Early Life and Military Career
He was born in Belgrade to parents originally from the Bosanska Krajina region of Bosnia. His father was stationed in the Yugoslav army in Serbia. His family and himself currently resides in Sarajevo, where he moved in 1966.
From 1956 to 1959 he attended the Military Academy in Belgrade. In 1964 and 1965 he attended the l'Ecole d'Etat Major in Paris. From 1969 to 1971 the Cadets Academy in Belgrade and from 1979 to 1981 the War and Defense Planning School in Belgrade.
After several posts in the JNA, Divjak was made Territorial Defense Chief in command of the Mostar sector from 1984 to 1989 then the Sarajevo sector from 1989 to 1991. In 1991/2 Jovan Divjak was court-marshalled by the JNA for issuing 120 pieces of light armour and 20,000 bullets to the Kiseljak Territorial Defense, and sentenced to 9 months imprisonment. He avoided this sentence by leaving the JNA.
On April 8, 1992, Divjak became Deputy Commander of BiH's Territorial Defense forces and a month later oversaw the defence of Sarajevo from a major JNA attack. Between 1993-1997 General Divjak served as Deputy Commander of the BiH Army's Headquarters, charged with cooperating with civilian institutions and organisations (administration, economy, health, education).
Read more about this topic: Jovan Divjak
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