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(1992–95) Ethnically rooted war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, then
a republic of Yugoslavia with a multiethnic population44%
Bosniac (Muslim), 33% Serb, and 17% Croat. Unrest began with
Yugoslavia's breakup in 1990; after a 1992 referendum, the
European Community (now European Union) recognized Bosnia's
independence. Bosnia's Serbs responded violently, seized 70% of
Bosnian territory, besieged Sarajevo, and terrorized Bosniacs
and Croats in what came to be known as ethnic cleansing. After
bitter fighting between the Bosnian Croats and the Bosnian
government, international pressure forced the two factions to
sign a cease-fire and an agreement for a federation. Both then
concentrated on their common enemy, the Serbs. After rejected
peace plans and continued warring, Western nations, with NATO
backing, imposed a final cease-fire negotiated at Dayton, Ohio,
in 1995. Bosnia and Herzegovina became a single state composed
of two distinct entities: the Fede