The Yugoslavia Crisis (Background Guide)
By Sarah Torres Secretary-General
Chris Varghese Directory-General
“I am the leader of one country which has two alphabets, three languages, four religions, five nationalities, six republics, surrounded by seven neighbors, a country in which live eight ethnic minorities.”
-Josip Broz Tito, former leader of Yugoslavia
United Nations – Historical Security Council: On January 17th, 1946, the first Security Council session of the United Nations was held in Westminster, London. Since then, the UN Security Council has held sessions across the world in cities such as Geneva and Panama City, taking permanent residence in New York. The primary goal of the UN Security Council is to ensure international peace and security. Consisting of fifteen members, the Council functions as a medium for conflicting parties to reach a conclusion. In rare circumstances, the Council can also use military force and other pressures to influence peace in the world. Regarding hostile disputes on the international stage, the Security Council’s principal goal is to cease the bloodshed as soon as possible, employing political and economic sanctions, and military actions to create a peaceful situation. This historical Security Council will be taking place in January 1992, shortly after the adoption of UNSC Resolution 724. Member States will include: Austria, Belgium, Cabo Verde, China, Ecuador, France, Hungary, India, Japan, Morocco, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe. The purpose of this council is to minimize the security crises that are stemming from the breakup of this diverse and conflicted nation. Understand the mission and limitations of the United Nations Security Council to most accurately portray your nation’s positions on this issue. History:
During the decade from 1910-1920, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes was created during the aftermath of World War I. The Kingdom was formed of the remnants of the former Austro-Hungarian empire (Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina) as well as Montenegro and Serbia, both of which had formerly existed as one independent state (Serbia). The newly formed Kingdom was informally called ‘Yugoslavia’, which translates to ‘Land of Southern Slavs’ in Serbo-Croatian. During 1929, the Kingdom officially changed its name to ‘Kingdom of Yugoslavia.’ During the Second World War, the Prince Regent and the royal family flew to London a year prior to invasion by the Axis forces. Soon after the war in 1944, the Prince, who came to ruling age in London, acknowledged the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia as the legitimate government. The transfer of power was fully ratified by the Treaty of Vis.
According to the forming documents, the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia was intended to be a democracy that ensured certain liberties, such as freedom of speech, assembly, religion, and free press. However, soon after gaining power as Prime Minister, Marshal Josip Broz Tito pushed the government away from democracy. Tito kept the nature of the government very nebulous and declined to label it as either a republic or kingdom.
In late 1945, the Constituent Assembly of Yugoslavia renamed the country to the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia and declared the state a republic. Yugoslavia and Tito allied with Stalin’s Soviet Union during the Cold War, which lead to distrust of Yugoslavia in the United States. Yugoslavia also adopted the Soviet model of economics, which led to relative success. Stalin initially backed the legitimacy of Tito and Yugoslavia, but an eventual Tito-Stalin split separated the two.
Soon after, on June 28th, 1948, the Communist Information Bureau (Cominform), a coalition of communist parties and a prominent tool used by Soviet Union to control the Eastern Bloc, ejected Yugoslavia from the Cominform. This economically and politically separated Yugoslavia from its communist allies, and the economy began to fail. Dissent began to build in Yugoslavia between forces loyal to Stalin and those loyal to Tito. As Yugoslavia began to separate from the Eastern Bloc, Tito reached out to the West and the United States. The West welcomed the isolation of Yugoslavia from the Soviet Union and started to support them financially and militarily.
In the early 1950s, Yugoslavia began to reform and decentralize their political system, following a policy of non-alignment while creating a new economic system. After adopting a unique system of socialism coined ‘Titoism’, Yugoslavia found great success and the annual GDP growth rate averaged 6.1% through the 1980s.
To curb ethnic dissent and rebellion, Tito gave the individual republics more liberties, and recognized Kosovo and Vojvodina as autonomous provinces through a new federal constitution in 1974. Given that Kosovo is dominated by Albanians, and Vojvodina is dominated by Serbs but had large numbers of minorities, this shift upset many Serbs as they saw this as a concussion to the 1971 Croatian Spring.
On May 4th, 1980, Tito died due to complications from surgery. Given that Tito was an almost religiously adored leader, the years following his death were marked by ethnic and nationalistic tensions. Dissatisfaction with the rising autonomy of formerly marginized groups, such as the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, stirred nationalist fervor and xenophobia.
Background: Yugoslavia is a nation of Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Bosnian Muslims, Macedonians and Albanians. Given its nature as a multicultural and multiethnic nation, both the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia struggled with creating a unified state. Ethnic strife has been a part of the history of the region since ancient times.
Following Tito’s death, power in the Republic was dispersed from the federal government to the various republics by establishing a “collective presidency,” which held little power over policy. The fall of communism in Eastern Europe and the reunification of Germany added to the deterioration of political stability in Yugoslavia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia’s main unifying incentive, having a common threat, was taken out of the equation, leaving the Republic to focus its attention inward on the its factions, which were starting to break apart.
Serbia’s President, Slobodan Milošević, took advantage of the power vacuum that was created in the wake of Tito’s death and incited conflict amongst the Republic with encouragement of Serbian nationalists. Through the use of brute political and military strength and mob rule, Milošević gained control of the formerly-autonomous regions of Kosovo, Vojvodina, and Montenegro by January 1989. With his newly stationed subordinates at the helm of these three provinces, Milošević held 4 out of 8 Presidency votes in Yugoslavia. On May 28th, 1986, he was elected the President of the League of Communists of Serbia.
Angered by the belligerent actions of Milošević, 100,000 ethnic Albanians marched in protest through Kosovo. The following year, 100,000 protestors assembled to protest the government of Montenegro, which led to the subsequent resignation of its members. This political vacuum was filled up with politicians loyal to Milošević, increasing the Serbian control of the region.
On May 8th, 1989, Milošević became President of Serbia. Within a few months, on June 29th, 1989, Milošević spoke of the possibility of future “armed battles” during a speech to 2 million Serbs. During a protest on November 3rd, 1989, police responded violently to Albanian protestors in Kosovo.
Later that month, on November 20th, 1989, Slovenia refused to allow protests by Montenegrins and Serbs in Ljubljana. Also, Croatia refused to allow them to pass to get to the Serbian protests. In reaction to the protest ban enacted on November 20, Serbia began an economic blockade against Slovenia on November 29, 1989. Milošević stopped electrical power to Croatia on December 31, 1989. The Albanian protest in Kosovo, numbering 40,000, was forcefully disbanded, using tear gas.
In January 26th, 1990, the Yugoslav Defense Minister, Velijko Kadijevic, increased military personnel and created a military plan of action regarding areas with ethnically mixed proportions. On March 4th, 1990, 50,000 Serbs protested in Petrova Gora for the “territorial integrity of Yugoslavia.” Soon after on March 17, Serbian Dusko Cubrilovic attempted to assassinate Croatian politician Franjo Tudman at an election rally.
On March 22, 1990, thousands of young students were stricken with illness in Kosovo due to poison or suffered from mass hysteria. While evidence exists for both poisoning and hysteria, Kosovo lacked scientific laboratories necessary for analysis, and analytic findings in external laboratories found conflicting results.
On March 1, 1991, the Prakrac Clash, a bloodless skirmish in the town of Pakrac, occurred in a Croatian police station, and the first shots of the Yugoslav Wars were fired. Two days later, the Yugoslav Army was deployed to curtail the Serbian villagers, and this marked the official beginning of the Croatian War of Independence.
Soon after on March 9, the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) attacked the students at the large student demonstrations taking place in Belgrade. A few days later, on the 15, Milošević stated on Serbian National TV that “Yugoslavia does not exist anymore.” Milošević mobilized the Serbian Special Forces and declared that “Serbia will not recognize any decision made by the Presidency of Yugoslavia.” On May 1 and 2 of 1991, Croatian Police entered Borovo Selo and tried to switch the Yugoslav flag in the town center to the Croatian flag. The police were caught and brutally mutilated by local Serbs. Seeking to reassert control, 150 Croatian police ran into an ambush. This led the Yugoslav Army to create a border line between the two forces.
On June 25, 1991, the Slovenian and Croatian parliaments declared independence, which led the JNA towards borders and other exit ports. A Serbian minority in Croatia declared its own independence and its wish to be part of Serbia, which initiated violence between the armed militias.
On June 27, 1991, the Ten-Day War in Slovenia, a war of Slovenian independence against the JNA, started, and subsequently ended on July 7 with the Brian Accords. The Ten-Day War marked the beginning of the Yugoslav Wars.
The Yugoslav Wars were marred with numerous horrors and war crimes as former members of Yugoslavia clashed against each other. During September 1991, the JNA and local Serbs torched Croatian houses in Hrvatska Dubica and Cerovljani. Local Croats were detained and used as live shields by the Serbian forces. Macedonia declared independence in September of 1991, causing the U.S. to dispatch a peacekeeping force to its border with Serbia to monitor and reduce violence between the two republics.
Between October 16 to 18, 1991, local Croats killed 100 – 120 Serbs residing in Gospic (coined the Gospic Massacre). On October 20, 1991, 40 local civilians (almost exclusively Croatian) were killed. The next day, 83 civilians (of which 81 were Croatian) were killed by paramilitary Serbian forces (Bacin Massacre). Between November 18 to 21, 1991, nearly 300 Croatian prisoners of war and civilians were taken to a prepared site and killed by a Serbian paramilitary force (the Vukovar Massacre). The Vukovar Massacre was the largest massacre of the Yugoslav Wars and the worst war crime in Europe since World War II at that point in time.
Between December 12 to 13, 1991, Serbian paramilitary forces killed 43 civilians after receiving orders to abandon the village (the Vocin Massacre). Except for one Serbian who protected his neighbors, all victims were Croatian. While most victims were shot, evidence suggests that other implements, such as axes and chainsaws, were used.
UN Involvement: The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia joined the United Nations on October 24, 1945. During the 1990s, after the death of Tito, Yugoslavia erupted into war and most of the republics declared independence. On September 25, 1991, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 713 which put an arms embargo on Yugoslavia. Two months later, the UNSC adopted Resolution 721 in response to the ongoing conflict in Yugoslavia. Resolution 713 enacted an arms embargo on Yugoslavia due to the conflict in the country. It was the first resolution passed regarding Yugoslavia. By December 15, UNSC Resolution 724 was unanimously adopted to carry out the peacekeeping operation established in Resolution 721 and created a Security Council committee to deliberate issues regarding the arms embargo and recommended that the Secretary General launch humanitarian efforts in Yugoslavia.
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