Republika Srpska

   When Bosnia was partitioned, the political entity known as Republika Srpska was set up which is de facto under Serb rule. The current total Romany population figure is unknown but there are around 200 living in the area of Banja Luka and a similar number in Bijeljina. The Romany population is small because during the three years of fighting those Roma who were Muslims - the majority - were expelled from this area. Roma expelled from Bratunac, for example, now live in Virovitica in Croatia. Almost the entire prewar populations of Banja Luka and Bi-jeljina, both numbered in thousands, have left. The Roma in Bijeljina were told to "leave or be killed," and the majority fled. The Romany settlements of Jasenje and Staro Selo have been destroyed. In 1994 the 200 Roma in the village of Klasnice in northern Bosnia, in Republika Srpska, asked the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to arrange their evacuation. Reports say that Roma continue to be harassed and persuaded to leave the country. Several thousand Roma who formerly lived in the area now under Serb control are living as refugees in western Europe, in particular Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom, and they, too, like those from Bosnia proper, are unlikely to be accepted as citizens if they return.