SARAJEVO, MARCH 1 (ONASA) – On February 29 and March 1, 1992, the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina rounded off the peak of the socio-political development of their homeland by voting for the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
2,073,568 voters took part in the referendum, and 99.7 percent answered that they were in favor of “sovereign and independent Bosnia and Herzegovina, a state of equal citizens of the people of BiH – Muslims, Serbs, Croats and members of other nations who live in it.” About 64.31 percent of citizens with the right to vote took part in the referendum.
The choice, which was in fact the only choice after Sloban Milošević and his retinue destroyed the foundations of Yugoslavia for years and after Slovenia and Croatia declared independence, soon had to be defended with the lives of the best sons and daughters of the homeland.
Soon after the declaration of independence, international recognition of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina followed, and on May 22, a flag with six golden lilies on a blue cloth was raised in front of the United Nations building.
International recognition did not mean international support, an embargo was imposed on the state, and in the fight now not only for independence but also for the biological survival of its people, the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was created, an expression of defiance and the only guarantor that prevented independence from remaining just an unfulfilled dream .
In the story of the defense of independence, it would be unfair not to mention all the women who miraculously managed to prepare food and clothes for all those fighters who returned tired from the war positions.
For thirty-two years, Bosnia and Herzegovina has existed as an independent and internationally recognized state, the generation of ZAVNOBiH restored its statehood, the generation of the nineties won and defended independence, and now the time has come for the generations born after independence from Bosnia and Herzegovina to make a country that will allow all her daughters and sons to be proud of and who will realize all their unlimited capacities.
Reasons for pessimism and dissatisfaction can always be found, but hundreds of countries have disappeared throughout history, hundreds of nations dream of having an internationally recognized state. We have that in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the rest is up to us.