Yugoslavia and Bosnia Establish Diplomatic Ties

Bosnia-Herzegovina and Yugoslavia established diplomatic ties Friday, eight years after Bosnia seceded from the former Yugoslav federation in a bloody ethnic war.

“We are leaving difficult years behind us,” Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic said after a signing ceremony with his Bosnian counterpart, Jadranko Prlic. “We have to turn to the future.”

Bosnia became the last of the four former republics that seceded from the former Yugoslav federation in the 1990s to establish ties with Belgrade, the Yugoslav capital. Bosnian Serb troops launched a three-year war in 1992 trying to prevent Bosnia’s split.

Prlic said that the diplomatic agreement “creates conditions for wars to become unthinkable in the future.” Relations between the two countries “will be open, honest and equal,” he said.

The 1995 Dayton peace agreement ending the conflict, also signed by Yugoslavia, ordered both countries to recognize each other’s borders and establish diplomatic ties.

But the regime of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic insisted that Bosnia must first drop charges of aggression and claims of war reparations against Yugoslavia at the World Court. Bosnia said the country will continue pressing those charges despite the diplomatic ties.

Both countries still have to appoint ambassadors and work out agreements on trade, traffic and customs. Prlic said proposals to that effect should be completed by the end of the month.

“Yugoslavia will guarantee Bosnia’s territorial integrity but will also insist on special relations with Republika Srpska,” Svilanovic said, referring to the Serb entity within Bosnia. He also said the two countries and Croatia should organize a trilateral conference to discuss the return of refugees.

Slovenia and Yugoslavia established diplomatic ties Dec. 9, Croatia and Yugoslavia in 1996. Macedonia, the only ex-republic to break away peacefully, agreed to formal ties with Belgrade in 1994.