Republika Srpska
The
Republika Srpska (
RS) is one of the two autonomous entities that compose the state of
Bosnia and Herzegovina (the other entity is the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina). In English it is sometimes called the
Serb Republic or
Republic of Srpska, although the latter is an incorrect translation ("Srpska" is an
adjective, not a
noun). Because of the potential for confusion between the "Serb Republic" (
Republika Srpska) and the "Republic of Serbia" (
Republika Srbija), the name "Republika Srpska" is often used in its untranslated form in non-
Slavic countries to avoid any confusion with Serbia. This article follows that convention.
The RS has its own government, coat of arms, anthem, president, parliament (the
Народна Скупштина Републике Српске/Narodna Skupština Republike Srpske), customs department, police force, postal system, army (the
Vojska Republike Srpske), and airline (
Air Srpska). For a while it even had its own currency (
1992-
94), the Republika Srpska
dinar. It uses the
Serbian flag. It does not have its own Internet
domain name, but third parties offer the subdomain .RS under either one of the
top level domains .BA (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
[1] or .SR (
Suriname, but resembling
Serbia, which actually uses .YU)
[1]. Although
Sarajevo is formally the capital of the RS, according to its constitution, in practice the northwestern city of
Banja Luka is the centre of the republic's government.
History
During the political crisis that followed the secession of Slovenia and Croatia from the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on July 25, 1991, a separate Bosnian Serb Assembly was founded on October 24, 1991, as the representative body of Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
On November 21, 1991, the Bosnian Serb Assembly proclaimed as part of the territory of thefederal Yugoslav state all those municipalities, local communities, and populated places in which over 50% of the people of Serbian nationality had voted, during a plebiscite held on November 9 and 10, 1991, to remain in that state, as well as those places where citizens of other nationalities had expressed themselves in favour of remaining in a joint Yugoslav state.
On January 9, 1992, the Bosnian Serb Assembly adopted a declaration on the Proclamation of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Republika Srpska Bosne i Hercegovine). On February 28, 1992, the constitution of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared that the territory of that Republic included the territories of the Serbian autonomous regions and districts and of other Serbian ethnic entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it was declared to be a part of the federal Yugoslav state. The provisional government then issued such documents as postage stamps and currency, mostly prized abroad by hobbyists.
From February 29 to 2 March 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina held a referendum on independence. The majority of Bosnian Serbs boycotted the vote on the basis of the vote being unconstitutional in the sense that it bypassed the veto of the Serb representatives. On April 6, 1992, the European Community formally recognised the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared its independence on April 7, 1992. On August 12, 1992, the reference to Bosnia and Herzegovina was dropped from the name of the state, and it became simply Republika Srpska.
The legal existence and independence of Republika Srpska was recognized by the Agreed Basic Principles issued on September 8, 1995, and the Further Agreed Basic Principles issued on September 26, 1995, and was confirmed by the Dayton Peace Agreement. (Under an agreement on August 29, 1995, the delegation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was authorized to sign the Dayton Peace Agreement on behalf of the Republika Srpska.) Republika Srpska was created by the Dayton Peace Agreement; indeed, Republika Srpska was a party to several of the annexes to the General Framework Agreement. Republika Srpska has maintained, by war (1992-1995),its territorial and legal continuity since it was proclaimed as an entity on January 9, 1992, and the constitution adopted in 1992 (as amended) remains in force to this day.
See also
\n* History of Bosnia and Herzegovina\n* Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina\n* Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina
External links
\n*Government Page\n*President Page\n*RS.SR registrar\n*RS.BA registrar
Srpska, Republika\n\n\n
