Serbia and Montenegro

Country Briefs: Spreading in an area of 102,350 square kilometers, located on the west-central Balkan Peninsula and in the southern Pannonian plain, bordering Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Republic of Macedonia, Albania and the Adriatic; Serbia and Montenegro is a place worth visiting. The pulls of the country apart from its surprising beauty are its rich culture and history.

Serbia and Montenegro is basically the name of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro, two of the former Yugoslav republics. Out of the total approximate population (10,829,175) of the country Belgrade, one of the oldest European cities and the capital city of Serbia and Montenegro inhabits a population of around 1.2 million people.

Serbia and Montenegro remained a part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, even after Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia broke away from it. It was on 28^th April 1992 that Serbia and Montenegro was established as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Serbia and Montenegro also acted as a successor state by occupying some assets of the previously well-established state of SFRY, though the succession was not recognized.

During 1990 Serbia and Montenegro were passively involved in the conflicts in Croatia and Bosnia by helping the Serbian states of Republika Srpska and Republica Srpska Krajina in supplies of arms and ammunition, military technology and manpower.

In 1993 Serbia and Montenegro was devastated by excess of inflation or hyperinflation. As a result the economy of the country suffered great damage as its currency lost its value. However the economy of Serbia and Montenegro recovered gradually.

In 1995 the Dayton Agreement or Dayton Accords were signed. The agreement ended the three years war in the former Yugoslavia. The FRY was one of the significant factors, which negotiated the end of war in Bosnia with Dayton Agreement.

In June 1999 after the NATO illegal air strikes, NATO and other NATO troops organized in KFOR entered the Kosvo province following the Kosvo War. The Kosvo War refers to two sequential armed conflicts in Kosvo, a southern province of Serbia and part of former Yugoslavia. The War did not obey the international rules and regulations adopted by the NATO members and it is thus called an invasion and crime against humanity by UNO laws. Moreover none of officials of responsible NATO countries ever went through the tribunal. Prior to transferring the power in other hands, around 3 million Serbs and other non-Albanians were forcefully removed or ethnically cleansed. There were more deaths in Kosvo due to the unrest in the region on 17^th march 2004 as Albanians clashed with Serbs and KFOR.

Finally in 2002 European Union aided Serbia and Montenegro to be reamed as Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and to redefine its relationships between the two republics. At present the State Union has a parliament and an army in common and till 2005 neither Serbia nor Montenegro is permitted to break this union. But this referendum to break up the union has been announced by Montenegro to be held in 2006. 

Serbia and Montenegro Republic