The Inter-Entity Boundary Line (IEBL; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Međuentitetska linija razgraničenja, Међуентитетска линија разграничења) is the administrative line that subdivides

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

into two entities,

Republika Srpska Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, ; also referred to as the Republic of Srpska or Serb Republic) is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities within Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other bein ...

and the

Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Serbo-Croatian: ''Federacija Bosne i Hercegovine'' / ''Федерација Босне и Херцеговине'') is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities composing Bo ...

. The total length of the Inter-Entity Boundary Line is .

History

The present

political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina The political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina were created by the Dayton Agreement. The agreement divides the country into two federal entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and the Republika Srpska (RS) and one ''Condo ...

are based on ''Annex 4'' of the ''General Framework Agreement for Peace'', also known as Dayton Agreement, concluded at the Dayton Peace Conference in November 1995, and subsequently signed in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on December 14, 1995. A key component of this was the delineation of the Inter-Entity Boundary Line (IEBL), to which many of the tasks listed in the other Annexes referred. In particular the IEBL affected the tasks of the ''Military Annexes'', such as the initial and immediate ''"Separation of Forces"'', the creation of an initial ''"Zone of Separation"'', the ''"Transfer of Areas"'' between the entities and the district, and the ''"Removal of Forces"'' to ''"Containment Areas"''. During this initial ''"Implementation Period"'', enforced by

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

-led ''Implementation Force'' or IFOR, it was required that along the IEBL a so-called 2 km ''"Zone of Separation"'' be established, which stretched toward both entities, making a zone 4 km wide in total. The IEBL mostly follows along the military front-lines as they were at the end of the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...

(with some major adjustments, most notably in the western part of the country, and in-and-around

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

). The IEBL between

, the

and the Brčko District is no longer controlled by the military and is not policed. ''"Zone of Separation"'' is no longer in effect. There are no border controls and crossings of any kind.

Mapping technology

Dayton marked the first occasion when three-dimensional

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

image technology and digital

cartography Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

was used to determine and delineate boundaries in an official

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention ...

. Due to the speed and intensity of the negotiations (especially towards the end), a series of Inter-Entity Boundary Line commissions still needed to be held over the first 6 months of the NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR) operation to iron out the remaining details of some of the boundaries (especially within

). Over 40 changes to the IEBL were negotiated by the parties in meetings facilitated by the Chief of Staff HQ ARRC, Major General Michael Willcocks. These were signed off by IFOR Commander Admiral Leighton W. Smith, Jr. in July 1996.

Ruling of the Constitutional Court

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has, in its first partial decision number U 5/98, ruled on the issue whether the Constitution of the

can use the word "border" instead of the "boundary" in its text. The Court declared: Thus, the Constitution of the RS had to be amended, which was done with the Amendment number LXVIII, which changed the word "border" to "inter-entity line of demarcation" in the Amendment number LV on the Article 2 paragraph 2 of the Constitution of RS.

Municipalities divided by the line

48 out of 109 municipalities were divided into two or more segments.
At the time of the creation of the Dayton Accord,

Brčko Brčko ) is a city and the administrative seat of Brčko District, in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies on the banks of Sava river across from Croatia. As of 2013, it has a population of 39,893 inhabitants. De jure, the Brčko District b ...

was also divided between FBiH and RS. Lately, however, the city was re-consolidated as the

entity An entity is something that Existence, exists as itself. It does not need to be of material existence. In particular, abstractions and legal fictions are usually regarded as entities. In general, there is also no presumption that an entity is Lif ...

-neutral Brčko District, in such a way as to connect cantons

Tuzla Tuzla (, , ) is the List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, third-largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the administrative center of Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population of 110,979 inha ...

and Posavina in FBiH and municipalities Pelagićevo, Donji Žabar, Lopare, and Bijeljina in Republika Srpska. The IEBL boundary around Sarajevo's Dobrinja was also adjusted by an international independent arbitrator, appointed by High Representative, to solve confusion around the initial boundary that passed through buildings in that neighborhood.Arbitration Award for Dobrinja I and IV Executive Summary http://www.ohr.int/ohr_archive/arbitration-award-for-dobrinja-i-and-iv-executive-summary/

References

External links

Excerpts from Remarks by Admiral Leighton W. Smith to the North Atlantic Council

transcript, 17 July 1996
A precarious peace

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

, 22 January 1998
Bosnia: a single country or an apple of discord?
Bosnian Institute, 12 May 2006 {{Borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina * Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Republika Srpska