Dayton November 1, 1995: The day when negotiations began that ended the bloodshed in BiH

20 years ago today, the Dayton Conference began, which lasted until November 21, 1995, writes the Patria News Agency.  

The main participants of the Conference, besides the President of the Presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Alija Izetbegović, the President of the then FRY Slobodan Milošević, and the President of the Republic of Croatia Franjo Tuđman, were the main American mediator Richard Holbrooke and General Wesley Clark.

The RS delegation included the then Vice-President of Republika Srpska Nikola Koljević, the President of the National Assembly and convicted war criminal Momčilo Krajišnik, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of RS Aleksa Buha, legal expert Radomir Lukić, expert on border issues Vladimir Lukić, and advisor to the President of Republika Srpska Jovan Zametica and convicted war criminal and General Zdravko Tolimir.

Slobodan Milošević led the negotiations on behalf of the Serbs from RS, while war criminal Radovan Karadžić, who was the President of RS at the time, did not travel to Dayton.

Three weeks later, after negotiations, on November 21, in the American state of Ohio, the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, known as the Dayton Peace Agreement, was initialed, officially ending the three-and-a-half-year war in BiH.

It was officially signed three weeks later, on December 14, 1995, at the Élysée Palace in Paris.