Siege of Bihać (1992–1995)
Siege of Bihać | |||||||
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Part of the Inter-Bosnian Muslim War | |||||||
Map of the Bihać enclave (under the control of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian government), surrounded by the Republic of Serbian Krajina (in the northwest), the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia (to the north) and the Republika Srpska (to the southeast) | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia (1995) |
Republika Srpska Republic of Serbian Krajina Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia (1993–1995) | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Mirsad Sedić Hajro Osmanagić Atif Dudaković Tomislav Dretar Irfan Ljubijankić † Izet Nanić †[2][3][4] Vlado Šantić (MIA) Zvonimir Červenko (1995) |
Radovan Karadžić Ratko Mladić Milan Martić Fikret Abdić Zlatko Jušić Hasib Hodžić | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatian Defence Council Croatian Army (1995) |
Army of the Republic of Serbian Krajina National Defence of the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
ARBiH 10,000[5]–20,000 soldiers[6] HV: 10,000 soldiers[7] |
VRS: 10,000 soldiers RSK: 3,000–5,000 soldiers[8] APZB: 4,000–5,000 soldiers[9] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Total: 4,856 killed or missing combatants and civilians[10] |
The siege of Bihać was a three-year-long
The Research and Documentation Center in Sarajevo established that the communities that were under siege – Bihać, Bosanska Krupa, Cazin and Velika Kladuša – had 4,856 killed or missing persons from 1991 to 1995.[10]
Timeline
1992
After the secessionist Serb Republic of Serbian Krajina was proclaimed in 1991 on the west, the inhabitants of Bihać were prevented from crossing into that territory. Additionally, after Bosnian Serbs proclaimed the Republika Srpska in 1992 on the east, the communities of Bihać, Bosanska Krupa, Cazin and Velika Kladuša found themselves surrounded on both sides. The two Serbian armies cooperated in order to capture the Bosniak pocket in the middle of them. It was blockaded and bombarded by the Serbian forces starting on 12 June 1992. As a consequence, the residents of Bihać were forced to live in shelters, without electricity or a water supply, receiving only limited food-relief. Famine would occasionally break out.[1] The Bihać county declared a state of emergency and formed its own resistance army, the V Corps.
Although he did not have any military education,
An artillery shell fired from Serb positions in the hill hit the town centre on 11 August 1992, next to a building converted into a shelter for Bosniak women and children. It killed five people, including three children, and wounded 24. Eight people needed amputations. The director of the town's hospital said that "all of the casualties were big operations". The inhabitants of Bihać, armed with little except old rifles, had no means of retaliating. Instead, as on every day since 12 June, when the Army of the Republika Srpska first began to bombard Bihać, people simply did their best to carry away the wounded and clear up the wreckage. A secretary said it "took hours to wash away the blood". Almost every day, the Serbs fired more shells, some in the morning, some in the afternoon, and some at night. On one day in August, shelling lasted from 6.40 pm until well after midnight.[14]
The region had a mainly Bosniak population and, since the outbreak of armed conflict, had received some 35,000 displaced persons, most of them coming from Serb controlled areas around Banja Luka and Sanski Most in the summer of 1992. In return, most of the Serbs, some 12,000 before the war, left Bihać for Banja Luka at the same time.[15][16]
1993
The designation of Srebrenica as a safe area was extended on 6 May 1993 to include five other Bosnian towns: Sarajevo, Tuzla, Žepa, Goražde and Bihać. The Bosnian President, Alija Izetbegović, dismissed the concept. He said the havens would become death traps, where refugees, thinking they were safe, would instead become easy targets for Bosnian Serb forces.[17]
Bihać had few food convoys throughout the three years, with only the occasional airlift reaching the town's inhabitants. The wreckage of the bombing lay all around. Sandbags were piled high against houses and bunkers were dotted on street corners. Almost half of the population was drafted into the Army to defend the area. Cars almost disappeared from the streets of what was once a relatively prosperous community. There was nowhere to go and little fuel. The post office was piled high with sandbags. Almost every telephone line had been cut since 1991.[11] The deployment of UN troops in the area did not help: Serbian forces inside the UN-protected zone in Croatia hijacked an aid convoy heading for Bihać in April 1993. UN refugee officials stood by helplessly as the Serbs made off with 19 tons of food, mainly ready-to-eat meals, and distributed the food to Croatian Serb civilians.[18] The journalist Marcus Tanner cynically commented how the Serbs from the 'UN protected' Krajina were shelling Bihać, a 'UN safe area'.[18]
The Bihać area, which contained 170,000 people, had been denied support from UN aid convoys since May 1993.
The enclave was additionally weakened when rebel Bosniak forces led by Fikret Abdić joined the Serbs in the fighting and created the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia in the north.
1994
On June 2 1994, the 5th Corps, under the command of Atif Dudaković,[22] overran and seized the territory of Western Bosnia and Fikret Abdić fled to Zagreb for safety.[23] The battle was a huge success for the ARBiH, which was able to rout Abdić's forces and manage to push the Serb forces from Bihać and abolish Western Bosnia temporarily.
On November 4 1994, the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia was re-established after a Serb counterattack against the Bosnian forces.
By 27 November 1994, advancing Serb forces took around a third of the zone. Fighting raged less than 500 yards from the Bihać hospital and moved closer to the headquarters of the Bosnian Fifth Corps. However, the
Michael Williams, a spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping force, said that the village of Vedro Polje west of Bihać had fallen to a Croatian Serb unit in late November 1994. Williams added that heavy tank and artillery fire against the town of Velika Kladuša in the north of the Bihać enclave was coming from the Croatian Serbs. Moreover, Western military analysts said that among the impressive array of Bosnian-Serb surface-to-air missile systems that surrounded the Bihać pocket on Croatian territory, there was a modernized SAM-2 system whose degree of sophistication suggested that it was probably brought there recently from Belgrade.[25]
Since
The United Nations Security Council Resolution 959 "expressed concern about the escalation in recent fighting in the Bihać pocket and the flow of refugees and displaced persons resulting from it" and condemned the "violation of the international border between the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and demands that all parties and others concerned, and in particular the so-called Krajina Serb forces, fully respect the border and refrain from hostile acts across it".[27]
1995
The enclave came under heavy tank and mortar fire again on 23 July 1995 in what UN officials described as "the most serious fighting in Bosnia in months". Thousands of rebel troops, backed by 100 tanks, attacked the Bosniak forces there.[12] The United Nations General Assembly also addressed the issue:
"Military exercise activities intensified after the Bosnian Army 5th Corps engaged Serbian troops in western Bosnia [Bihać region]. At the same time, "Army of the Republic of Serbian Krajina" started with large-scale preparations for offensive actions in the western Bosnia theatre of operations.... In September 1994, 700 to 800 volunteers from Serbia were trained in the Slunj area for combat action in western Bosnia."[28]
— United Nations General Assembly on the situation in the occupied territories of Croatia
UNPROFOR in Bihać
On 14 September 1992, UNPROFOR was given a mandate by the United Nations Security Council to protect humanitarian relief convoys as requested by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and provide ground transportation for difficult routes (UNPROFOR phase 2, resolution 743). An "escort battalion" was then formed by France, and sent in October and November 1992, with 1350 soldiers and 115 light armored vehicles.
The main base was in Ćoralići (1 infantry coy, 1 cavalry coy with 18 ERC-90 Sagaie, 1 engineer Coy, battalion HQ), logistic base in Velika-Kladusa (1 infantry coy, 1 logistic and support coy) and a forward operating base in Bihać (1 infantry coy).[29]
- 1st mandate: October 1992 – May 1993 – 126th Infantry Regiment, 1st Marine Infantry Regiment – CO: Colonel Bresse[30]
- 2nd mandate: May 1993 – October 1993 – 1st Parachute Hussar Regiment
- 3rd mandate: October 1993 – May 1994 – formed from the 99e RI, 1st Spahi Regiment; 3 casualties (fatal).[31]
- 4th mandate: May 1994 – October 1994 – formed from the 2nd Armored Division (5e RI, 2 inf coy, 1 HQ & Support coy + RMT elements, 4th RD, 1 armored coy, engineer coy, 24e RI, 1 infantry coy). CO: Colonel Fredéric Decquen; No casualties.
The French left in October and November 1994 and were replaced by a battalion from Bangladesh.
End of siege
After the fall of the Srebrenica and Žepa enclaves in eastern Bosnia in July 1995, Croatia started massing soldiers near Serb positions outside the enclave as Serb forces with tanks and artillery bombarded the Bosnian government's lines. The goal was to prevent the fall of the Bihać enclave. Likewise, the Croatian and Bosnian leaderships signed a mutual defence treaty — the Split Agreement.[32]
The siege ended with Operation Storm on 4–5 August 1995 conjoined with Bosnian forces under General Atif Dudaković.[1] Dudaković said: "We needed Operation Storm as much as Croatia did".[33] After the end of siege, food supplies and medical aid started arriving in the area from Bosnia and Croatia, which normalized the lives of the people living there.
The Republic of Western Bosnia was wiped out completely during the joint Croatian-Bosnian government army action on 7 August 1995.[34] A month later, the Bosnian and Croatian forces made further military advances in the region, in Operation Sana and Operation Mistral 2.
Legal proceedings
International Tribunal
The
General Ratko Mladić was also indicted on the grounds that he "planned, instigated, ordered, committed or otherwise aided and abetted the planning, preparation or execution of the persecution of the Bosnian Muslim, Bosnian Croat or other non-Serb populations", among them in Bihać-Ripač.[36]
Domestic trials
The government of Bosnia-Herzegovina charged
In 2012, the Bihać Cantonal court sentenced five former soldiers of the VRS to a total of 56.5 years in prison for murdering 25 Bosniak civilians in the villages of Duljci and Orašac in September 1992.[41] In 2013, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued a decision that equated the rights of former soldiers of the NOZB with those of the members of the ARBiH and the HVO.[42]
References
- ^ a b c "After Long Siege, Bosnians Relish 'First Day of Freedom'". The New York Times. 9 August 1995. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
- ^ Wakchoi (16 December 2021). "Who was Izet Nanić?". The Cyber Bedouin. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
- ^ "Birthday of the Hero (In Bosnian)". stav.ba. STAV. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- ^ "Heroj Oslobodilačkog Rata – Izet Nanić". heroji.ba. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
- ^ Tom Hundley (30 July 1995). "Croatia, Serbia Face Off at Bihac". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
- ^ Gow 2003, p. 131
- ^ "Escalation Feared As Croats Advance". Orlando Sentinel. 29 July 1995. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
- ^ Michael R. Gordon (30 November 1994). "Conflict in the Balkans: Croats Warn of Wider War if Bihać Falls". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
- ^ Ramet 2006, p. 451
- ^ a b "IDC: Pounje victim statistics". Archived from the original on 3 December 2010. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
- ^ a b "Weary Bihac cries with joy as siege ends". The Independent. 9 August 1995. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
- ^ a b Tracy Wilkinson (25 July 1995). "Bosnia Enclave of Bihac Faces 3-Way Siege". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
- ^ Roger Cohen (2 December 1994). "Conflict in the Balkans: In Croatia; Balkan War May Spread into Croatia". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
- ^ Tony Barber (12 August 1992). "Defenceless Muslims face the final agony: Tony Barber witnesses the relentless demolition of Bihac by Serbian guns". The Independent. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
- ^ Mike O'Connor (19 October 1995). "Besieged Now by Cold and Hunger". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
- ^ "Central and southwest Bosnia- Herzegovina: civilian population trapped in a cycle of violence". Amnesty International. January 1994. Archived from the original on 17 March 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
- ^ "1993: UN makes Srebrenica 'safe haven'". BBC News. 16 April 2005. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
- ^ a b Marcus Tanner (29 April 1993). "Bosnia: Bihac shelling destroys UN peace-keeping role: Serbs from 'protected' Krajina step up attacks on Bosnia". The Independent. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
- ^ Art Pine (24 November 1994). "NATO Hits Serb Missiles; Siege of Bihac Grows". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
- ^ Mann, Jonathan; Drucker, Ernest; Tarantola, Daniel; McCabe, Mary Pat (1994). "Bosnia: The War Against Public Health" (PDF). Medicine & Global Survival. p. 4.
- ^ Bekir Tatlic (26 December 1994). "In Bihac, a Hospital Under Siege: Medicine and food are almost gone for 900 patients trapped in a Serb chokehold". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
- ISBN 0-14-029854-1.
- ^ "Republika Zapadna Bosna: hronologija jedne izdaje". historija.info. 5 August 2017. Archived from the original on 27 August 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
- ^ a b Emma Daly (27 November 1994). "Bihac fears massacre". The Independent. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
- ^ Roger Cohen (28 October 1994). "Hard-Fought Ground". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
- ^ Sudetic, Chuck (19 November 1994). "Napalm and Cluster Bombs Dropped on Bosnian Town". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
- ^ "UN Security Council, 3462nd Meeting, Resolution S/RES/959". United Nations Security Council. 19 November 1994. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
- ^ "United Nations General Assembly on the situation in the occupied territories of Croatia, A/50/72, S/1995/82" (PDF). United Nations General Assembly. 26 January 1995. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
- ^ "recap6-opex". cavaliers.blindes.free.fr.
- ^ "BOSNIE Les renforts français de la FORPRONU arrivent dans la région de Bihac". Le Monde.fr. 27 October 1992 – via Le Monde.
- ^ "Faire une recherche - Mémoire des hommes". www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr.
- ^ Tony Barber (28 October 1995). "Croats ready to hurl troops into battle of Bihac". The Independent. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
- ^ interview with General Atif Dudakovic (15 September 2006). "We needed Operation Storm as much as Croatia did". Bosnia Report i. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 30 September 2007.
- ISBN 978-0-415-25352-9.
- ICTY. 22 November 2001. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
- ICTY. October 2002. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
- ^ "Bosnia candidate jailed for war crimes". BBC News. 31 July 2002. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
- ^ "Concerns Pertaining to the Judiciary". Human Rights Watch. October 2004.
- ^ "Background Report: Domestic War Crime Trials 2005 (page 23)" (PDF). Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe mission in Croatia. 13 September 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
- ^ "Abdić pušten iz zatvora". B92. 9 March 2012. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
- ^ "Five Men Sentenced for Orasac Murders". Balkan Insight. 5 February 2012.
- ^ "TZV. NARODNA ODBRANA ZAPADNA BOSNA JE BILA DIO AGRESORSKIH SRPSKO-CRGORSKIH VOJNIH SNAGA — Bosnjaci.Net". www.bosnjaci.net. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
Books
- Gow, James (2003). The Serbian Project and Its Adversaries: A Strategy of War Crimes. McGill-Queen's Press. ISBN 9780773523852. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
- Ramet, Sabrina P. (2006). The Three Yugoslavias: State-Building And Legitimation, 1918–2005. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253346568. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
External links
- French video footage of Bihać in 1992 at Ina.fr