The Croat–Bosniak War or Croat–Muslim War was a conflict between the Bosniak-dominated Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, supported by Croatia, that lasted from 18 October 1992 to 23 February 1994. It is often referred to as a "war within a war" because it was part of the larger Bosnian War. In the beginning, the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) and the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) fought together in an alliance against the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS). By the end of 1992, however, tensions between the ARBiH and the HVO increased. The first armed incidents between them occurred in October 1992 in central Bosnia. The military alliance continued until early 1993, when it mostly fell apart and the two former allies engaged in open conflict.
The Croat–Bosniak War escalated in central Bosnia and soon spread to Herzegovina, with most of the fighting taking place in those two regions. The war generally consisted of sporadic conflicts with numerous short ceasefires. However, it was not an all-out war between Bosniaks and Croats and they remained allied in other regions – mainly Bihać, Sarajevo and Tešanj. Several peace plans were proposed by the international community during the war, but each of them failed. On 23 February 1994, a lasting ceasefire was agreed, and an agreement ending the hostilities was signed in Washington on 18 March 1994, by which time the HVO had suffered significant territorial losses. The agreement led to the establishment of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the resumption of joint operations against Serb forces, which helped alter the military balance and bring the Bosnian War to an end.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted 17 Bosnian Croat officials, six of them for participating with Croatian president Franjo Tuđman and other top Croatian officials in a joint criminal enterprise that sought to annex or control Croat-majority parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to ethnically cleanse Bosniaks. Two Bosniak officials were also convicted for war crimes committed during the conflict. The ICTY ruled that Croatia had overall control over the Croatian Defence Council and that the Croatian Army had entered Bosnia, which made the conflict international.
Background
In November 1990, the first free elections were held in Bosnia and Herzegovina, putting nationalist parties into power. These were the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), led by Alija Izetbegović, the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS), led by Radovan Karadžić, and the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZ BiH), led by Stjepan Kljuić. Izetbegović was elected as the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Jure Pelivan, of the HDZ, was elected as the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Momčilo Krajišnik, of the SDS, was elected as the speaker of Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As early as September or October 1990, the JNA had begun arming Bosnian Serbs and organizing them into militias. By March 1991, the JNA had distributed an estimated 51,900 firearms to Serb paramilitaries and 23,298 firearms to the SDS. Consequently, when Serbs in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina had proclaimed a number of "Serbian Autonomous Regions" with the intent of later unifying them to create a Greater Serbia, they used the well-equipped JNA to defend these territories.
In early 1991, the leaders of the six republics began a series of meetings to solve the crisis in Yugoslavia. The Serbian leadership favoured a federal solution, whereas the Croatian and Slovenian leadership favoured an alliance of sovereign states. Izetbegović proposed an asymmetrical federation on 22 February, where Slovenia and Croatia would maintain loose ties with the 4 remaining republics. Shortly after that, he changed his position and opted for a sovereign Bosnia as a prerequisite for such a federation.
The ICTY states that Tuđman's ultimate goal in Bosnia was to create a "Greater Croatia", based on the borders of the Croatian Banovina, which would include western Herzegovina, Posavina and other parts of Bosnia with majority Croat populations. However, because the international community firmly opposed any division of Bosnia, Tuđman pursued a dual policy: on the one hand proclaiming his formal support for the unity of Bosnia, while on the other seeking to divide Bosnia between Croats and Serbs. On 25 March 1991, Tuđman met with Serbian president Slobodan Milošević in Karađorđevo, reportedly to discuss the partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
On 6 June, Izetbegović and Macedonian president Kiro Gligorov proposed a weak confederation between Croatia, Slovenia, and a federation of the other four republics, which was rejected by Milošević. On 13 July, the government of Netherlands, then the presiding EC country, suggested to other EC countries that the possibility of agreed changes to Yugoslav Republics borders should be explored, but the proposal was rejected by other members. In July 1991, Radovan Karadžić, president of the SDS, and Muhamed Filipović, vice president of the Muslim Bosniak Organisation (MBO), drafted an agreement between the Serbs and Muslims which would leave Bosnia in a state union with SR Serbia and SR Montenegro. The HDZ BiH and the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SDP BiH) denounced the agreement, calling it an anti-Croat pact and a betrayal. Although initially welcoming the initiative, Izetbegović also dismissed the agreement.
From July 1991 to January 1992, during the Croatian War of Independence, the JNA and Serb paramilitaries used Bosnian territory to wage attacks on Croatia. The Croatian government began arming Croats in the Herzegovina region as early as October or November 1991, expecting that the Serbs would spread the war into Bosnia and Herzegovina. It also helped arm the Muslim community. By late 1991, about 20,000 Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, mostly from the Herzegovina region, enlisted in the Croatian National Guard. During the war in Croatia, Izetbegović gave a televised proclamation of neutrality, stating that "this is not our war", and the Sarajevo government was not taking defensive measures against a probable attack by the Bosnian Serbs and the JNA. Izetbegović agreed to disarm the existing Territorial Defense (TO) forces on the demand of the JNA. This was defied by Bosnian Croats and Muslim organizations that gained control of many facilities and weapons of the TO. On 21 September 1991, Ante Paradžik, the vice-president of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) and Croat-Muslim alliance advocate, was killed by Croatian police in mysterious circumstances.
On 12 November 1991, on a meeting chaired by Dario Kordić and Mate Boban, local party leaders of the HDZ BiH reached an agreement to undertake a policy of achieving an "age-old dream, a common Croatian State" and decided that the proclamation of a Croatian banovina in Bosnia and Herzegovina should be the "initial phase leading towards the final solution of the Croatian question and the creation of a sovereign Croatia within its ethnic and historical [...] borders." On the same day, the Croatian Community of Bosnian Posavina was proclaimed in municipalities of northwest Bosnia. On 18 November, the autonomous Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia (HZ-HB) was established, it claimed it had no secessionary goal and that it would serve a "legal basis for local self-administration". It vowed to respect the Bosnian government under the condition that Bosnia and Herzegovina was independent of "the former and every kind of future Yugoslavia." Boban was established as its president. From its inception the leadership of Herzeg-Bosnia and HVO held close relations to the Croatian government and the Croatian Army (HV). At a session of the Supreme State Council of Croatia, Tuđman said that the establishment of Herzeg-Bosnia was not a decision to separate from Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 23 November, the Bosnian government declared Herzeg-Bosnia unlawful.
The HDZ BiH leadership was split regarding the establishment of the two Croatian communities. The president of the party, Kljuić, opposed the move, while party representatives from Herzegovina, Central Bosnia and Bosnian Posavina supported it. On 27 December 1991, the leadership of the HDZ of Croatia and of HDZ BiH held a meeting in Zagreb chaired by Tuđman. They discussed Bosnia and Herzegovina's future, their differences in opinion on it, and the creation of a Croatian political strategy. Kljuić favored that Croats stay within a unified Bosnia and Herzegovina on the Muslim line. He was criticized by Tuđman for acceding to Izetbegović's policies. Boban held that, in the event of Bosnia and Herzegovina's disintegration or if it remained in Yugoslavia, Herzeg-Bosnia should be proclaimed an independent Croatian territory "which will accede to the State of Croatia but only at such time as the Croatian leadership [...] should decide." Kordić, the vice president of Herzeg-Bosnia, claimed that the spirit of Croats in Herzeg-Bosnia had grown stronger since its declaration and that Croats in the Travnik region were prepared to become a part of the Croatian State "at all costs [...] any other option would be considered treason, save the clear demarcation of Croatian soil in the territory of Herceg-Bosna."
At the same meeting, Tuđman stated that "from the perspective of sovereignty, Bosnia-Herzegovina has no prospects" and recommended that Croatian policy should be one of "support for the sovereignty [of Bosnia and Herzegovina] until such time as it no longer suits Croatia." He based this on the belief that the Serbs did not accept Bosnia and Herzegovina and that Bosnian representatives did not believe in it and wished to remain in Yugoslavia. Tuđman declared "it is time that we take the opportunity to gather the Croatian people inside the widest possible borders". Tudjman then described a proposed partition of Bosnia among Croatia and Serbia, “where Croatia would get the areas...in the community of Herceg-Bosnia and the community of Croatian Posavina, and probably for geopolitical reasons in Cazin, in the Bihać region, which would provide almost optimal satisfaction of Croatian national interests”. From the remainder, Tuđman says a mini-state of Bosnia could be created around Sarajevo that would then serve as a buffer between Croatia and Serbia in the partitioned Bosnia. To execute this strategy, Tuđman later removed from leadership Stjepan Kljuić and other Bosnian Croats from leadership positions, as they strongly opposed his plans for dividing the country.
"Just let me tell you. Many who sit here and who support cantonization of Bosnia and Herzegovina will live in a Greater Serbia, and I shall depart for Australia."
— Stjepan Kljuić commenting after his ouster
On 2 January 1992, Gojko Šušak, the Minister of Defence of Croatia, and JNA General Andrija Rašeta signed an unconditional ceasefire in Sarajevo. The JNA moved relieved troops from the Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK) into Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they were stationed at strategic routes and around major towns. On 16 January, a rally celebrating Croatian independence was held in Busovača. Kordić spoke and declared Croats in Busovača were part of a united Croatian nation and that Herzeg-Bosnia, including Busovača, is "Croatian land and that is how it will be". HVO commander Ignac Koštroman also spoke, stating "we will be an integral part of our dear State of Croatia by hook or by crook." On 27 January the Croatian Community of Central Bosnia was proclaimed.
There was a change in the presidency of the HDZ BiH during winter, probably under influence of the Croatian leadership. On 2 February, Kljuić had resigned. Tuđman commented that "[he] disappeared under Alija Izetbegović's fez and the HDZ [BIH] [...] stopped leading an independent Croatian policy". Milenko Brkić, who also supported an integral Bosnia and Herzegovina, became the new president of HDZ BiH. Bosnian Croat authorities in predominately Croat-populated municipalities answered more to the HDZ leadership and the Zagreb government than the Bosnian government. The HDZ held important positions in the Bosnian government including the premiership and the ministry of defence, but despite this carried out a separate policy.
On 29 February and 1 March 1992, an independence referendum was held in Bosnia and Herzegovina and asked "are you in favor of a sovereign and independent Bosnia-Herzegovina, a state of equal citizens and nations of Muslims, Serbs, Croats and others who live in it?" In the meantime Boban publicly circulated an alternative referendum version that designated Bosnia and Herzegovina as a "state community of its constituent and sovereign nations, Croats, Muslims, and Serbs, living on their national territories." Independence was strongly favored by Muslims and Bosnian Croats, while Bosnian Serbs largely boycotted the referendum. The majority of voters voted for independence and on 3 March 1992 Alija Izetbegović declared independence of the country, which was immediately recognised by Croatia.