ABSTRACT
The decision by Slovenia and Croatia to unilaterally proceed with their plans for establishing independence near the end of June 1991 opened an entirely new phase in the Yugoslav crisis. The violent disintegration of Yugoslavia occurred just as the Cold War was drawing to an end but before mechanisms for conflict management had been established to deal with a crisis of such proportions. Britain's foreign secretary and other EC members cautioned that this course of action could result in an escalation of the Balkan war. Bosnia-Hercegovina, with its complicated mosaic of ethnoreligious communities, had long been recognized as the Balkan's most explosive powderkeg. Condemning the connection of the Belgrade authorities to the Bosnian Serb onslaught against Croats and Moslems in Bosnia-Hercegovina, the UN and the EC imposed harsh economic sanctions against Serbia in 1992. The most difficult obstacle arose during the Geneva negotiations in 1993 focused upon the degree of autonomy which would be granted to Bosnia's respective ethnic communities.
