Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Federacija Bosne i Hercegovine, Cyrillic script: 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 inhabited primarily by Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats, which is why it is sometimes informally referred to as the Bosniak-Croat Federation (with the Bosnian Serbs as the third constituency of the entity).

The Federation was created by the Washington accords signed on 18 March 1994 ending the part of the conflict whereby Bosnian Croats fought with Bosniaks. It established a constituent assembly that continued its work until October 1996. The Federation has a capital, government, president, parliament, customs and police departments, two postal systems and airline (BH Airlines). It had its own army, the Army of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina but merged with the Army of the Republika Srpska into Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, controlled by the Ministry of Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 6 June 2006.

Bosnian War
The Serb-dominated Yugoslav People's Army attacked Croatia from Bosnia and Herzegovina. First target was Croatian village Ravno that was attacked on 2 November 1991 and completely destroyed. Yugoslavia made economic blockade on Bosnia and Herzegovina thus trying to keep it as part of Yugoslavia. Later, Yugoslavia claimed territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina with Serb majority and capital Sarajevo. Serb Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was declared on 27 March 1992 with goal to include parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Yugoslavia. Plan of Serbian politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina was to unite illegal Serbian autonomous provinces into the single unit that would join Yugoslavia and with total blockade of Sarajevo break Bosnia and Herzegovina into the smaller, unconnected and hardly defensible enclaves. Because of superiority in armament, support from Belgrade and embargo on import of arms in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbs achieved their goals already in June 1992.

Bosniak leadership was still in indecision for major conflict, so Croats were first to oppose Serbian aggression. They organized military units, Croatian Defence Forces (HOS) in November 1991 and Croatian Defence Council in April 1992. Those units were partly composed of Bosniaks. The Territorial Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, later Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina effectively organized in autumn of 1992. On Serb-controlled areas, Serbs executed mass murders, ethnic cleansing of non-Serbs, primarily Bosniaks and Croats, established concentration camps and destroyed Bosniak and Croat cultural inheritance. Until November 1992 Serbs conquered 70% of territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina and held Sarajevo in hoop by terrorizing the population of Sarajevo by shelling and constant sniper fire. Relationship between Bosnians and Croats during the Serbian aggression decreased. The existing diversity was increased because of chaotic and war situation but also because of conflicting views and moves by individual leaders of both sides and United Nations. The creation of Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia was in dispute for Bosniaks. Croats accused Bosniaks for islamization of the country and attempts for Bosniak domination in all areas, so they withdrew Croat representatives from Parliament, Government and Presidency.

Serbian aggression of Bosnia and Herzegovina had catastrophic consequences, primarily because of disrupted relation between nationalities and religious communities. By Serbian expulsion of Bosniaks, Bosniaks moved to other areas and thus disrupted living area of Croats and their pre-war ratio. Political disputes and minor incidents in central and northern Bosnia and in northern and central Herzegovina led to Croat-Bosniak War in November 1992.

The Vance-Owen plan was presented in January 1993. It was planned to create 10 cantons on territory of all Bosnia and Herzegovina. This plan increased conflict between Croats and Bosniaks. The Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) launched four offensives and conquered large area which was under control of HVO; almost whole Central Bosnia (except Novi Travnik, Vitez, Busovača, Kiseljak, Kreševo and Žepče and wider area around those towns and Usora, part of Municipality of Travnik, Zavidovići and part of Municipality of Vareš) and part of Herzegovina, Konjic, Jablanica and eastern and northern parts of Mostar. Number of crimes against civilians were committed on both sides. Hostility between Croats and Bosniaks ended with mediation of the United States and sign of Washington Agreement on 18 March 1994. The cooperation between Croats and Bosniaks was renewed, and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a Bosniak and Croat-controlled area was established. There was also proposal to create a confederation of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republic of Croatia.

The joint command of ARBiH, HVO and Croatian Army (HV) was established in March 1995. The closer cooperation between Croats and Bosniaks was made through the Split Agreement where Bosnia and Herzegovina allowed Croatian Army to free western part of Bosnia and Herzegovina with cooperation with ARBiH. After the Operation Storm, the Serbian hoop around Bihać was broken and Croatian and Bosnian armies continued to liberate western Bosnia. The UN unsuccessfully tried to establish peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina by trying to make a successful structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina. UN showed a total inability when Serbs conquered UN-protected towns, Srebrenica and Žepa. Serbs also launched on UN-protected town of Bihać, but they were stopped by Croatian army during the Operation Storm. Joint Croatian-Bosnian military successes made peace negotiations possible.

Washington Agreement
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 comprised 51% of the federation area. The Republika Srpska comprised the other 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.

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
The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is divided into ten cantons (Bosnian: kantoni Croatian: županije):

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 and towns
List of largest cities and towns (with population in 2012):
 * Sarajevo (City: 469,400; Sarajevo metropolitan area: more than 650,000)
 * Tuzla (99,543)
 * Zenica (93,233)
 * Mostar (68,392)
 * Bihać (37,511)
 * Sanski Most (19,060)
 * Bugojno (19,044)
 * Travnik (18,846)
 * Goražde (18,124)
 * Cazin (14,176)
 * Vogošća (14,137)
 * Žepče (14,083)
 * Visoko (13,794)
 * Lukavac (13,440)
 * Živinice (13,312)
 * Novi Travnik (12,792)
 * Velika Kladuša (11,598)
 * Bosanska Krupa (10,642)
 * Vitez (10,323)
 * Hadžići (10,298)

Demographics
The 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. All data dealing with population, including ethnic distributions, are subject to considerable error because of the lack of official census figures.

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). Since the 2010 Bosnian elections, HDZBiH is in opposition, while SDA is the second largest party in FBiH. The biggest party in FBiH is the Socialdemocratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SDPBiH) now.

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".

Symbols
The Flag of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Coat of arms of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina have been deemed unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and were due to be replaced by September. On 31 March 2007, the Constitutional Court placed its decision into the "Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina" officially removing them. The federation has not yet adopted a new anthem or coat of arms, but uses the symbols of the central state as a provisional solution.