16 January 1997
Bosnia and Herzegovina signs the Chemical Weapons Convention.
—Status of Multilateral Arms Regulation and Disarmament Agreements <http://disarmament2.un.org>.

25 February 1997
Bosnia and Herzegovina ratifies the Chemical Weapons Convention.
—Status of Multilateral Arms Regulation and Disarmament Agreements <http://disarmament2.un.org>.

March 1997
Human Rights Watch issues a report detailing chemical weapons production in the former Yugoslavia both before and after the breakup of the federation in 1990. The report includes a number of allegations that Serbian forces had employed riot control agents (RCA) as weapons of war over the period 1991 to 1995.
—Ernst Jan Hogendoorn, Clouds of War: Chemical Weapons in the Former Yugoslavia (London: Human Rights Watch: March 1997), <http://www.hrw.org>.

29 April 1997
The Chemical Weapons Convention enters into force for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.
—Status of Multilateral Arms Regulation and Disarmament Agreements <http://disarmament2.un.org>.

12-16 May 1997
At Krivolak in The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, nearly a thousand troops, including CBW defense troops, from four NATO countries (Greece, Italy, Turkey, and the United States) and five NATO Partnership for Peace countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania, and Slovenia) participate in Rescuer 97, an exercise simulating rescue operations following a chemical accident or environmental catastrophe. There are observers from the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland.
—The CBW Conventions Bulletin, No. 37 (September 1997), p. 17.

11 June 1997
Slovenia ratifies the Chemical Weapons Convention.
—Status of Multilateral Arms Regulation and Disarmament Agreements <http://disarmament2.un.org>.

20 June 1997
The Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia accedes to the Chemical Weapons Convention.
—Status of Multilateral Arms Regulation and Disarmament Agreements <http://disarmament2.un.org>.

11 July 1997
The Chemical Weapons Convention enters into force for Slovenia.
—Status of Multilateral Arms Regulation and Disarmament Agreements <http://disarmament2.un.org>.

20 July 1997
The Chemical Weapons Convention enters into force for The Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia.
—Status of Multilateral Arms Regulation and Disarmament Agreements <http://disarmament2.un.org>.

29 October 1997
Croatia submits its initial declaration under the terms of the Chemical Weapons Convention to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague.
—Note by the Director-General: Status of Initial Declarations and Notifications, C-3/DG-11, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 13 November 1998, p. 2, <http://www.opcw.org>.

6 November 1997
Slovenia submits its initial declaration under the terms of the Chemical Weapons Convention to the OPCW. The existence of a quantity of Old Chemical Weapons (OCW) on Slovenian territory is identified in this declaration. The weapons, predating 1925 are most likely weapons remaining from battles conducted on Slovenian territory during the first World War.
—Note by the Director-General: Status of Initial Declarations and Notifications, C-3/DG-11, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 13 November 1998, p. 5, <http://www.opcw.org>.

25-30 October 1998
Croatia hosts the fifth CBMTS (Chemical and Biological Medical Treatments Symposia) meeting in Zagreb and Dubrovnik. During the meeting entitled "CBMTS Industry I - Ecoterrorism: Chemical and Biological War without Chemical and Biological Weapons" a military exercise involving the immediate defusing of a terrorist chemical or biological incident is conducted. The focus is on the possibility of chemical or pharmaceutical factories becoming terrorist or military targets. Approximately 125 people from government, industry, and academia in 26 countries participate.
—The CBW Conventions Bulletin, No. 42 (December 1998), p. 39; CBMTS-Industry I Proceedings, <http://www.asanltr.com>; Non-Proliferation, Disarmament and Arms Control Policies in the Republic of Croatia, website of the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, <http://www.mvp.hr>.

12-13 November 1998
At the request of, and in cooperation with, the National Authority of Slovenia, the Technical Secretariat of the OPCW holds a national course in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The staff of National Authorities for the implementation of the CWC and chemical industry representatives were the target audience for this course.
—OPCW Annual Report on Activities in 1998 C-IV/5, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 2 July 1999, p. 34.

November 1998
Human Rights Watch issues a report addressing allegations that Serbian forces attacked refugees fleeing the Bosnian enclave of Srebenica with chemical weapons, specifically the incapacitant BZ. The report concludes that such an attack may have taken place but there is insufficient evidence to arrive at firm conclusions on the matter.
—Chemical Warfare in Bosnia? The Strange Experiences of the Srebenica Survivors, Human Rights Watch, November 1998, <http://www.hrw.org>.

20 November 1998
Mujo Alic, who is identified as a former CW officer in the Yugoslavian Army, appears on a Dutch television program and asserts that BZ was employed by Serbian forces in the 1995 attack on the Bosnian Muslim town of Srebenica. He further alleges that BZ was also used in a similar attack on the town of Zena (sic). This latter incident may in fact be a reference to an attack on the Bosnian Muslim enclave of Zepa in August 1995.
—The CBW Conventions Bulletin, No. 43 ( March 1999), p. 22.

1999
Up to four Serbian CBW scientists are alleged to have begun helping Iraq develop its CBW programs, which were reportedly revived following the withdrawal of UNSCOM personnel in December 1998.
[This report must be regarded as somewhat unreliable in light of the failure to discover evidence of a revived CW program in Iraq since the April 2003 invasion and conquest of Iraq.]
—Greg Seigle, "Experts Highlight CBW Stockpiles in Yugoslavia," Jane's Defence Weekly, 7 April 1999, p. 63, <http://www.janes.com>.

6 February 1999
From Sarajevo, TV Bosnia-Hercegovina {BBCSWB 7 Feb} broadcasts a report about production of chemical weapons by the former Yugoslavia. The report states that the production is still continuing in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia & Montenegro). The report refers to a letter addressed to international organizations by a former officer of the former Yugoslav army that noted “facilities and locations where research was carried out and the production developed, and ... the cooperation between the FRY and Iraq in this sphere”. Brigadier (retired) Mujo Alic [see 25 Aug 93 and 19 Nov 98] is then seen saying to camera: “The Yugoslav People’s Army had several types of poison gases. They were mostly produced at Miloje Dakic factory, in Krusevac (Serbia) [see 20 Sep 91] — mainly poisons which cause irritation, then at Milan Blagojevic factory in Lucani near Cacak (Serbia) — mainly deadly poisons. Poison gases were also produced in Potoci near Mostar [see 27 Nov 95], which was a branch of the military and technical institute from Belgrade.” Next, the reporter says to camera: “One of the institutes of the former Yugoslav army used to be in Livac near Mostar. A chemical weapons factory was also there. There are indications that the production of poison gases, even sarin and soman, had been developed at the factory.” Attributing former Yugoslav army sources, the reporter later says: “[P]roduction at the Livac institute met the needs of the centre in Krusevac and the military and technical institute in Belgrade. The institute used to produce several types of poison gases: sarin, soman, tabun, lewisite, CN and yperite, as well as psychochemical poisons, such as VX and CS [sic], in large quantities. Field experiments were carried out at the Krivolak test range [see 12–16 May 97] near Veles in Macedonia. Air bombs and artillery missiles were also filled with the poisons. On 3rd January 1991 [sic], the Livac institute and factory were occupied by a reserve formation of the then army. Two months after that, all the employees were dismissed and the equipment transferred to Krusevac and Lucani near Cacak. The barracks of the Bosnia-Hercegovina Federation Army are today where the factory used to be.” The report makes no mention of the CW-agent factory at Baric referred to in a UK documentary on the subject 3 years previously [see 27 Nov 95]
—The CBW Conventions Bulletin, No. 44 ( June 1999), p. 22.

24 March to 9 June 1999
NATO air forces mount attacks on known Yugoslavian CW facilities as part of a wider campaign of air-strikes associated with fighting in the Yugoslavian province of Kosovo.
—Benjamin S. Lambeth, NATO's Air War For Kosovo: A Strategic and Operational Assessment (Santa Monica: RAND, 2001).

April 1999
Kosovo Liberation Army sources claim that Serbian forces have employed grenades filled with BZ against them in the course of fighting.
—"Clinton: Swift response to chemical attack," USA Today, 16 April 1999, <http://www.usatoday.com>.

19 April 1999
A NATO air raid destroys the production line of the Prva Iskra chemical factory.
—"Overview of ecological consequences of NATO bombing of Yugoslavia since March 24, 1999," Green Cross International website, June 1999, <http://www.gci.ch>.

24 April 1999
The Yugoslav Army High Command issues a statement that Yugoslavia neither produces nor possesses chemical weapons. [The statement appears to have been in response to a sudden rush of articles appearing in Western newspapers throughout April discussing the question of Yugoslavian chemical weapons.]
—"Yugoslav Army denies it has chemical weapons," Belgrade Tanjug, 24 April 1999, FBIS document FTS19990424000666.

27 April 1999
Speaking to reporters the Chief of the [British] Defence Staff, General Charles Guthrie, says: “Yugoslavia did have chemical weapons. It is a possibility that Serbia has the remnants of a stock which Yugoslavia had. There have been reports of people going to doctors and being seen in casualty areas with blisters. It is far too early to say what caused those blisters, it may not be chemical weapons, it could be something like phosphorus which is in certain kinds of grenades and I would be very remiss to say it was chemical weapons yet. We will investigate and if it is, it is absolutely monstrous.”
—The CBW Conventions Bulletin, No. 44 ( June 1999), p. 40.

7 May 1999
UK Defence Secretary George Robertson addresses the House of Commons on the threat posed by suspected Yugoslavian chemical weapons. He tells MPs: "The former Yugoslavia did have an offensive chemical warfare programme, which included small stocks of chemical weapons. Serbia inherited some elements of this in 1992, but the exact status of this programme is unknown. It is assessed that the current threat to our forces from chemical warfare is low."
—Martin Hickman, "UK's Robertson: Chemical Warfare Risk in FRY 'Low'," London Press Association, 7 May 1999, FBIS document FTS19990507000934.

8 July 1999
The Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra reports that members of the World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders, which was founded by Bin Laden, had purchased three chemical and biological agent production facilities in the former Yugoslavia in early May 1998. According to the article, one such facility was erected in the Bosnian village of Zenica. The report also states that another factory was built near Kandahar, Afghanistan. Allegedly, members of the World Islamic Front for Fighting Jews and Crusaders hired Ukrainian scientists to manufacture unspecified poisons and train Bin Laden's activists in the use of these substances as weapons. The activists would be trained to insert the chemical agents and toxins into explosive devices. The Italian paper reports that one group of activists had been dispatched to carry out biological and chemical attacks. Bin Laden planned to send the chemically trained warriors back to their home countries or to cells in Europe.
—Victor Simpson, "Investigators uncover chemical weapons plot in Europe linked to bin Laden's followers," Associated Press, 30 November 2001.

	Updated December 2005