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Variant A/B Instructions
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The Variant A/B Instructions (officially titled the Instructions for the Organization and Activity of Organs of the Serbian People in Bosnia and Herzegovina in Extraordinary Circumstances) is a confidential document issued by the Main Board of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) on December 19, 1991.
The document outlines a strategic plan for the takeover of power in municipalities across the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SRBiH) in preparation for the Bosnian War. It established a binary operational framework—"Variant A" for municipalities with a Serb majority and "Variant B" for municipalities where Serbs were a minority—designed to dismantle the constitutional order and create a separate Serb state entity (later Republika Srpska).[1]
In trials before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the Instructions were characterized as the "blueprint" for ethnic cleansing and a key piece of evidence proving the existence of a Joint Criminal Enterprise (JCE) led by Radovan Karadžić and Momčilo Krajišnik.[2]
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Historical Context
By late 1991, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was dissolving following the independence declarations of Slovenia and Croatia. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the coalition government formed after the 1990 Bosnian general election—comprising the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), SDS, and HDZ BiH—had collapsed into paralysis.
Following the passage of the "Memorandum on Sovereignty" by SDA and HDZ deputies in October 1991, the SDS leadership, committed to keeping Bosnia within a Belgrade-dominated Yugoslavia, began establishing parallel institutions. On October 24, 1991, the SDS formed the "Assembly of the Serbian People in Bosnia and Herzegovina." However, the party lacked direct control over municipal security forces and logistics.
On December 19, 1991—St. Nicholas Day (Nikoljdan)—the SDS leadership convened a meeting of municipal board presidents at the Holiday Inn in Sarajevo. There, strict copies of the Instructions were distributed to local leaders. The document was classified as "Strictly Confidential."[3][page needed]
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Content and Structure
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The Instructions presupposed "well-founded suspicions" of a forced separation of Bosnia from Yugoslavia, framing the actions as defensive. The core innovation of the document was its recognition of Bosnia's complex demographics, prescribing two distinct methods for seizing power based on the population structure of each municipality.[citation needed]
Variant A (Majority Municipalities)
"Variant A" applied to municipalities where Serbs constituted a demographic majority (e.g., Ilidža, Prijedor, Banja Luka). The objective was the total usurpation of existing state structures. Key directives included:[citation needed]
- Crisis Staffs: The immediate formation of a "Crisis Staff" (Krizni Štab) composed of SDS officials, police chiefs, and TO commanders. This body was to replace the legitimate executive authorities.
- Security Forces: Mobilization of police reserves drawn from SDS-vetted lists and placing the Territorial Defense (TO) under direct party command.
- Economic Control: Seizure of the Social Accounting Service (SDK) branches to control cash flows and the securing of food reserves.[4]
Variant B (Minority Municipalities)
"Variant B" applied to municipalities where Serbs were a minority (e.g., Sarajevo center, Zenica, Tuzla). The strategy focused on institutional secession and partition. Directives included:[citation needed]
- Institutional Withdrawal: Serb officials were to withdraw from the municipal assembly and form a separate "Assembly of the Serbian People."
- Parallel Security: Creation of secret police stations. Serb officers were instructed to seize equipment, vehicles, and weapons from the central stations and relocate to Serb-inhabited areas.
- Clandestine Logistics: Establishment of secret depots for food and fuel, distributed through covert channels.
- Physical Separation: Planning for the "transfer of people and material goods" to safer regions, foreshadowing later ethnic cleansing operations.[5][failed verification]
Comparison of Variants
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Implementation
The practical application of the Instructions was first visibly observed during the Sarajevo barricades incident in March 1992, often referred to as the "General Rehearsal" for the war.[citation needed]
Variant A: In suburban municipalities like Vogošća and Ilidža, SDS forces took full control of police stations and blocked access roads.
Variant B: In the city center, paramilitary forces erected barricades at strategic choke points (e.g., Marijin Dvor) to physically partition Serb-majority neighborhoods (like Grbavica) from the rest of the city.
The synchronization of these actions across different municipalities was cited by the ICTY as proof of a centralized command structure originating from the December 19 Instructions.[2]
Legal significance
The Variant A/B Instructions played a central role in the prosecution of war crimes at the ICTY. The Office of the Prosecutor used the document to prove that the takeover of municipalities was not a spontaneous reaction to chaos, but a premeditated criminal plan. In Prosecutor v. Krajišnik, the Trial Chamber found that "Bosnian Serb armed forces, acting in cooperation with the Serb crisis staffs established in accordance with the so-called 19 December instructions, took control of the indictment municipalities."[6] This established the link between the political leadership in Pale and the crimes committed on the ground.[citation needed]
Article III/3 of the Instructions, which stated that measures could only be implemented "by order of the president of the SDS," was used to establish the individual criminal responsibility of Radovan Karadžić.[4]
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References
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