Sarajevo - my impressions of the conflict

The wailing of imams fills the air mystically. Hundreds of minarets spike above the low skyline, rising up from the mosques below. The calls make for a pleasant air and fit well with the pace of life apparent in this beautiful city called Sarajevo. Shortly after, a cathedral bell tolls, reminding me that this is indeed a secular city. Before the war, around half of Sarajevo was Bosnian muslim. There were Serbs and there were Croats. Many marriages were mixed, more or less blurring the lines immeasurably. One 'Serbian' girl I met was on vacation from Belgrade. Serbian mum, Croatian father. Grandparents from Montenegro, Bosnia and Slovenia.

Sarajevo is literally ringed by mountains sheer and high. These mountains were the site of the 1984 winter olympics, when the world turned its eyes on Bosnia; the same mountains are where Serbian tanks rolled into position in early 1992, surrounding the valley that is Sarajevo; guns pointed inward. And down.

Yugoslavia was created as an amalgamation of states following the fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire and the end of WWI. It was a forced confederation of various ethnic groups, each with their own values and histories; it was well-ruled for the first 40 years of its existence. The major groups in the context of the war are the Serbs - generally orthodox and close with the Russians; the catholic Croats who constitute the west coast of the former Yugoslavia, and the Bosnians, more or less stuck in the middle. Bosnian heritage stems from Ottoman rule in the region which began 500 years ago, and so Turkish influences are strong. That the Ottomans had taken land from the Serbs 500 years before was one of Slobadam Milosovic's justifications to take back 'what was theirs' and attempt to wipe out an entire race of people. A race of people with a heart called Sarajevo.

As fighting broke out in 1992, Milosovic's army made no distinction between men and women, adults and children, mosques and churches. Milosovic's aim was to destroy every last bit of this heart.

Note: The political heart of the former Yugoslavia was Belgrade, the current capital of Serbia and Montenegro. The army of the former Yugoslavia, dominated by Serbs and controlled by Milosovic, was the third strongest in Europe at the time, after Britain and France. Bosnia was supposed to be represented by the very army which laid siege to Sarajevo from 1992 - 1995.

As fighting commenced, 70,000 Serbs living in Sarajevo fled, perhaps one quarter of the population. Those who remained were trapped, enclosed within the mountains. A local said that in Sarajevo during the war, you could only feel safe when you couldn't see the mountains. During my stay in Sarajevo, I walked a lot, but could never escape from the site of these sheer cliffs. It is chilling to look up and imagine the snipers, tanks and rocket launchers. How could the Bosnians defend themselves without an army?

The actions of the UN are a point of strong contention within Bosnia today. Very early on, the UN mercifully gained control of the airport, but mercilessly didn't allow the Bosnians to use it. The UN placed an embargo on the import of weapons, for fear of exascerbating the fighting, the carnage. Over the next 4 years, 11,000 Sarajevo citizens were killed.

Sarajevo proved to be the heart of Bosnia indeed, in a sense that can only be described as heroic. I think you can feel that vibe in the city today. Faced with certain defeat, they staved off famine and lack of utilities (including safe drinking water and electricity) to create a volunteer army and a secret 800m tunnel, running below the airport and into Bosnian free territory. A secret lifeline.
It took 4 long years for the world to take notice and for the UN to intervene in the conflict. Inherent in the UN's indecision was an important matter of international law. This was a conflict within the borders of one country, and international law, as enforced in the Geneva Conventions, requires the respect of state sovereignty almost above all. How could they intervene? However a devasting and cynical parallel might be drawn between the genocide in Bosnia and the situation in Iraq, or even the 1960's and 70's involvement of America in Vietnam:

Where there is a sufficiently important interest, such as natural resources (Iraq, oil), or protection from the fear of an alternative idealogy (Vietnam, communism), sovereignty appears to be ignored. But when there is no interest at all (the Balkan war) the people are ignored.

After 4 long years, NATO intervened. The war was effectively over in 40 minutes. Belgrade was bombed. The Serbs withdrew and the Dayton Accord was signed. Sarajevo today remains pockmarked by bullet holes: scars of political madness and worldwide inaction.

There is something I heard over and over again which stuck with me from the first time I heard it. The locals, whether Bosnian, Serbian or Croat; mixed or otherwise, insist that there are not now, and were never religious or racial tensions between the residents of Sarajevo. It is true that in other cities such as Mostar, there remains tension between certain ethnic groups, even if only by more extreme members. But in Sarajevo, everyone was from Sarajevo, and everyone helped each other. I was told this:

"We suffered immensely from the war, but we learnt some important lessons in life. We learnt that the most powerful tool for survival - the most simple and the most effective - is that everyone helps everyone, everyone shares everything. We cannot win alone. No matter which ethnic group we come from, we are all from Sarajevo, all neighbours, and we helped each other."

Haris, who told me this, is 20 years old. Haris went on:

"We had no idea there was going to be a war. The political establishment had tried to stir up a degree of animosity towards us, but at the local level, we were all neighbours. Bosnians and Serbs lived in the same apartment buildings."

To Haris, with whom I agree, this war proved the dangers of politics and politicans above all. The lesson to be learnt, then, is this: We must ignore the rallying cries of politicians the world over, who would try to make us fear a certain race or creed. Learn from Sarajevo.