Background: Bosnia and Herzegovina's declaration of sovereignty in October of 1991 was followed by a referendum for independence from the former Yugoslavia in February of 1992. The Bosnian Serbs - supported by neighboring Serbia - responded with armed resistance aimed at partitioning the republic along ethnic lines and joining Serb-held areas to form a 'greater Serbia.' In March 1994 Bosnia's Bosniaks and Croats reduced the number of warring factions from three to two by signing an agreement creating a joint Bosniak/Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 21 November 1995 in Dayton Ohio the warring parties signed a peace agreement that brought to a halt the three years of interethnic civil strife (the final agreement was signed in Paris on 14 December 1995). The Dayton Agreement divides Bosnia and Herzegovina roughly equally between the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Bosnian Serb Republika Srpska. In 1995-96 a NATO-led international peacekeeping force (IFOR) of 60,000 troops served in Bosnia to implement and monitor the military aspects of the agreement. IFOR was succeeded by a smaller NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR) whose mission is to deter renewed hostilities. SFOR remains in place with troop levels to be reduced to about 19,000 by spring 2000.
Geography Note: within Bosnia and Herzegovina's recognized borders the country is divided into a joint Bosniak/Croat Federation (about 51% of the territory) and the Bosnian Serb-led Republika Srpska [RS] (about 49% of the territory); the region called Herzegovina is contiguous to Croatia and traditionally has been settled by an ethnic Croat majority
Environment Current issues: air pollution from metallurgical plants; sites for disposing of urban waste are limited; widespread casualties water shortages and destruction of infrastructure because of the 1992-95 civil strife
Administrative divisions: there are two first-order administrative divisions - the Bosniak/Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Federacija Bosna i Hercegovina) and the Bosnian Serb-led Republika Srpska; note - Brcko in northeastern Bosnia is a self-governing administrative unit under the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina; it is not part of either the Federation or Republika Srpska
Legislative branch: bicameral Parliamentary Assembly or Skupstina consists of the National House of Representatives or Vijece Opcina (42 seats - 14 Serb 14 Croat and 14 Bosniak; members elected by popular vote to serve two-year terms) and the House of Peoples or Vijece Gradanstvo (15 seats - 5 Bosniak 5 Croat 5 Serb; members elected by the Bosniak/Croat Federation's House of Representatives and the Republika Srpska's National Assembly to serve two-year terms)
Judicial branch: Constitutional Court consists of nine members: four members are selected by the Bosniak/Croat Federation's House of Representatives two members by the Republika Srpska's National Assembly and three non-Bosnian members by the president of the European Court of Human Rights
Political parties and leaders: Bosnian Party of Rights or BSP [leader NA]; Bosnian Party or BOSS [Mirnes AJANOVIC]; Bosnian Patriotic Party or BPS [Sefer HALILOVIC]; Center Coalition or KC (includes LBO RS) [leader NA]; Civic Democratic Party or GDS [Ibrahim SPAHIC]; Coalition for King and Fatherland or KKO (Dubravko Prstojevic]; Coalition for a United and Democratic BIH or KCD [Alija IZETBEGOVIC; includes SDA and SBH]; Croatian Democratic Union of BiH or HDZ-BiH [Ante JELAVIC]; Croatian Party of Rights or HSP [Zdravko HRSTIC]; Croatian Peasants Party of BiH or HSS-BiH [Ilija SIMIC]; Democratic Party for Banja Luka and Krajina [Nikola SPIRIC]; Democratic Party of Pensioners or DSP [Alojz KNEZOVIC]; Democratic Peoples Union or DNZ [Fikret ABDIC]; Liberal Bosniak Organization or LBO [Muhamed FILIPOVIC]; Liberal Party or LS [Rasim KADIC president]; Muslim-Bosnia Organization or MBO [Dzevad HADZIAVDIC]; New Croatian Initiative or NHI [Kresimir ZUBAK]; Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina or SBH [Haris SILAJDZIC]; Party for Democratic Action or SDA [Alija IZETBEGOVIC]; Party of Democratic Progress of the Republika Srpska [Mladen IVANIC]; Party of Independent Social Democrats or SNSD [Milorad DODIK]; Radical Party Republika Srpska of RSRS [Miroslav RADOVANOVIC]; Republican Party or RS [Stjepan KLJUIC]; Serb Coalition for Republika Srpska or SKRS [Predrag LAZAREVIC]; Serb Democratic Party or Serb Lands or SDS [Dragan KALINIC]; Serb National Alliance or SNS [Biljana PLAVSIC]; Serb Radical Party-Republika Srpska or SRS-RS [Nikola POPLASEN] (banned by the Office of the High Representative - see Government note - from participation in the April elections); Sloga or Unity [Zivko RADISIC] (includes SNS SPRS SNSD); Social Democratic Party BIH or SDP-BiH [Zlatko LAGUMDZIJA]; Socialist Party of Republika Srpska or SPRS [Zivko RADISIC]
International organization participation: CE (guest) CEI EBRD ECE FAO G-77 IAEA IBRD ICAO IDA IFAD IFC ILO IMF IMO Inmarsat Intelsat Interpol IOC IOM (observer) ISO ITU NAM (guest) OAS (observer) OIC (observer) OPCW OSCE UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNIDO UPU WHO WIPO WMO WToO
Flag description: a wide medium blue vertical band on the fly side with a yellow isosceles triangle abutting the band and the top of the flag; the remainder of the flag is medium blue with seven full five-pointed white stars and two half stars top and bottom along the hypotenuse of the triangle
Economy overview: Bosnia and Herzegovina ranked next to The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as the poorest republic in the old Yugoslav federation. Although agriculture has been almost all in private hands farms have been small and inefficient and the republic traditionally has been a net importer of food. Industry has been greatly overstaffed one reflection of the socialist economic structure of Yugoslavia. TITO had pushed the development of military industries in the republic with the result that Bosnia hosted a large share of Yugoslavia's defense plants. The bitter interethnic warfare in Bosnia caused production to plummet by 80% from 1990 to 1995 unemployment to soar and human misery to multiply. With an uneasy peace in place output recovered in 1996-98 at high percentage rates on a low base; but output growth slowed appreciably in 1999 and GDP remains far below the 1990 level. Economic data are of limited use because although both entities issue figures national-level statistics are not available. Moreover official data do not capture the large share of activity that occurs on the black market. In 1999 the convertible mark - the national currency introduced in 1998 - gained wider acceptance and the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina dramatically increased its reserve holdings. Implementation of privatization however faltered in both areas. Banking reform is also lagging. The country receives substantial amounts of reconstruction assistance and humanitarian aid from the international community but will have to prepare for an era of declining assistance.
Telephone system: telephone and telegraph network is in need of modernization and expansion; many urban areas are below average when compared with services in other former Yugoslav republics