Bosnian Serbs Mark 20 Years Of Their Ministate

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Bosnian Serbs have marked the 20th anniversary of the formation of their ministate in Bosnia.

The anniversary was marked Monday by receptions and a religious ceremony at which the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Irinej described Republika Srpska as “the youngest Serb state.”

After the Bosniaks and Croats who lived in the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia along with Serbs indicated they want to declare independence as other former Yugoslav republics had already done, Bosnian Serbs quickly founded their own republic on parts of Bosnia’s territory and started expelling non-Serbs from it.

Some 100,000 died during Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war.