Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

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.^[3]^[4]

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 having 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^[5] 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.^[6] Their first target was Croatian village Ravno that was attacked on 2 November 1991 and completely destroyed.^[6] Yugoslavia made economic blockade on Bosnia and Herzegovina thus trying to keep it as part of Yugoslavia.^[7] Later, Yugoslavia claimed territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina with Serb majority and capital Sarajevo.^[7] Serb Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was declared on 27 March 1992 with goal to include parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Yugoslavia. The plan of Serbian politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina was to unite Serbian autonomous provinces into the single unit that would join Yugoslavia and with total blockade of Sarajevo break Bosnia and Herzegovina into the smaller, unconnected and hardly defensible enclaves. Because of superiority in armament, support from Belgrade and embargo on import of arms in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbs achieved their goals already in June 1992.

Bosniak leadership was still in indecision for major conflict, so Croats were first to participate in the war. They organized military units, Croatian Defence Forces (HOS) in November 1991 and 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. On Serb-controlled areas, Serbs executed mass murders, ethnic cleansing of non-Serbs, primarily Bosniaks and Croats, established concentration camps and destroyed Bosniak and Croat cultural inheritance. Until November 1992 Serbs conquered 70% of territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina and held Sarajevo in hoop by terrorizing the population of Sarajevo by shelling and constant sniper fire. Relationship between Bosnians and Croats during the war. The existing diversity was increased because of chaotic and war situation but also because of conflicting views and moves by individual leaders of both sides and United Nations. The creation of Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia was in dispute for Bosniaks. Croats accused Bosniaks for islamization of the country and attempts for Bosniak domination in all areas, so they withdrew Croat representatives from Parliament, Government and Presidency.

The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina had catastrophic consequences, primarily because of disrupted relation between nationalities and religious communities. By Serbian expulsion of Bosniaks, Bosniaks moved to other areas and thus disrupted living area of Croats and 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 territory of all 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 large area which was under control of HVO; almost whole Central Bosnia (except Novi Travnik, Vitez, Busovača, Kiseljak, Kreševo and Žepče and wider area 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. Number of crimes against civilians were committed on both sides. Hostility between Croats and Bosniaks ended with mediation of the United States and sign of 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 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 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 make a successful structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina. UN showed a total inability when Serbs conquered UN-protected towns, Srebrenica and Žepa. Serbs also launched on UN-protected town of Bihać, but they were stopped by Croatian army during the 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).^[8]

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".^[8]

Political division

Main article: Cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Brčko

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

No.	Canton	Center	No.	Canton	Center
1	Una-Sana	Bihać	6	Central Bosnia	Travnik
2	Posavina	Orašje	7	Herzegovina-Neretva	Mostar
3	Tuzla	Tuzla	8	West Herzegovina	Široki Brijeg
4	Zenica-Doboj	Zenica	9	Sarajevo	Sarajevo
5	Bosnian Podrinje	Goražde	10	Canton 10	Livno

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 62.1% of the country's total population.^[9] All data dealing with population, including ethnic distributions, are subject to considerable error because of the lack of official census figures.

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

Largest cities or towns in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2013 Census^[10]
	Rank		Canton	Pop.	Rank		Canton	Pop.
Sarajevo Tuzla	1	Sarajevo	Sarajevo Canton	438,443	11	Sanski Most	Una-Sana Canton	47,359	Zenica Mostar
	2	Tuzla	Tuzla Canton	120,441	12	Lukavac	Tuzla Canton	46,731
	3	Zenica	Zenica-Doboj Canton	115,134	13	Tešanj	Zenica-Doboj Canton	46,135
	4	Mostar	Herzegovina-Neretva Canton	113,169	14	Velika Kladuša	Una-Sana Canton	44,770
	5	Ilidža	Sarajevo Canton	71,892	15	Srebrenik	Tuzla Canton	42,762
	6	Cazin	Una-Sana Canton	69,411	16	Gradačac	Tuzla Canton	41,836
	7	Živinice	Tuzla Canton	61,201	17	Visoko	Zenica-Doboj Canton	41,352
	8	Bihać	Una-Sana Canton	61,186	18	Zavidovići	Zenica-Doboj Canton	40,272
	9	Travnik	Central Bosnia Canton	57 543	19	Kakanj	Zenica-Doboj Canton	38,937
	10	Gračanica, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Tuzla Canton	48,395	20	Livno	Canton 10	37,487

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.^[11] 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.^[12]

Gallery

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

Notes

References

↑ Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Official Gazette of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
↑ "First release" (PDF). Federal Office of Statistics, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. June 30, 2011.
↑ Office of High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina
↑ Office of High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina
↑ http://www.bhas.ba/obavjestenja/Preliminarni_rezultati_bos.pdf
1 2 Human Rights Watch 1999, p. 17.
1 2 Human Rights Watch 1999, p. 18.
1 2 "Federation of Bosnia And Herzegovina – A Parallel Crisis". International Crisis Group. 28 September 2010.
↑ "POPULATION OF THE FEDERATION BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 1996 - 2006" (PDF). Federal Office of Statistics.
↑ "Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in Bosnia and Herzegovina 2013" (PDF). Federal Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
↑ "30th Plenary session". Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
↑ Reuters (16 July 2008). "Muslim Outcry Over Bosnian Serbs `State` Symbols". Dalje.

Bibliography

Human Rights Watch (1999). War Crimes in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Human Rights Watch. ISBN 1-56432-083-9.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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

Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Republika Srpska

Cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Una-Sana
Central Bosnia

Posavina
Herzegovina-Neretva

Tuzla
West Herzegovina

Zenica-Doboj
Sarajevo

Bosnian Podrinje
Canton 10

Districts of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Brčko distrikt

Municipalities and cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Capital	Sarajevo

Municipalities and cities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina	Cities Grad Bihać Grad Mostar Glavni grad Sarajevo Grad Široki Brijeg Grad Tuzla Grad Zenica Municipalities Banovići Bosanska Krupa Bosanski Petrovac Bosansko Grahovo Breza Bugojno Busovača Bužim Čapljina Cazin Čelić Centar, Sarajevo Čitluk Drvar Doboj East Doboj South Dobratići Domaljevac-Šamac Donji Vakuf Foča-Ustikolina Fojnica Glamoč Goražde Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje Gračanica Gradačac Grude Hadžići Ilidža Ilijaš Jablanica Jajce Kakanj Kalesija Kiseljak Kladanj Ključ Konjic Kreševo Kupres Livno Ljubuški Lukavac Maglaj Neum Novi Grad, Sarajevo Novo Sarajevo Novi Travnik Odžak Olovo Orašje Pale-Prača Posušje Prozor-Rama Ravno Sanski Most Sapna Srebrenik Stari Grad, Sarajevo Stolac Teočak Tešanj Tomislavgrad Travnik Trnovo (FBiH) Usora Vareš Velika Kladuša Visoko Vitez Vogošća Zavidovići Žepče Živinice

Municipalities and cities of Republika Srpska	Cities Grad Banja Luka Grad Bijeljina Grad Doboj Grad Istočno Sarajevo Grad Prijedor Grad Trebinje Municipalities Berkovići Bileća Brod Bratunac Čajniče Čelinac Derventa Donji Žabar Foča Gacko Gradiška Han Pijesak Istočni Drvar Istočna Ilidža Istočni Mostar Istočni Stari Grad Istočno Novo Sarajevo Jezero Kalinovik Kneževo Kostajnica Kozarska Dubica Kotor Varoš Krupa na Uni Kupres Laktaši Ljubinje Lopare Milići Modriča Mrkonjić Grad Nevesinje Novi Grad Novo Goražde Osmaci Oštra Luka Pale Pelagićevo Petrovac Petrovo Prnjavor Ribnik Rogatica Rudo Stanari Šamac Šekovići Šipovo Sokolac Srbac Srebrenica Teslić Trnovo Ugljevik Višegrad Vlasenica Vukosavlje Zvornik

Brčko District	Brčko

Bosnian War

Part of the Yugoslav Wars

Prelude	Karađorđevo agreement Sporazum Karadžić - Filipović RAM Plan SAO Bosanska Krajina Manjača camp SAO Herzegovina SAO North-Eastern Bosnia SAO Romanija Republika Srpska Bosnia and Herzegovina independence referendum Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

1992	Battle of Bosanski Brod Sijekovac killings Bijeljina massacre Batković concentration camp Battle of Kupres Siege of Sarajevo Foča massacres Siege of Srebrenica Zvornik massacre Doboj Snagovo massacre Prijedor massacre Sarajevo column incident Graz agreement Glogova massacre Lašva Valley ethnic cleansing Tuzla column incident Zaklopača massacre Vilina Vlas Liplje camp Luka camp Omarska camp Keraterm camp Trnopolje camp Sušica camp Čelebići camp Bijeli Potok massacre Dretelj camp Uzamnica camp Operation Jackal Višegrad massacres (Barimo Bosanska Jagodina Paklenik Sjeverin) Čemerno massacre Siege of Bihać Ahatovići massacre Croat–Bosniak War Operation Vrbas '92 Operation Corridor Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia Agreement on Friendship and Cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia Korićani Cliffs massacre Heliodrom camp

1993	Kravica attack Duša massacre Siege of Gornji Vakuf Štrpci Siege of Mostar Ahmići massacre Trusina killings Sovići massacre Dobrinja mortar attack Battle of Žepče Gabela camp Vojno camp Operation Neretva '93 Grabovica massacre Mokronoge massacre Stupni Do massacre Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia Operation Deny Flight Križančevo Selo killings

1994	Tvigi 94 First Markale massacre Banja Luka incident Washington Agreement Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Operation Bøllebank Operation Tiger Battle of Kupres Operation Amanda Operation Spider Operation Winter '94

1995	Operation Leap 1 Battle of Orašje Operation Leap 2 Split Agreement Operation Summer '95 Tuzla massacre Srebrenica massacre (Kravica Children) Battle for Vozuća Operation Storm Second Markale massacre NATO bombing campaign Operation Mistral 2 Operation Sana Operation Una Operation Southern Move Dayton Agreement Bosnia and Herzegovina

Aspects	Genocide Ethnic cleansing Rape Peace plans Foreign fighters

Timeline of the Bosnian War (Timeline of the Croat–Bosniak War)

Category Commons

Authority control	VIAF: 125452751 GND: 4584229-2

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