International Cooperation and Support of Higher Education in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

In 1991, the population of Bosnia-Herzegovina (B-H) was about 4.4 million, of which 45.7% were ethnic Muslimo (Bosnicak/), 51.4% Serbs, and 17.5% Croats. As a result of the war, there were more than 2 million refugees and displaced persons, only 250,000 of which were able to return to their homes (about 550,000 people were killed and 240,000 wounded). The war was finally ended by NATO airstrikes and the Peace Agreement (negotiated in Day-ton, Ohio), which was signed on December 14, 1995 in Paris Today, Bosnia and Herzegovina consits of two entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, itself made up of ten cantons, along with the Republika Srpska. After elections on September 14, 1996, it wad not until January 1997 that the new Parliament finally met and the Government was formed. However, the> new government has very weak competencies, and answers to a presidency consisting of one representative from each of the three major ethnic groups, with a rotating chairmanship. To stabilize peace, an Implementation Force (IFOR), which, since December 1996 has been called the Stabilization Force (SFOR), was placed in B-H. Additionally, a civilian peace-implementation authority was created in the form of the "Office of the High Representative." The overall reconstruction needs (costs) of B-H have been estimated to be more than US$500 million.