Siege of Bihać
Siege of Bihać
Siege of Bihać
This article is about a battle fought in 199295. For the nent. Under his command the Croatian HVO units were
battle fought in 1592, see Siege of Biha (1592). a component of the Army of Republic Bosnia and Herze-
govina.
The Siege of Biha was a three-year-long siege of the
northwestern Bosnian town of Biha by the Army of the
Republika Srpska, the Army of the Republic of Ser-
bian Krajina and Bosniak dissenters led by the Bosniak
politician Fikret Abdi during the 1992-95 Bosnian
War.[8][9][10] The siege lasted for three years, from June
1992 until 45 August 1995, when Operation Storm
ended it after the Croatian Army (HV) overran the rebel
Serbs in Croatia and northwest of the besieged town. War presidency of the Biha area during one meeting in Cazin
(July 1992)
The Research and Documentation Center in Sarajevo es-
tablished that the communities that were under siege A shell red from Serb positions in the hill exploded in the
Biha, Bosanska Krupa, Cazin and Velika Kladua had town centre on 11 August 1992, next to a building con-
4,856 killed or missing persons from 1991 to 1995.[7] verted into a shelter for Bosniak women and children. It
killed ve people, including three children, and wounded
24. Eight people needed amputations. The director of
the towns hospital said that all of the casualties were big
1 Timeline operations. The inhabitants of Biha, armed with little
except old ries, had no means of retaliating. Instead, as
1.1 1992 on every day since 12 June, when the Army of the Repub-
lika Srpska rst began to bombard Biha, people simply
After the secessionist Serb Republic of Serbian Krajina did their best to carry away the wounded and clear up the
was proclaimed in 1991 on the west, the inhabitants of Bi- wreckage. A secretary said it took hours to wash away
ha were prevented from crossing into that territory. Ad- the blood. Almost every day, the Serbs sent red more
ditionally, after Bosnian Serbs proclaimed the Republika shells, some in the morning, some in the afternoon, and
Srpska in 1992 on the east, the communities of Biha, some at night. On one day in August, shelling lasted from
[11]
Bosanska Krupa, Cazin and Velika Kladua found them- 6.40 pm until well after midnight.
selves surrounded on both sides. The two Serbian armies The region had a mainly Bosniak population and, since
cooperated in order to capture the Bosniak pocket in the the outbreak of armed conict, had received some 35,000
middle of them. It was blockaded and bombarded by the displaced persons, most of them coming from Serb con-
Serbian forces starting on 12 June 1992. As a conse- trolled areas around Banja Luka and Sanski Most in the
quence, the residents of Biha were forced to live in shel- summer of 1992. In return, most of the Serbs, some
ters, without electricity or a water supply, receiving only 12,000 before the war, left Biha for Banja Luka at the
limited food-relief. Hunger would occasionally break same time.[12][13]
out.[1] The Biha county declared a state of emergency
and formed its own resistance army, the V Corps.
Although he did not have any military education, 1.2 1993
Tomislav Dretar, an ethnic Croat, organized the defense
of Croats in the Biha area, became the president of the The designation of Srebrenica as a safe area was extended
Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) of Biha, established on 6 May 1993 to include ve other Bosnian towns: Sara-
the Croatian Defense Council (HVO) of Biha and the jevo, Tuzla, epa, Gorade and Biha. The Bosnian Pres-
Biha area on 28 July 1992 in the village of mrekovac in ident, Alija Izetbegovi, dismissed the concept. He said
the municipality of Velika Kladua and become the First the havens would become death traps, where refugees,
President and Military Commander as an ocer with the thinking they were safe, would instead become easy tar-
title of Colonel. The Croatian units numbered a total of gets for Bosnian Serb forces.[14]
1,200 men organized as smaller units within the Fifth Bi- Biha had few food convoys throughout the three years,
ha Corps as an autonomous Croatian military compo- with only the occasional airlift reaching the towns inhabi-
1
2 1 TIMELINE
100 tonnes of valuable food aid into the pocket. This was from Bosnia and Croatia, which normalized the lives of
a dicult task hampered by persistent small arms and ar- the people living there.
tillery re as well as unnecessary freedom of movement
violations. The aid was delivered to Cazin for distribution
throughout the region. 3 Legal proceedings
The United Nations Security Council Resolution 959 ex-
pressed concern about the escalation in recent ghting in 3.1 International Tribunal
the Biha pocket and the ow of refugees and displaced
persons resulting from it and condemned the violation The ICTY indicted Slobodan Miloevi for participat-
of the international border between the Republic of Croa- ing in a joint criminal enterprise, on the grounds that
tia and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and de- he planned, instigated, ordered, committed or otherwise
mands that all parties and others concerned, and in par- aided and abetted the planning, preparation or execution
ticular the so-called Krajina Serb forces, fully respect the of persecutions of non-Serbs, principally Bosnian Mus-
border and refrain from hostile acts across it.[22] lims and Bosnian Croats and aided and abetted the plan-
ning, preparation or execution of the extermination, mur-
der and wilful killings of non-Serbs, principally Bosnian
1.4 1995 Muslims and Bosnian Croats, among them within the
territories of Biha.[26]
The enclave came under heavy tank and mortar re again
on 23 July 1995 in what UN ocials described as the General Ratko Mladi was also indicted on the grounds
most serious ghting in Bosnia in months. Thousands ofthat he planned, instigated, ordered, committed or other-
wise aided and abetted the planning, preparation or exe-
rebel troops, backed by 100 tanks, attacked the Bosnian-
Muslim forces there.[9] cution of the persecution of the Bosnian Muslim, Bosnian
Croat or other non-Serb populations, among them in
The United Nations General Assembly also addressed the Biha-Ripa.[27]
issue:
[5] Michael R. Gordon (30 November 1994). Conict in the [23] United Nations General Assembly on the situation in
Balkans: Croats Warn Of Wider War if Biha Falls. The the occupied territories of Croatia, A/50/72, S/1995/82
New York Times. Retrieved 16 February 2013. (PDF). United Nations General Assembly. 26 January
1995. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
[6] Ramet 2006, p. 451
[24] Tony Barber (28 October 1995). Croats ready to hurl
[7] IDC: Pounje victim statistics. Retrieved 22 October troops into battle of Bihac. The Independent. Retrieved
2010. 13 October 2010.
[8] Weary Bihac cries with joy as siege ends. The Indepen- [25] interview with General Atif Dudakovic (15 September
dent. 9 August 1995. Retrieved 25 January 2010. 2006). We needed Operation Storm as much as Croa-
tia did. Bosnia Report i. Retrieved 30 September 2007.
[9] Tracy Wilkinson (25 July 1995). Bosnia Enclave of Bi-
hac Faces 3-Way Siege. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved [26] The Prosecutor of the Tribunal against Slobodan Milose-
22 October 2010. vic Indictment (p. 33, 36)". ICTY. 22 November 2001.
Retrieved 4 November 2010.
[10] Roger Cohen (2 December 1994). CONFLICT IN THE
BALKANS: IN CROATIA; Balkan War May Spread Into [27] The Prosecutor of the Tribunal against Ratko Mladic- In-
Croatia. New York Times. Retrieved 13 October 2010. dictment (p. 36)" (PDF). ICTY. October 2002. Retrieved
4 November 2010.
[11] Tony Barber (12 August 1992). Defenceless Muslims
face the nal agony: Tony Barber witnesses the relentless [28] Bosnia candidate jailed for war crimes. BBC News. 31
demolition of Bihac by Serbian guns. The Independent. July 2002. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
Retrieved 23 October 2010.
[29] Concerns Pertaining to the Judiciary. Human Rights
[12] Mike O'Connor (19 October 1995). Besieged Now by Watch. October 2004.
Cold and Hunger. The New York Times. Retrieved 18
[30] Background Report: Domestic War Crime Trials 2005
February 2013.
(page 23)" (PDF). Organization for Security and Co-
[13] Central and southwest Bosnia- Herzegovina: civilian operation in Europe mission in Croatia. 13 September
population trapped in a cycle of violence. Amnesty In- 2006.
ternational. January 1994. Retrieved 23 October 2010. [31] Abdi puten iz zatvora. B92. 9 March 2012. Retrieved
16 February 2013.
[14] 1993: UN makes Srebrenica 'safe haven'". BBC News.
16 April 2005. Retrieved 22 October 2010. [32] Five Men Sentenced for Orasac Murders. Balkan In-
sight. 5 February 2012.
[15] Marcus Tanner (29 April 1993). Bosnia: Bihac shelling
destroys UN peace-keeping role: Serbs from 'protected'
Krajina step up attacks on Bosnia. The Independent. Re-
trieved 25 January 2010. 5 Books
[16] Art Pine (24 November 1994). NATO Hits Serb Mis-
siles; Siege of Bihac Grows. Los Angeles Times. Re-
Gow, James (2003). The Serbian Project and Its
trieved 22 October 2010. Adversaries: A Strategy of War Crimes. McGill-
Queens Press. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
[17] Mann, Jonathan; Drucker, Ernest; Tarantola, Daniel; Mc-
Cabe, Mary Pat (1994). Bosnia: The War Against Public Ramet, Sabrina P. (2006). The Three Yugoslavias:
Health (PDF). Medicine & Global Survival. p. 4. State-Building And Legitimation, 1918-2005. Indi-
ana University Press. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
[18] 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. 6 External links
[19] Emma Daly (27 November 1994). Bihac fears mas- French video footage of Biha in 1992 at Ina.fr
sacre. The Independent. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
[20] Roger Cohen (28 October 1994). Hard-Fought Ground. Coordinates: 4449N 1552E / 44.817N 15.867E
New York Times. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
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