1. Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal or killing of ethnic, racial and/or religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making a region ethnically homogeneous. It differs from normal warfare in that it specifically targets civilians rather than combatants.
2. After the death of Yugoslav leader Josip Tito in the 1980s and the fall of communism in the 1990s, the country faced major ethno-political problems that led Serbs and Croats to ethnically cleanse Bosnian Muslims.
3. The Dayton Accords signed in 1996 established a loose peace between rival ethnic groups in Bosnia, creating a complex system of ethnic cantons that gave Serbs, Croats