Bosnia marked the tenth anniversary of war last Saturday, April 6, a conflict that terrorized the country for four years. Considered the most devastating war since World War II, over 200,000 people lost their lives and two million people were forced to flee to neighboring countries. Although the region is now at peace, ethnic division lingers. After years of bloodshed, the war ended in late 1995 after the United States had brokered the Dayton Peace Accords, which split the former Yugoslavian republic into its current state.

According to cnn.com, the Bosnian government is not planning any major events to commemorate the occasion. However, there will be small ceremonies to commemorate the anniversary, where flowers will be placed at some of the places where war victims died. More the six years after the end of the war, the Bosnian economy is in ruins and the majority of refugees have not returned to their homes.

At the present time, CNN has reported that former Yugoslavian leader Slobodan Milosovic is facing a war crimes tribunal at the Hague, Netherlands, on several charges. If convicted on any count, he could face life imprisonment without parole.

Some of these charges include crimes against humanity, genocide, breaches of the Geneva Convention (passed in 1949), and violations of the customs of war.

Milosovic is accused of planning the systematic executions of Muslims during the Bosnian war. In addition, he is also accused of planning the slaughter of ethnic Albanians in 1998.

History and International Studies Professor Jeff Vanke feels that although things have improved in the region, there is still a long way to go. “Yugoslavia’s attack on Bosnia in 1992 came one year after an attack on Croatia and Slovenia,” he said. Although these now-independent countries signed a truce at the end of 1995, it is primarily NATO occupation in Bosnia that prevents a civil war among Bosnia Serbs, Bosnian Croats, and everyone else – historical Muslims and descendants of mixed marriages.

“Many of these people still hate each other and prevent opposing ethnic groups from returning home,” Vanke said, “and there is still no unified government of all Bosnia. Montenegro now wants to secede, and a recent treaty will change Yugoslavia to ‘Serbia and Montenegro’ if ratified. The situation in the former Yugoslavia is much improved since 1999, with democratic gains in most countries, helping to stabilize peace. But the balance of peace is still very delicate, as it will take a very long time for people to forget their suffering and animosities of the 1990s.