Croatia: Deep-rooted Conflict and Its Resolution. The History of Eastern Slavonia
Croatia: Deep-rooted Conflict and Its Resolution. The History of Eastern Slavonia

Summary/Abstract: The conflict between the Croatian government and the Serbian minority in the UNPA zones in Croatia was deep and irreconcilable. The Croatian government tried, at any price, to bring the UNPA zones under the authority of Zagreb while the Serbian secessionists wanted to separate the UNPA zones from Croatia and bring it under the authority of Belgrade and Serbia. The conflict between Croats and the ethnic Serbs in Croatia corresponds to the concept of a deeply rooted conflict as described by John W. Burton and Donald L. Horowitz. The author analyses the process of the negotiations between the Croatian authorities and the local Serbs from the UNPA zone East in the fall of 1995. The ethnic Serbs agreed to a compromise with the Croatian government after they had found themselves in a stalemate. By this term William Zartman understands when one ethnic group sees no other way out, since all the military and political moves have been blocked for it. The author thinks this is the main reason why the local Serbs in eastern Slavonia agreed to a dialogue, accepted the compromise and signed the Erdut Accord on 12 February 1995.

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