the creation of new Croatian counties on 30 December 1992, the Croatian government also set aside two autonomous regions (kotar) for ethnic Serbs in the areas of Krajina known as the Autonomous District of Glina and Autonomous District of Knin. After Operation Storm, the application of the law which allowed autonomy would be temporarily suspended. In 2000 this part of the law was formally repealed. The process of creation of the self-proclaimed Serb Autonomous Regions in Croatia included inter-ethnic clashes and violence as well as widespread ethnic cleansing of non-Serb population from the areas that those regions ended up controlling. Some of the highest ranking political and military leaders involved in this process were prosecuted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for their direct or command responsibility for a number of war crimes committed. In the effort to preserve the peace in the region European Community limited the recognition of post-Yugoslav entities exclusively to previously established Yugoslav federal units (republics) in their administrative borders and explicitly discouraged it in case of any new secessionist region while at the same time it conditioned recognition of republics with credible minority rights guarantees. Serb Autonomous Regions in Croatia therefore failed to ever gain any formal international recognition. SAOs in Bosnia and Herzegovina The Serb Democratic Party established SAOs in Serb-inhabited territories. Between September–November 1991, six entities had been proclaimed. The Serbs set up their own parliament, having left the Bosnian parliament in October 1991. The Serb parliament proclaimed the "Serb Republic" (Republika Srpska) on 27 March 1992. SAO Bosnian Krajina, first formed as the Autonomous Region of Krajina) in April 1991. It was the largest region, but after failure to merge with SAO Krajina in Croatia, it was renamed SAO Bosanska Krajina in September 1991. SAO North-Eastern Bosnia formed in September 1991; renamed SAO Semberija in November 1991, and SAO Semberija i Majevica in December 1991. SAO Northern Bosnia, formed in November 1991, never fully controlled its proclaimed territory. SAO Ozren-Posavina, planned from predominantly Bosniak and Croat municipalities in northern Bosnia, but not fully established. SAO Romanija, formed in September 1991, and SAO Birač, formed November 1991; combined in November 1991 as SAO Romanija-Birač. SAO Herzegovina (also known as SAO Eastern Herzegovina), formed in September 1991. References Further reading See also Self-determination Quasi-state Separatism Polish National Territorial Region Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria