Republika Srpska (RS; , ) was an unrecognized geopolitical entity and a self-proclaimed quasi-state in Southeastern Europe under the control of the Army of Republika Srpska during the Bosnian War. It claimed to be a sovereign state, though this claim was only partially recognized by the Bosnian government (whose territory the RS was recognized as nominally being a part of) in the Geneva agreement, the United Nations, and FR Yugoslavia. For the first six months of its existence, it was known as the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ().
After 1995, the Republika Srpska was recognized as one of the two political entities composing Bosnia and Herzegovina. The borders of the post-1995 RS are, with a few negotiated modifications, based on the front lines and situation on the ground at the time of the signing of the Dayton Agreement on 14 December 1995. As such, the entity is primarily a result of the Bosnian War without any direct historical precedent. Its territory encompasses a number of Bosnia and Herzegovina's numerous historical geographic regions, but (due to the above-mentioned nature of the inter-entity boundary line) it contains very few of them in entirety. Likewise, various political units existed within Republika Srpska's territory in the past but very few existed entirely within the region.
History
Creation
Representatives of main political and national organizations and institutions of Serb people in Bosnia and Herzegovina met on 13 October 1990, in Banja Luka and created "Serbian National Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina" as a coordinative and representative political body. The governing coalition of Bosnia and Herzegovina collapsed after the parliament of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo passed a 'memorandum on sovereignty' on 15 October 1991, that was opposed by Bosnian Serb members. After the walkout of Bosnian Serb representatives, the memorandum was adopted. It declared the republic a sovereign and independent state and rejected "any constitutional solutions for a future Yugoslav community which would not include both Croatia and Serbia". In response, on 24 October 1991, the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) formed the Assembly of the Serb People of Bosnia and Herzegovina as the representative body of Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina and declared that the Serb people wished to remain in Yugoslavia. Bosnian Serbs claimed that this was a necessary step since the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at that time, defined that no major changes were to be granted short of a unanimous agreement on all three sides. The Party of Democratic Action (SDA), led by Alija Izetbegović, was determined to pursue independence and was supported by Europe and the U.S. The SDS made it clear that if independence was declared, Serbs would secede as it was their right to exercise self-determination.
In the fall of 1991, the SDS organised the creation of "Serb Autonomous Regions" (SAOs) in Bosnia where Serbs formed the majority consisting of the SAO East and Old Herzegovina, SAO Bosnian Krajina, SAO Romanija and SAO North-Eastern Bosnia. They comprised nearly one-third of Bosnia's municipality and about 45% of its ethnic Serb population. Similar steps were taken by the Bosnian Croats. A Bosnian Serb referendum that asked citizens whether they wanted to remain within Yugoslavia was held on 9 and 10 November 1991, passing in favor of staying within Yugoslavia. The parliamentary government of Bosnia and Herzegovina (with a clear Bosniak and Croat majority) asserted that this plebiscite was illegal, but the Bosnian Serb assembly acknowledged its results. On 21 November 1991, the Assembly proclaimed that all those municipalities, local communities, and populated places in which over 50% of the people of Serbian nationality had voted in favor of remaining in a joint Yugoslav state, would be territory of the federal Yugoslav state.
On 9 January 1992, the Bosnian Serb assembly adopted a declaration on the Proclamation of the Republic of the Serb people of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 28 February 1992, the constitution of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Serbian: Srpska Republika Bosna i Hercegovina / Српска Република Босна и Херцеговина) was adopted and declared that the state's territory included Serb autonomous regions, municipalities, and other Serbian ethnic entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (including regions described as "places in which the Serbian people remained in the minority due to the genocide conducted against them during World War II"), and it was declared to be a part of the federal Yugoslav state.
From 29 February to 2 March 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina held a referendum on independence that was boycotted by Bosnian Serbs, in which 99.7% voted in favor. On 6 April 1992, the European Union formally recognized the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared its independence on 7 April 1992. On 12 August 1992, the reference to Bosnia and Herzegovina was dropped from the name, and it became simply Republika Srpska.
During the breakup of Yugoslavia, Srpska's President Radovan Karadžić declared that he did not want Srpska to be in a federation alongside Serbia in Yugoslavia, but that Srpska should be directly incorporated into Serbia.Daily report: East Europe, Issues 191–210. Front Cover United States. Foreign Broadcast Information Service. Pp. 38. (A recorded conversation between Branko Kostic and Srpska's President Radovan Karadzic, Kostic asks whether Karadzic wants Srpska to be an autonomous federal unit in federation with Serbia, Karadzic responds by saying that he wants complete unification of Srpska with Serbia as a unitary state similar to France.)
Bosnian War
On 12 May 1992, at a session of the Bosnian Serb assembly, Radovan Karadžić announced the six "strategic objectives" of the Serb people in Bosnia and Herzegovina:
Establish state borders separating the Serb people from the other two ethnic communities. Set up a corridor between Semberija and Krajina. Establish a corridor in the Drina river valley, that is, eliminate the Drina as a border separating Serbian states. Establish a border on the Una and Neretva rivers. Divide the city of Sarajevo into Serb and Bosniak parts and establish effective state authorities in both parts. Ensure access to the sea for Republika Srpska.
At the same session, the Bosnian Serb assembly voted to create the Army of the Republika Srpska (VRS; Vojska Republike Srpske), and appointed Ratko Mladić, the commander of the Second Military District of the Yugoslav federal army, as commander of the VRS Main Staff. At the end of May 1992, after the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Second Military District was essentially transformed into the Main Staff of the VRS. The new army immediately set out to achieve by military means the six "strategic objectives" of the Serbian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina (the goals of which were reaffirmed by an operational directive issued by General Mladić on 19 November 1992).
The VRS expanded and defended the borders of Republika Srpska during the Bosnian War. By 1993 Republika Srpska controlled about 70% of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina with final agreement (Dayton Agreement) in 1995 appropriating to Republika Srpska control over 49% of the territory.
In 1993 and 1994, the authorities of Republika Srpska ventured to create the United Serb Republic.
War crimes
Since the beginning of the war, the VRS (Army of Republika Srpska) and the political leadership of Republika Srpska have been accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, ethnic cleansing of the non-Serb population, creation and running of detention camps (variably also referred to as concentration camps and prisoner camps), and the destruction of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian cultural and historical heritage. The gravest of those offenses were the Srebrenica Genocide in 1995, where nearly 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were systematically executed by the VRS, and the long military siege of Sarajevo that resulted in 12,000 civilian casualties.
A highly classified report by the CIA which was leaked by the press claimed that Bosnian Serbs were the first to commit atrocities, carried out 90 percent of war crimes, and were the only party who systematically attempted to "eliminate all traces of other ethnic groups from their territory". Ethnic cleansing dramatically changed the demographic picture of Republika Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Many Republika Srpska officials were also indicted for creation and running of detention camps, in particular Omarska, Manjaca, Keraterm, Uzamnica and Trnopolje where thousands of detainees were held. Duško Tadić, former SDS leader in Kozarac and a former member of the paramilitary forces supporting the attack on the district of Prijedor, was found guilty by the ICTY of crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, and violations of the customs of war at Omarska, Trnopolje and Keraterm detention camps. In Omarska region around 500 deaths have been confirmed associated with these detention facilities.
According to the findings of the State Commission for the Documentation of War Crimes on the Territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 68.67% or 789 congregational mosques were either destroyed or damaged during the Bosnian War by the VRS and other unidentified individuals from the Republika Srpska. The majority of destroyed mosques had been classified as Bosnian-Herzegovinian national monuments; some, mostly built between the 15th and 17th centuries, were listed with UNESCO as world heritage monuments. Many Catholic churches in the same territory were also destroyed or damaged especially during 1995.
In addition to sacred monuments many secular monuments were also heavily damaged or destroyed by VRS forces such as the National Library in Sarajevo. The Library was set ablaze by shelling from VRS positions around Sarajevo during the siege in 1992.
While the individuals responsible for destruction of national heritage have not yet been found, or indicted, it has been widely reported by international human rights agencies that the "Bosnian Serb authorities issued orders or organized or condoned efforts to destroy Bosniak and Croatian cultural and religious institutions". In other cases such as the Ferhadija Mosque case (Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Republika Srpska) it was found that: "Banja Luka authorities had actively engaged in, or had at least passively tolerated, discrimination against Muslims on the basis of their religious and ethnic origin." and that "[...] the Serb government [Republika Srpska], had failed to meet its obligation under the Human Rights Agreement to respect and secure the right to freedom of religion without discrimination." A local magistrate ruled that the authorities of the Bosnian Serb controlled town Banja Luka must pay $42 million to its Islamic community for 16 local mosques destroyed during the 1992–1995 Bosnian war.