Bosnia Overview - written by Anne

Of all the European countries Bosnia has been the country that stirs the emotions.  There is a rawness, edginess and hipness in Sarajevo and a back to basics in the countryside. 

The main road at the border crossing once we arrived into Bosnia (from Montenegro).

 

 

 



Local trams & the Holiday Inn (start of Snipers Alley).  Journalists stayed at Holiday Inn, it was one of the few not bombed/attacked during the Sarajevo Siege.

We are based in the old town of Sarajevo, but with such an influence here of the Ottoman Empire I could be walking down an alley in the heart of Istanbul.  It has a real Turkish feel offering the same varieties of food, bazaar shops, walking lanes.

 

 

 

 

For me this country was always a top place to visit to get an insight on the 1991-1995 war in former Yugoslavia.  It is still a very raw subject with most people and as you delve into the events there is so much complexity and apparent self interest/economics by those higher up the food chain.  Most Bosnians have a fierce loyalty to President Tito who held Yugoslvia together, and believe the undercurrent for war really began when he died in 1980 and most of the different regions wanted to break apart.  As the capital was in Belgrade, and the Yugoslvia Peoples Army was based there, Serbia had a strong-hold over all the other territories especially as the new President Milosovic was Serbian and his top cabinet/military leaders were also Serbian.  We were told of personal stories where young fathers were forced into fighting (with the threat of being shot otherwise),  Pre war there were many mixed marriages which meant fighting/shooting your extended families who had a different ethnic background, families were separated, those mothers/children left behind who could afford the 10,000Euro could get papers to cross borders.  Many had no way of contact to know whether their husbands/fathers were alive during the fighting times.

The flame, a dedicated monument to President Tito.

 

The Sarajevo Rose - one of many around Sarajevo.

 

Typical house still covered in holes from the mortar attacks.

 

Pink area shows the Serb occupied area.  The tunnel went under airport and came out just before the Bosnia mountains.
 

The tunnel to freedom - how supplies got to the city

 

 

One of many graveyards from the Siege for the Bosnian Muslims 

 

 

 

Inside of a typical house during the Siege

 

 

The complexity as at first the Bosnians/Croats joined together to fight the Serbians.  Then when Bosnia was struggling to defend Sarajevo during the Siege, the Croats turned and invaded having a intense 2 year battle to take over Mostar (with the front line being a main street). 

The realness shows as artillery gunfire have left bullet holes in so many Sarajevo buildings and craters in the roads where mortar bombs have hit - those attacks that killed people have been painted in blood red as a rose (known as a Sarajevo Rose).  In Mostar the town was left as rubble - still evidence today.  Mostar & Sarajevo have been very poignant places for me.  But the worst for me was spending 4 hours listening and watching the effects of the genocide that occurred at Srebrenica, hearing facts and interviews from The Hague and watching live video of the events that unfolding in and around Srebrenica.  But what really hit home was hearing the Mothers talk about the day their sons and husbands went into the forest or got separated onto a different bus and never came home again.  One mother losing all her 5 sons and husbands (she had no daughters), and still none of their bodies have been recovered.

Mostar Bridge

Unemployment levels are extremely high (the young talk of 38 - 50%) and they don't see much hope to the future, many want to try and find the money to get a VISA so they can leave Bosnia and head to the EU, where they see the hope of money and a better life. According to locals there is no social service system here, and pressure is on the son's to look after their ageing parents.  

After all the war talk, Sarajevo is one of the most exciting, bustling places that we have visited with an awesome energy.  It is very easy to get around (trams, trolley buses, taxi) and navigate.  The architecture showing Ottoman Empire and Austro-Hungarian Empire structures takes you back in time, the churches/praying places evident with all the Mosques (apparently 133 in Sarajevo), Roman Catholic Cathedral, Roman Catholic churches, Jewish Synagogue's and Catholic Orthodox churches that line the landscape.  The people we met are strong and have a great sense of humour and realness about them with a kind smile.