Daruvar Agreement

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Country/entity: Croatia
Yugoslavia (former)
Region: Europe and Eurasia
Agreement name: Daruvar Agreement
Date: 18 Mar 1993
Agreement status: Multiparty signed/agreed
Interim arrangement: Yes
Agreement/conflict level: Intrastate/local conflict
Balkan Conflicts (1991 - 1995) (1998 - 2001)
Former Yugoslavia

The disintegration of former Yugoslavia post cold war saw conflicts which became mediated and produced peace agreements in Slovenia (where the brief independence conflict was mediated by the EC Troika in 1991), Croatia (between Croatian and Serb populations 1991-1995), in Bosnia (between Croatian, Serb and Bosniak populations 1992-1995), in Macedonia (where mediation played a key pre-emptive role in preventing large scale conflict in 2001), in Kosovo (between Kosovar Albanians and Serbian population and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), but also between FRY and NATO, 1998-1999), and a conflict in the Presevo Valley (between Albanians in South Serbia and FRY, 2000-2001). The continued fall-out of the disintegration of former Yugoslavia also saw mediated agreement and ultimate dissolution of the Union between Serbia and Montenegro.

Bosnia-Herzegovina

In 1991, after nationalist parties won the first multi-party elections in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a violent process of disintegration commenced. With its mixed population, Bosnia-Herzegovina became the centre of the following civil war that began in 1992 between the newly formed army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (mostly Muslim Bosniacs), and the parastatal forces of self-declared Bosnian Croat (Herzeg-Bosnia) and Bosnian Serb (Republika Srpska) entities within Bosnia-Herzegovina, supported by Croatia and Serbia, with various, often short-lived, coalitions. The General Framework Agreement (Dayton Peace Agreement), signed in 1995, split the country into two ethno-federal entities, the Bosniak-Croat Federation and the Republika Srpska, and included continued peacekeeping and institutional administration by international actors.

Kosovo

The conflict between Serbs and Kosovar Albanians has a long history and always involved territorial disputes as well as ethno-political, cultural and linguistic factors. The most recent phase of the conflict began in November 1997 when the Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA or UCK) began their campaign for the independence of Kosovo from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY – then Serbia and Montenegro). The subsequent war lasted until the NATO intervention, which undertook bombing campaigns of Belgrade and other places in Serbia during spring 1999. The main agreements solving the conflict were internationally driven and, finally, a UNSC resolution imposed a post-conflict arrangement in the wake of what was essentially a NATO military victory. In February 2008, Kosovo’s parliament declared independence, but independence is still internationally disputed.
Stage: Implementation/renegotiation
Conflict nature: Government/territory
Peace process: Croatia negotiation process
Parties: Veljko Dzakula; Dusan Ecimovic; Milan Vlaisavljevic; Mladen Kulic; Djorde Lovric; Milan Radakovic; Zlatko Kos; Zdravko Sokic; Ivan Volf; Vladimir Delac, Zelimir Milnar
Third parties: UNPROFOR Representatives (illegible signatures, no names given in agreement transcript).
Description: This agreement lists the actions which will be taken by local representatives and UNPROFOR in the former municipalities in United Nations Protected Area Sector West, mostly regarding socio-economic reconstruction and restoration of mobility for civilians.

Agreement document: HR_930218_Daruvar Agreement.pdf (opens in new tab) | Download PDF

Local agreement properties

Process type: Isolated example
Rationale: The signatories were local politicians and/or armed group representatives, who did not take part in the broader negotiations nor did they engage in negotiating more than this one document.
Is there a documented link to a national peace process?: No
Link to national process: articulated rationale: While there were negotiations at various times in the conflict, the meetings that produced this document were primarily attended by local political and military actors. This document is exceptional in the Croatian conflict as it was negotiated by a group of Serb representatives who broke away from the main actors of Republika Srpska Krajina based in Knin. At least some of the Serb signatories were later arrested by RSK, charged with treason, for which they were threatened with a death sentence. There appears to have been pressure on the Croatian side to sign the agreement, coming from representatives of the government and president Tudjman, though the signatories are local only.
Name of Locale: Region comprised of Daruvar, Grubisno Polje, Nova Gradiska, Novska, and Pakrac
Nature of Locale: Region
GPS Lat/Long (DD): 45.440000, 17.190000
Participant type: Local state actor
Local armed group
International or transnational actor
Mediator, facilitator or similar: Mediator or similar referred to
Mediator (references): UNPROFOR representative is a signatory of the agreement. However, secondary sources suggest that some level of involvement and support from the Croatian government.
Type of mediator/facilitator/similar: International or transnational actor Unclear/Other

Local issues

Ritual/prayer and process (including use of scripture): No specific mention.
Grievance List: [Summary](1) need for electricity and water supply to be restored (2) transport networks blocked or not functional (3) telecommunication services needed to be restored (4) conditions not existent for normalisation of social life (5) return of displaced persons needed (6) farmers from either side not able to work on land on the other side of demarcation line
Cattle rustling/banditry: No specific mention.
Social cover: No specific mention.

AGREEMENT

1. On 18 Feb 1993 in Daruvar in the presence of UNPROFOR representatives (illegible signatures) a meeting was held between:

DZAKULA VELJKO

DUSAN ECIMOVIC

MILAN VLAISAVLJEVIC

MLADEN KULIC

LOVRIC DORDE

RADAKOVIC MILAN

ZLATKO KOS

ZDRAVKO SOKIC

IVAN VOLF

VLADIMIR DELAC

ZELIMIR MILNAR

2. In the whole region, comprised of the former municipalities:

Daruvar, Grubisno Polje, Nova Gradiska, Novska and Pakrac, which is under protection of the UNPROFOR forces, the following will be ensured:

a. Complete reconstruction of the electricity and water supplies system;

b. Unrestricted traffic of personal vehicles on roads, including the Zagreb - Belgrade Highway, further negotiations will also encompass the commercial traffic;

c. Enabling of restoration of railway between Novska and Nova Gradiska;

d. Restoration of the telecommunication structure [illegible] with the results of preliminary inspection from August 1992, with representatives from both sides;

e. Establishing the joint commission for normalisation of the life of citizens in the UNPA area, with special emphasis on reassessing and at a later stage also establishing social activities, health care, education and sport activities;

f. Unobstructed and regular meetings at the checkpoints under the supervision of the UNPROFOR;

g. Enabling return of all expelled persons;

h. Giving consent to civilians who are staying on both sides of the separation line to work on their land (at this moment, it is especially important that farmers are given guarantees for crops in the harvest season later in the year);

i. Meetings of representatives of local authorities, for the purpose of discussing the methods of (illegible) cooperation;

j. Enabling placement of containers as specified in the agreement that was achieved;

l. Joint commissions will be formed for preparations, implementation and monitoring, as well as supervising of all points.

3. Agreement is signed by representatives:

(personal signatures)