Disputes - international:
rebel fighting extended to neighboring states and has driven out
nationals and foreign workers to nearby countries; the Ivorian
Government accuses Burkina Faso and Liberia of supporting Ivorian
rebels
Illicit drugs:
illicit producer of cannabis, mostly for local consumption;
transshipment point for Southwest and Southeast Asian heroin to
Europe and occasionally to the US, and for Latin American cocaine
destined for Europe and South Africa; while rampant corruption and
inadequate supervision leave the banking system vulnerable to money
laundering, the lack of a developed financial system limits the
country's utility as a major money-laundering center
This page was last updated on 18 December, 2003
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@Croatia
Introduction Croatia
Background:
In 1918, the Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes formed a kingdom known
after 1929 as Yugoslavia. Following World War II, Yugoslavia became
a federal independent Communist state under the strong hand of
Marshal TITO. Although Croatia declared its independence from
Yugoslavia in 1991, it took four years of sporadic, but often
bitter, fighting before occupying Serb armies were mostly cleared
from Croatian lands. Under UN supervision, the last Serb-held
enclave in eastern Slavonia was returned to Croatia in 1998.
Geography Croatia
Location:
Southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea, between Bosnia and
Herzegovina and Slovenia
Geographic coordinates:
45 10 N, 15 30 E