty of BiH.

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian: Federacija Bosne i Hercegovine, Cyrillic script: Федерација Босне и Херцеговине; pronounced [federǎːt͡sija bôsneː i xěrt͡segoʋineː] ) is one of the two political entities that compose Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Republika Srpska. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of 10 autonomous cantons with their own governments. It is inhabited primarily by Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats, which is why it is sometimes informally referred to as the Bosniak-Croat Federation (with the Bosnian Serbs as the third constituency of the entity). It is sometimes known by the shorter name Federation of B&H (Federacija BiH).

The Federation was created by the 1994 Washington Agreement, which ended the part of the conflict whereby Bosnian Croats fought with Bosniaks. It established a constituent assembly that continued its work until October 1996. The Federation has a capital, government, president, parliament, customs and police departments, two postal systems and an airline (BH Airlines). It had its own army, the Army of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was merged with the Army of the Republika Srpska to form the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The capital and largest city and its metropolis is Sarajevo with 438,443 inhabitants and the total population of 688,354 in its metropolitan area.

History

Bosnian War

Main articles: Bosnian War and Croat–Bosniak War

The Serb-dominated Yugoslav People's Army attacked Croatia from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their first target was Croatian village Ravno that was attacked on 2 November 1991 and completely destroyed. Yugoslavia effected an economic blockade of Bosnia and Herzegovina, thus trying to keep it as part of Yugoslavia. Later, Yugoslavia claimed territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina with a Serb majority and the capital Sarajevo. Serb Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was declared on 27 March 1992 with the goal to incorporate parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina into Yugoslavia. The objective of Serbian politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina was to unite Serbian autonomous provinces into a single unit that would join Yugoslavia, and with total blockade of Sarajevo, break Bosnia and Herzegovina into smaller, unconnected and hardly defensible enclaves. Because of superiority in armaments, support from Belgrade and an embargo on the importation of arms into Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbs achieved their goals by June 1992.

The Bosniak leadership was still indecisive concerning a major conflict, so the Croats were the first to participate in the war. They organized military units, Croatian Defence Forces (HOS) in November 1991 and the Croatian Defence Council in April 1992. Those units were partly composed of Bosniaks. The Territorial Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, later Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina effectively organized in autumn of 1992. In Serb-controlled areas, Serbs performed mass murders, ethnic cleansing of non-Serbs, primarily Bosniaks and Croats, established concentration camps and destroyed Bosniak and Croat cultural inheritance. By November 1992 Serbs had conquered 70% of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina and held Sarajevo in limbo by terrorizing its population by shelling and constant sniper fire. Relationship between Bosnians and Croats during the war. The existing diversity was increased because of the chaos and the war, but also because of conflicting views and moves by individual leaders of both sides and the United Nations. The creation of a Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia was a matter of dispute for Bosniaks. Croats accused Bosniaks of Islamization of the country and attempts to create Bosniak domination in all areas. So they withdrew Croat representatives from Parliament, Government and the Presidency.

The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina had catastrophic consequences, primarily because of disrupted relations between nationalities and religious communities. Due to Serbian expulsion, Bosniaks moved to other areas and thus disrupted the Croats' area and altered their pre-war ratio. Political disputes and minor incidents in central and northern Bosnia and in northern and central Herzegovina led to Croat-Bosniak War in November 1992.

The Vance-Owen plan was presented in January 1993. It was planned to create 10 cantons on the territory of the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This plan increased conflict between Croats and Bosniaks. The Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) launched four offensives and conquered a large area which was under control of HVO; almost the whole Central Bosnia (except Novi Travnik, Vitez, Busovača, Kiseljak, Kreševo and Žepče and the wider areas around those towns and Usora, part of Municipality of Travnik, Zavidovići and part of Municipality of Vareš) and part of Herzegovina, Konjic, Jablanica and eastern and northern parts of Mostar. A number of crimes against civilians were committed on both sides. Hostility between Croats and Bosniaks ended with mediation by the United States and the signing of the Washington Agreement on 18 March 1994. The cooperation between Croats and Bosniaks was renewed, and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a Bosniak and Croat controlled area was established. There was also a proposal to create a confederation of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republic of Croatia.

The joint command of ARBiH, HVO and Croatian Army (HV) was established in March 1995. The closer cooperation between Croats and Bosniaks was made through the Split Agreement where Bosnia and Herzegovina's Muslim leaders allowed the Croatian Army to free western part of Bosnia and Herzegovina with cooperation with ARBiH. After the Operation Storm, the Serbian hoop around Bihać was broken and Croatian and Bosnian armies continued to liberate western Bosnia. The UN unsuccessfully tried to establish peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina by trying to create a successful structure for Bosnia and Herzegovina. The UN showed a total inability when Serbs conquered UN-protected towns, Srebrenica and Žepa. The Serbs also launched an attack on the UN-protected town of Bihać, but they were stopped by the Croatian army during Operation Storm. Joint Croatian-Bosnian military successes made peace negotiations possible.

Washington Agreement

Main article: Washington Agreement

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was formed by the Washington Agreement of March 1994. Under the agreement, the combined territory held by the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croatian Defence Council forces was divided into ten autonomous cantons. The cantonal system was selected to prevent dominance by one ethnic group over another.

In 1995, Bosnian government forces and Bosnian Croat forces of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina defeated forces of the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia, and this territory was added to the federation. By the Dayton Agreement of 1995, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was defined as one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina and comprised 51% of the federation area. The Republika Srpska comprised the other 49%.

On 8 March 2000, the Brčko District was formed as an autonomous entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina and it was created from part of the territory of both Bosnian entities. Brčko District is now a shared territory that belongs to both entities.

Geography

Boundary

The Inter-Entity Boundary Line (IEBL) that distinguishes Bosnia and Herzegovina's two entities essentially runs along the military front lines as they existed at the end of the Bosnian War, with adjustments (most importantly in the western part of the country and around Sarajevo), as defined by the Dayton Agreement. The total length of the IEBL is approximately 1,080 km. The IEBL is an administrative demarcation and not controlled by the military or police and there is free movement across it.

Five of the cantons (Una-Sana, Tuzla, Zenica-Doboj, Bosnian Podrinje and Sarajevo) are Bosniak majority cantons, three (Posavina, West Herzegovina and Canton 10) are Croat majority cantons, and two (Central Bosnia and Herzegovina-Neretva) are 'ethnically mixed', meaning there are special legislative procedures for protection of the constituent ethnic groups.

A significant portion of Brčko District was also part of the Federation; however, when the district was created, it became shared territory of both entities, but it was not placed under control of either of the two, and is hence under direct jurisdiction of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Currently the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has 79 municipalities.

Politics

The government and politics of the Federation are dominated by two large parties, the Bosniak Party of Democratic Action (Stranka demokratske akcije, SDA) and the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, HDZ).

In September 2010, the International Crisis Group warned that "disputes among and between Bosniak and Croat leaders and a dysfunctional administrative system have paralysed decision-making, put the entity on the verge of bankruptcy and triggered social unrest".

Political division

Main article: Cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Una-Sana

Posavina

Tuzla

Zenica-Doboj

Bosnian

Podrinje

Central Bosnia

Herzegovina-

-Neretva

West

Herzegovina

Sarajevo

Canton 10
or Herzeg-Bosnia

Republika

Srpska

Republika

Srpska

Brčko

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina comprises ten cantons (Bosnian: kantoni Croatian: županije):

Demographics

Ethnic composition in 1991

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina comprises 51% of the land area of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is home to 62.85% of the country's total population.

Year	Bosniaks	%	Croats	%	Serbs	%	Yugoslavs	%	Others	%	Total
1991	1,423,593	52.3%	594,362	21.9%	478,122	17.6%	161,938	5.9%	62,059	2.3%	2,720,074
2013	1,562,372	70.4%	497,883	22.44%	56,550	2.41%			79,838	3.6%	2,219,220

Symbols

Former flag of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Flag of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Coat of arms of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina have been deemed unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and were due to be replaced by September. On 31 March 2007, the Constitutional Court placed its decision into the "Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina" officially removing them. The federation has not yet adopted a new anthem or coat of arms, but uses the symbols of the central state as a provisional solution.

Image gallery

• 
  Počitelj, old town near Mostar
• 
  Stari Most (Old Bridge) in Mostar
• 
  Sarajevo, view from the east
• 
  Pliva Waterfall
• 
  Troglav
• 
  Vrelo Bosne

See also

• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Republika Srpska
• Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• History of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bibliography

• Bataković, Dušan T. (1996). The Serbs of Bosnia & Herzegovina: History and Politics. Dialogue Association. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Human Rights Watch (1999). War Crimes in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Human Rights Watch. ISBN 1-56432-083-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

• Website of the Federation Government
• Parliament of the Federation
• Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Website for persons unaccounted for in connection with the conflict on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, International Committee of the Red Cross.
• BalkanInsight - Future of Bosnia and Hercegovina