1992

 BY 1992 the Yugoslav Federation was falling apart. Nationalism had once

 again replaced communism as the dominant force in the Balkans. Slovenia

 and then Croatia were the first to break away but only at the cost of

 renewed conflict with Serbia. The war in Croatia led to hundreds of

 thousands of refugees and re-awakened memories of the brutality of the

 1940s. By 1992 a further conflict had broken out in Bosnia, which had also

 declared independence. The Serbs who lived there were determined to

 remain within Yugoslavia and to help build a greater Serbia. They received

 strong backing from extremist groups in Belgrade. Muslims were driven

 from their homes in carefully planned operations that become known as

 'ethnic cleansing'.

 By 1993 the Bosnian Muslim government was besieged in the capital

 Sarajevo, surrounded by Bosnian Serb forces who controlled around 70%

 of Bosnia. In Central Bosnia, the mainly Muslim army was fighting a

 separate war against Bosnian Croats who wished to be part of a greater

 Croatia. The presence of UN peacekeepers to contain the situation proved

 ineffective.