Brimming with confidence from subduing the Krajina separatists, Karadžić went to Belgrade on March 1, the second of two days of voting in the referendum for Bosnia’s independence. That evening and the next day, March 2, he orchestrated from afar an SDS paramilitary campaign to erect barricades in Sarajevo. While SDS operatives in Sarajevo were carrying out his instructions, he also advanced the Bosnian Serb cause politically in the Yugoslav Expanded Presidency, a body made up of eight presidency members and specially invited guests. Even though Karadžić seemed arrogant and ineffective at that session, he walked away with assurances of Belgrade’s military and diplomatic support for the Bosnian Serb nationalist cause. Significant victories both in a Belgrade conference room and on the streets of Sarajevo reassured Karadžić that he could challenge Bosnia’s imminent independence with Serb arms and men.

Disputed Barricades

As Karadžić was berating the ARK separatists in Banja Luka throughout the day on February 29, Bosnian citizens were casting their ballots on the first day of voting in the Bosnian independence referendum. In that balloting, voters of all three nations largely complied with the instructions of their nationalist leaders. Bosniaks and Croats turned out in overwhelming numbers on February 29 and March 1 to vote “Yes” on independence, while most Serbs boycotted the vote as the SDS had requested. The balloting proceeded without organized interference from any nationalist party, and European monitors subsequently affirmed the basic fairness of the procedures and vote count. The voting returns provided further evidence that most of the Serb population was firmly under the sway of the SDS and supported Karadžić’s campaign.