Bosnia and Herzegovina–Serbia border

The Drina

The Drina rises where the Tara and Piva meet and flows north for 346 km to the Sava, through canyons in its upper course and a wider valley lower down. It forms a large part of the border, with Bosnia and Herzegovina to the west and Serbia to the east. Its towns include Višegrad, setting of Ivo Andrić’s novel The Bridge on the Drina, and Zvornik.^[1]

Two large reservoirs on the river, at Bajina Bašta and Zvornik, feed hydroelectric stations.^[1]

Four disputed areas

In 2017 the leaders of both countries said they expected to finish demarcating the border by the end of the year. Their commissions had identified about 40 square kilometres in dispute, in four areas: around the Zvornik and Bajina Bašta power stations, along the Belgrade–Bar railway, and near Priboj, a Serbian municipality divided by Bosnia’s Rudo municipality.^[2]

The dams belong to Serbia, but the border down the middle of the river crosses them and their reservoirs. Serbia proposed moving the line to the river’s left bank there, and asked for the land along the railway, about 12 km of which runs through Bosnia, and for the line near Rudo to move to the Lim river, which would put four inhabited places with about 1,600 people in Serbia. Bosnia’s border commission said the dams used the land and water of both countries but only Serbia benefited.^[2]

No deal followed that year. In May 2019, when Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia signed a protocol on their shared tripoint, Bosnia’s civil affairs minister said the same four areas were still unsettled, and that Bosnia wanted a border agreement signed first and the disputes resolved afterwards.^[3]