Bosnian War

The War in Bosnia and Herzegovina, commonly known as the Bosnian War, is an international armed conflict that takes place between March 1992 and November 1995.

The war involves several sides.

According to numerous ICTY judgments, the conflict involves Bosnia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (later Serbia and Montenegro) as well as Croatia.

According to ICJ judgment, Serbia gives military and financial support to Serb forces which consist of the Yugoslav People's Army (later Army of Serbia and Montenegro), the Army of Republika Srpska, the Serbian Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of the Interior of Republika Srpska and Serb Territorial Defense Forces.

Croatia gives military support to Croat forces of self-proclaimed Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia.

Bosnian government forces are led by the Army of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

These factions change objectives and allegiances several times at various stages of the war.Because the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a consequence of the instability in the wider region of the former Yugoslavia, and due to the involvement of neighboring countries Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro, there is long-standing debate as to whether the conflict is a civil war or a war of aggression.

Most Bosniaks and many Croats claim that the war is a war of Serbian and Croatian aggression, while Serbs often consider it a civil war.

A trial takes place before the International Court of Justice, following a 1993 suit by Bosnia and Herzegovina against Serbia and Montenegro alleging genocide.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling of February 26, 2007 will effectively determine the war's nature to be international, though exonerating Serbia of responsibility for the genocide committed by Serb forces of Republika Srpska.

The ICJ will conclude, however, that Serbia had failed to prevent genocide committed by Serb forces and failed to punish those who carried out the genocide, especially general Ratko Mladić, and bring them to justice.Despite the evidence of widespread killings, the siege of towns, mass rape, ethnic cleansing and torture in camps and detention centers conducted by different Serb forces including JNA (VJ), especially in Prijedor, Zvornik, Banja Luka and Foča, the judges will rule that the criteria for genocide with the specific intent (dolus specialis) to destroy Bosnian Muslims had been met only in Srebrenica or Eastern Bosnia.

The court will conclude that the crimes committed during the 1992-1995 war, may amount to crimes against humanity according to the international law, but that these acts did not, in themselves, constitute genocide per se.

The Court will further decide that, following Montenegro's declaration of independence in May 2006, Serbia had been the only respondent party in the case, but that "any responsibility for past events involved at the relevant time the composite State of Serbia and Montenegro".

The involvement of NATO, during the 1995 Operation Deliberate Force against the positions of the Army of Republika Srpska internationalizes the conflict, but only in its final stages.The war is brought to an end after the signing of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina in Paris on 14 December 1995.

Peace negotiations are held in Dayton, Ohio, and were finalized on 21 December 1995.

The accords are known as the Dayton Agreement.While wartime figures are propagandized to reflect current political interests of involved parties, the most recent research places the number of victims at around 100,000–110,000 killed (civilians and military), and 1.8 million displaced.

Recent research has shown that most of the 97,207 documented casualties (soldiers and civilians) during Bosnian War are Bosniaks (65%), with Serbs in second (25%) and Croats (8%) in third place.

However, 83 percent of civilian victims are Bosniaks, 10 percent are Serbs and more than 5 percent are Croats, followed by a small number of others such as Albanians or Romany people.

The percentage of Bosniak victims would be higher had survivors of Srebrenica not reported 1,800 of their loved-ones as soldiers to access social services and other government benefits.

The total figure of dead could rise by a maximum of another 10,000 for the entire country due to ongoing research.

According to a detailed 1995 report about the war made by the Central Intelligence Agency, 90% of the war crimes of the Bosnian War are committed by Serbs.