Following Bosnia and Herzegovina 's declaration of independence , Bosnian Serb militias mobilized in different parts of the country . Government forces were poorly equipped and unprepared for the war . International recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina increased diplomatic pressure for the Yugoslav People 's Army ( JNA ) to withdraw from the republic 's territory , which they officially did in June 1992 . The Bosnian Serb members of the JNA simply changed insignia , formed the Army of Republika Srpska ( VRS ) , and continued fighting . Armed and equipped from JNA stockpiles in Bosnia , supported by volunteers and various paramilitary forces from Serbia , and receiving extensive humanitarian , logistical and financial support from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia , Republika Srpska 's offensives in 1992 managed to place much of the country under its control . The Bosnian Serb advance was accompanied by the ethnic cleansing of Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats from VRS-controlled areas . Dozens of concentration camps were established in which inmates were subjected to violence and abuse , including rape . The ethnic cleansing culminated in the Srebrenica massacre of more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys in July 1995 , which was ruled to have been a genocide by the ICTY . Bosniak and Bosnian Croat forces also committed war crimes against civilians from different ethnic groups , though on a smaller scale . Most of the Bosniak and Croat atrocities were committed during the Bosniak-Croat war , a sub-conflict of the Bosnian War that pitted the ARBiH against the HVO . The Bosniak-Croat conflict ended in March 1994 , with the signing of the Washington Agreement , leading to the creation of a joint Bosniak-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina , which amalgamated HVO-held territory with that held by the ARBiH
Srebrenica massacre
Srebrenica massacre
Bosnia and Herzegovina