Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Information
The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina listen (help·info) (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian: Federacija Bosne i Hercegovine Serbian Cyrillic: Федерација Босне и Херцеговине) is one of the two political entities that compose the sovereign country of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the other entity is the Republika Srpska). The two entities are delineated by the Inter-Entity Boundary Line. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is primarily inhabited by Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats, which is why it is informally referred to as the Bosniak-Croat Federation.
The Federation was created by the Washington accords signed on 18 March 1994, which established a constituent assembly that continued its work until October 1996. The Federation now has its own capital, government, president, parliament, customs and police departments, postal system (in fact, two of them), and airline (BH Airlines). It used to have its own army, the Army of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, though along with the Army of the Republika Srpska it was fully integrated into Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, controlled by the Ministry of Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on 6 June 2006.
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History
The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was formed by the Washington Agreement of March 1994. Under the agreement, the combined territory held by the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croatian Defence Council forces was divided into ten autonomous cantons. The cantonal system was selected to prevent dominance by one ethnic group over another.
In 1995, Bosnian government forces and Bosnian Croat forces of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina defeated forces of the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia, and this territory was added to the federation. By the Dayton Agreement of 1995, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was defined as one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina and included 51% of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina (another entity, Republika Srpska included 49%).
On 8 March 2000, the Brčko District was formed as an autonomous entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina and it was created from part of the territory of both Bosnian entities. Brčko District is now a shared territory that belongs to both entities.
Geography
Boundary
The Inter-Entity Boundary Line (IEBL) that distinguishes Bosnia and Herzegovina's two entities essentially runs along the military front lines as they existed at the end of the Bosnian War, with adjustments (most importantly in the western part of the country and around Sarajevo), as defined by the Dayton Agreement. The total length of the IEBL is approximately 1,080 km. The IEBL is an administrative demarcation and not controlled by the military or police and there is free movement across it.
Cantons
Main article: Cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and HerzegovinaThe Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is divided into ten cantons (Bosnian: kantoni Croatian: županije):
| No. | Canton | Center | No. | Canton | Center | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I. | Una-Sana | Bihać | VI. | Central Bosnia | Travnik | ||
| II. | Posavina | Orašje | VII. | Herzegovina-Neretva | Mostar | ||
| III. | Tuzla | Tuzla | VIII. | West Herzegovina | Široki Brijeg | ||
| IV. | Zenica-Doboj | Zenica | IX. | Sarajevo | Sarajevo | ||
| V. | Bosnian Podrinje | Goražde | X. | Canton 10 | Livno |
Five of the cantons (Una-Sana, Tuzla, Zenica-Doboj, Bosnian Podrinje and Sarajevo) are Bosniak majority cantons, three (Posavina, West Herzegovina and Canton 10) are Croat majority cantons, and two (Central Bosnia and Herzegovina-Neretva) are 'ethnically mixed', meaning there are special legislative procedures for protection of the constituent ethnic groups.
A significant portion of Brčko District was also part of the Federation; however, when the district was created, it became shared territory of both entities, but it was not placed under control of either of the two, and is hence under direct jurisdiction of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Currently the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has 79 municipalities.
Cities
List of the largest municipalities in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina:[note 1][6]
| No. | Name | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Sarajevo | 304,614 |
| 2. | Tuzla | 174,558 |
| 3. | Zenica | 145,000 |
| 4. | Mostar | 128,488 |
| 5. | Bihać | 105,000 |
| 6. | Travnik | 75,000 |
| 7. | Cazin | 66,881 |
| 8. | Sanski Most | 60,307 |
| 9. | Bosanska Krupa | 58,320 |
| 10. | Zavidovići | 57,164 |
| 11. | Lukavac | 56,830 |
| 12. | Gradačac | 56,378 |
| 13. | Kakanj | 55,857 |
| 14. | Gračanica | 55,000 |
| 15. | Živinice | 54,768 |
| 16. | Tešanj | 52,249 |
| 17. | Srebrenik | 47,938 |
| 18. | Bugojno | 46,630 |
| 19. | Velika Kladuša | 44,350 |
| 20. | Konjic | 43,878 |
| 21. | Maglaj | 43,294 |
| 22. | Goražde | 36,496 |
| 23. | Livno | 32,454 |
| 24. | Odžak | 30,651 |
Demographics
Ethnic composition in 1991The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina comprises 51% of the land area of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is home to 62.1% of the country's total population.[7] All data dealing with population, including ethnic distributions, are subject to considerable error because of the lack of official census figures.
| Year | Muslims[8] | % | Croats | % | Serbs | % | Yugoslavs | % | Others | % | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 1,423,593 | 52.3% | 594,362 | 21.9% | 478,122 | 17.6% | 161,938 | 5.9% | 62,059 | 2.3% | 2,720,074 |
Government and politics
The government and politics of the Federation are dominated by two large parties, the Bosniak Party for Democratic Action (Stranka demokratske akcije, SDA) and the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, HDZ).[9]
In September 2010, the International Crisis Group warned that "disputes among and between Bosniak and Croat leaders and a dysfunctional administrative system have paralysed decision-making, put the entity on the verge of bankruptcy and triggered social unrest".[9]
Gallery
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Počitelj - Old village near Mostar. |
Mostar - Stari Most (Old bridge). |
Sarajevo - View from east. |
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See also
Notes
- ^ The town of Brčko is part of the Brčko District, which is part of both, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska.
References
- ^ Federation Office of Statistics
- ^ "30th Plenary session". Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. http://www.ccbh.ba/eng/press/index.php?pid=349&sta=3&pkat=507.
- ^ Reuters (16 July 2008). "Muslim Outcry Over Bosnian Serbs `State` Symbols". Dalje. http://dalje.com/en-world/muslim-outcry-over-bosnian-serbs-state-symbols/164758.
- ^ Office of High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- ^ Office of High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- ^ "Estimation total number of present population by age, sex and cantons and municipality, 30 June 2008" (PDF). Federal Office of Statistics, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. http://www.fzs.ba/Dem/ProcPrist/stalno.pdf. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
- ^ "POPULATION OF THE FEDERATION BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 1996 - 2006". Federal Office of Statistics. http://www.fzs.ba/Dem/stanovnistvo-bilten110.pdf.
- ^ The vast majority of Muslims by nationality today consider themselves Bosniaks.
- ^ a b "Federation of Bosnia And Herzegovina – A Parallel Crisis". International Crisis Group. 28 September 2010. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/publication-type/media-releases/2010/europe/federation-of-bosnia-and-herzegovina%E2%80%93a-parallel-crisis.aspx.
External links
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina |
- Website of the Federation Government
- Parliament of the Federation
- Website for persons unaccounted for in connection with the conflict on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, International Committee of the Red Cross.
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Categories: Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina | Entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina | States and territories established in 1994
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