SAO Romanija
Serb Autonomous Oblast of Romanija Српска Аутономна Област Романија Srpska Autonomna Oblast Romanija | |||||||||
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| 1991–1992 | |||||||||
Location of SAO Romanija (in red) within Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1991–1992. | |||||||||
| Status | Self-proclaimed Serb Autonomous Oblast | ||||||||
| Capital | Pale 43°48′43″N 18°34′16″E / 43.81194°N 18.57111°E | ||||||||
| Common languages | Serbo-Croatian | ||||||||
| Government | Provisional government | ||||||||
| Historical era | Breakup of Yugoslavia | ||||||||
• Proclaimed | September 1991 1991 | ||||||||
• Merged into SAO Romanija-Birač | November 1991 | ||||||||
• Incorporated into the Serbian Republic of BiH | 9 January 1992 1992 | ||||||||
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| Today part of | Bosnia and Herzegovina | ||||||||
The SAO of Romanija (Serbian Cyrillic: САО Романија, Serbian: SAO Romanija) was a self-proclaimed ethnic Serb autonomous region within SR Bosnia and Herzegovina in the prelude to the Bosnian War. It was named after the Romanija mountain. It included parts of three municipalities with a population of 37,000. It was formed as part of a coordinated political project by the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) to create a separate Serb polity.
The entity was centered in Pale, in the Romanija mountain region east of Sarajevo. In November 1991, it was reorganized and merged with SAO Birač to form the SAO Romanija-Birač. These SAO structures were subsequently incorporated into the "Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina" (Srpska Republika Bosna i Hercegovina) when it was proclaimed on 9 January 1992. This entity was officially renamed Republika Srpska on 12 August 1992.