Croat Nationalists Move to Seize Barracks in Central Bosnia
Stepping up efforts to create a separate Croat ministate in Bosnia, ethnic Croat nationalists Thursday moved to seize two army barracks, challenging the authority of the Muslim-Croat government, officials said.
The peace agreement that ended Bosnia-Herzegovina’s 1992-95 war created two ministates: a Muslim-Croat Federation and the Republika Srpska, a Bosnian Serb republic. The Croatian Democratic Union, or HDZ, last month declared its intention to break away and form a third ministate for Bosnian Croats.
Col. Josip Stojak, a former hard-line Bosnian Croat army commander who deserted his barracks in central Bosnia last week, returned Thursday with Croat war veterans and challenged Col. Marinko Palavra, installed by the pro-Western Muslim-Croat Federation government in Sarajevo, Bosnia’s capital.
Palavra said NATO-led peacekeepers were mediating between him and Stojak over control of the barracks.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
