18-10-2016
After World War II, the Balkan states of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia became part of the Republic of Yugoslavia. After the death of Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito in 1980, growing nationalism among the different Yugoslav republics threatened to split their union apart. The Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, instigated discontent between Serbians and Bosnia Croatian and Albanian neighbors and in 1991 Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia declared their independence. Following the disintegration of that state in 1991, the majority of the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina voted for independence in a 1992 referendum. Much of the country’s Serb population, however, opposed independence and boycotted the referendum. The Bosnian Serbs, well-armed and backed by neighboring Serbia, laid siege to the city of Sarajevo in early April 1992. They targeted mainly the Muslim population but killed many other Bosnian Serbs as well as Croats with rocket, mortar, and sniper attacks that went on for 44 months. As shells fell on the Bosnian capital, nationalist Croat and Serb forces carried out horrific “ethnic cleansing” attacks across the countryside. Finally, in 1995, UN air strikes and United Nations sanctions helped bring all parties to a peace agreement. Estimates of the war’s fatalities vary widely, ranging from 90,000 to 300,000. To date, more than 70 men involved have been convicted of war crimes by the UN.
We entered into the tunnel of Sarajevo, a 800 Meter underground track which, for the inhabitants of the Bosnian capital, meant the difference between life and death. During the 1992-95 siege, when Sarajevo was surrounded by Bosnian Serb forces, the only link to the outside world was this 1 Mtr wide, 1.6 Mtr high tunnel they dug between two houses an opposite sides of the airport runway. The secretly built tunnel was eventually equipped with rails to transport food and arms. That proved just enough to keep Sarajevo supplied during nearly four years of siege. Today it’s a tourist’s attraction.
