ABSTRACT
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as established by Josef Tito in 1945 had adopted a federal solution towards the problem of ethnic tension. However difficulties increased after his death in 1980 and the collective leadership was driven by rivalry, ethnic division and mutual suspicion. On 25 June 1991 Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence and were able to secure recognition by the European Union and a number of other states by January 1992. In April 1992 Bosnia-Herzegovina declared its independence and acquired recognition. In that same month Serbia and Montenegro established the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia claiming to be the continuing state of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In May 1992 the European Union indicated its willingness to recognise Macedonia as a sovereign state. At or about the same time these newly independent states86 were admitted as members of the United Nations although the Security Council rejected the claim of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to assume the seat of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia87 on the grounds that it was not the successor state.
