Europe 335
MID#4231
Dispute Number: 4231
Date(s): August 10, 1996 to October 18, 1996
Participants: 344 Croatia/346 Bosnia and Herzegovina
Outcome (and Settlement): Released (Imposed)
Fatalities: None
Narrative: Croatia arrested former senior officer of the Yugoslav Army Mirsad
Catic on August 19, 1996, as he was passing through Croatia on his way to his Bos-
nian home where he also served as a diplomat. The Croatians charged him with war
crimes. Catic had been the commander of various units in the Yugoslav army and was
wounded in battle with the Croatians in August 1992. He was accused of ordering
gunfire on civilian targets in Zadar in September and October 1991. The Bosnians
claimed that this arrest was evidence of the continued defamation of Bosnian officers
despite the agreements signed between the two nations. They argued that Catic was
being held in violation of the provisions of the Dayton peace accord and subsequent
agreements which only the arrests of those individuals suspected of war crimes on lists
cleared by the UN war crimes tribunal. On October 3, a Croatian state prosecutor offi-
cially filed war crimes charges against Catic for his role in the 1991 Serb-Croat war,
but Catic was acquitted of war crimes charges on October 18 because the prosecution
witnesses relied on hearsay. Catic was released.
345 Yugoslavia/310 Hungary
MID#1286
Started in August 1949. See the narrative in the 345 Yugoslavia/365 Russia dyad
dispute list.
345 Yugoslavia/346 Bosnia and Herzegovina
MID#3557
Dispute Number: 3557
Date(s): April 6, 1992 to March 13, 1993
Participants: 345 Yugoslavia/346 Bosnia and Herzegovina
Outcome (and Settlement): Unclear (Negotiated)
Fatalities: 251–500 deaths
Narrative: Bosnia-Herzegovina declared independence on March 3, 1992. Serb
nationalists then began their siege of Sarajevo on April 6. As Bosnia began receiving
international recognition through April and May 1992, the fighting in Bosnia intensi-
fied. Serbia and Montenegro announce a truncated Yugoslavia on April 27 and said it
had no territorial claims to Bosnia, though that proclamation was made under Ameri-
can pressure. Bosnia responded by formally demanding that Yugoslavia withdraw
its troops from the new state. Serbian nationalists (backed by the new Yugoslavia)