Conflicts Divide Nations Chechnya Yugoslavia War Ravages Chechnya

Conflicts Divide Nations Chechnya & Yugoslavia

War Ravages Chechnya § Former Soviet republics fought for freedom after the downfall of the USSR § Azerbaijan and Armenia fought each other for independence § Chechnya continues to attempt to break away from Russia to make a Muslim Chechen state § 1997 – A peace agreement failed and fight started again two years later § Some Chechens commit terrorist attacks in Russia § Russia believes they are linked to Muslim terrorists in other parts of the world

Yugoslavia Breaks Apart § 1991 – Yugoslavia was a multiethnic (several ethnic groups) nation § Included Serbs, Montenegrins, Macedonians, Croats, Slovenes, Muslim Bosniaks and Albanians § Most spoke the same language but had different religions § The six republics of Yugoslavia included Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Macedonia

Republics Break Away § The fall of communism caused nations within Yugoslavia to declare independence § Slovenia and Croatia were first § Macedonia and Bosnia were next § 2003 – Serbia and Montenegro

Civil War Devastates Bosnia § Bosnian Serbs fought to set up their own separate government in Bosnia § Muslim Bosniaks were scattered throughout the country and didn’t want the country divided into ethnic regions § Serbs in Bosnia committed ethnic cleansing § Killing people from other ethnic groups or forcibly removing them

Ethnic Cleansing § Thousands of Bosniaks and Croats were killed in mass executions § Croats also participated in ethnic cleansing by driving ethnic Serbs from Croatia § Very much like the Holocaust § NATO airstrikes forced the sides to negotiate under the Dayton Accords

The Fight for Kosovo § 1989 – Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic tried to do the same thing to ethnic Albanians living in the Kosovo – the southern province of Serbia § Kosovar Albanians fought back § 1999 – NATO airstrikes ended the fighting and the UN kept the peace after 1999