Washington Agreement stopped the conflict between the Army of RBiH and HVO, creating the FBiH with ten cantons

23 years ago, the Washington Agreement was signed, which stopped the conflicts between the Army of RBiH and the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) and an armistice was concluded, writes the BH news agency Patria.

The agreement was signed by the then Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Haris Silajdžić, Croatian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mate Granić, and the President of the then Herceg-Bosna, Krešimir Zubak.

In addition to the agreed armistice between the Army of RBiH and HVO, Herceg-Bosna was abolished by this agreement in Washington, and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was agreed upon, consisting of ten cantons. Cantons were introduced to prevent the dominance of one nation over another, i.e., the dominance of Bosniaks over Croats and vice versa. However, it is clear that this division no longer makes sense. For example, the West Herzegovina Canton is called Hercegbosanska County by Croats and is ethnically almost clear of the other two constituent nations, Bosniaks and Serbs.

The Washington Agreement was supposed to be only the first phase of the agreement between the three nations in BiH, while the second phase would include the Republika Srpska in the negotiations. The plan was to establish a cantonal system at the level of the entire BiH, which would mean that the RS entity would not exist, but this plan was not realized, writes Patria.