- Title: BOSNIA: TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF OUTBREAK OF WAR
- Date: 8th April 2002
- Summary: (U3)SARAJEVO, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (FILE MAY 2, 1992) (REUTERS) 1. TRACKING SHOT STREETS DURING FIRST MASSIVE SHELLING OF SARAJEVO; DEAD MAN LYING IN THE STREET ; SLV VEHICLES AND TRAMS SET ON FIRE IN CENTRAL SARAJEVO; TANK SHELL HITS A BUILDING IN THE MAIN STREET (4 SHOTS) 0.21 (U3)SARAJEVO, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (APRIL 4, 2002) (REUTERS) 2. SG SARAJEVO SEEN FROM FORMER FRONTLINE ON MOUNT TREBEVIC 0.26 3. LV SHELL HOLES ON FORMER BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT'S BUILDING 0.31 4. SLV DAMAGED HOUSE WITHOUT ROOF AND REPAIRED HOTEL HOLIDAY INN; MV SNAPPED YELLOW STRIPS WARNING ABOUT MINES AT THE FORMER FRONTLINE; SLV MILITARY ORDNANCE LEFT AT THE FORMER FRONTLINE WITH A YELLOW STRIP THAT READS "HELP" (3 SHOTS) 0.51 (U3) NATPOLJE, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (RECENT MARCH 30, 2002) (REUTERS) 5. SLV PEOPLE WATCHING EXHUMATION OF MASS GRAVE IN NATPOLJE, WAITING TO IDENTIFY UNEARTHED BODIES; SCU PARTIALLY UNEARTHED BODY OF VICTIM; SCU HUMAN SCULL IN THE MASS GRAVE (3 SHOTS) 1.09 6. MV FORENSIC EXPERTS EXAMINE HUMAN SKELETONS UNEARTHED IN MASS GRAVE 1.14 7. (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) SAKIB AHMECKOVIC, WHO CAME TO SEE IF HIS MISSING FATHER WAS IN THE GRAVE, STANDS BY THE MASS GRAVE SAYING: "There are five survivors that gave information about those who were directly, or indirectly, involved in this. Today, those people are still walking free, and even making jokes about what they have done." 1.28 (U3)PALE, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (APRIL 4, 2002) (REUTERS) 8. SLV NEW SETTLEMENT FOR SERB REFUGES NEAR BOSNIAN TOWN OF PALE; SLV WORKERS BUILDING HOUSE; MV WORKER WORKING WITH METAL IN FRONT OF HOUSE (3 SHOTS) 1.46 9. MV/SCU ZELJKO ILIC ON THE DOORSTEP OF HIS NEW HOUSE 1.55 10. (SOUNDBITE) (Serbian) ZELJKO ILIC, BOSNIAN SERB REFUGEE (WHO LEFT SARAJEVO DURING THE SIEGE WHO DECIDED NOT TO RETURN AND TO STAY IN PALE INSTEAD), SAYING "Most of these people here used to live in Sarajevo. For various reasons they couldn't go back to their homes. Their property has been destroyed, or they can't find a job, so they decided to stay here and to build the new homes for themselves." 2.14 11. SLV FAMILY WORKING ON THEIR NEW HOUSE 2.21 (U3)SARAJEVO, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (APRIL 4, 2002) (REUTERS) 12. SLV PLANE TAXIING AT SARAJEVO AIRPORT 2.27 13. MV THREE WOMEN WITH A GIRL ENTER INTO THE TUNNEL WHICH WAS BUILT DURING THE SIEGE OF SARAJEVO; SLV INTERIOR OF TUNNEL THAT WAS BUILT UNDER THE SARAJEVO AIRPORTD; MV WHEEL CHAIR ON A NARROW-GAUGE TRACK, WHICH WAS USED TO CARRY OFFICIALS THROUGH TUNNEL; MV WOMAN WITH GIRL GOING THROUGH TUNNEL (4 SHOTS) 2.56 14. SLV HOUSE THAT WAS USED AS THE EXIT FOR TUNNEL 3.01 15. SLV SFOR SOLDIERS WHO CAME TO VISIT TUNNEL STAND IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE; MV GERMAN SOLDIERS ENTER TUNNEL; MV GERMAN SOLDIER IN IMPROVISED MUSEUM IN HOUSE; MV SOLDIERS WATCHING MOVIE ABOUT TUNNEL (4 SHOTS) 3.26 16. SLV EMIR CERKEZ WITH HIS WIFE CATHERINE CERKEZ AND SON STANDING NEAR TUNNEL EXIT 3.31 17. (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) EMIR CERKEZ, FORMER BOSNIAN ARMY SOLDIER WHO LEFT SARAJEVO BY GOING THROUGH THE TUNNEL IN 1995, SAYING: "It's almost eight years since I left Bosnia. Being here now, I have a strange feeling. I could easily start crying." 3.46 18. (SOUNDBITE) (German) CATHERINE CERKEZ, WHO HEARD A LOT ABOUT WAR IN BOSNIA FROM HER HUSBAND, SAYING "One has to experience it to be able to understand it." 3.56 19. GV SARAJEVO SKYLINE 4.02 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 23rd April 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SARAJEVO, NATPOLJE AND PALE, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
- Country: Bosnia
- Reuters ID: LVADBV04J237OJWIVKGLMOYYPT1P
- Story Text: When 10 years ago this weekend a bloody war erupted in
Bosnia, it was impossible to foresee the scale of destruction
and atrocities that would dramatically change the lives of its
inhabitants, once proud of the multi-ethnicity and religious
tolerance they cherished for centuries.
There are no more heavy weapons on the hills around
Sarajevo, which kept the Bosnian Capital city under the siege
for 44 months. But in a cold silence around the former
frontlines, about one million mines and other unexploded
devices still remain invisible, posing a great danger to
anyone who pays them ignorance.
But it is not the only secret that fertile Bosnian soil keeps.
Numerous forensic experts accompanied by the investigators
from the Hague's War Crime Tribunal and the desperate Bosnians
are still looking for almost 20,000 people who lost their
lives during the war. Most of them were killed in a brutal way
and buried in the mass graves scattered all over the country.
Sakib Ahmeckovic came to the exhumation site of the mass
grave in Natpolje, near central Bosnian town of Sipovo. He is
hopping to find the body of his father who was killed in June
1992.In many years that have passed since then, Sakib is
resigned to his tragedy.
But he cannot suppress his bitterness that those who
committed this crime are still at large:
"There are five survivors that gave information about
those who were directly or indirectly involved in this. Today,
those people are still walking free, and even making jokes
about what they have done." Ahmeckovic said.
Six years after the end of the war that created more than
two million refugees and displaced persons, the result of
ethnic purges has been partially reversed. Bosnian Muslims,
Serbs and Croats are now getting their property returned
easier. But most of them do not plan to stay where they used
to live before the war, changing irreversibly the demographic
picture of the country.
Zeljko Ilic, who used to live in Sarajevo before the war,
is one of 300 refugees who are building their new houses in
Luke, 2 km North East of Pale.
"Most of these people here used to live in Sarajevo. For
various reasons, they couldn't go back to their homes. Their
property has been destroyed, or they can't find a job, so they
decided to stay here and to build the new homes for
themselves." Ilic said.
More than a million Bosnians left the country during and
immediately after the war in Bosnia. Almost half of them
decided not to come back.
Former Bosnian soldier Emir Cerkez left the country in
1995, passing through the tunnel that was secretly built under
the Sarajevo airport's runway in 1993. For the first time
since then, he has come to the tunnel to show it to his German
wife and eight-year-old son.
A semi-secret structure that was once a precious
lifeline for almost 400,000 people encircled in Sarajevo is
now a tourist attraction, mostly visited by foreigners.
Bosnians still find it difficult to cope with the past and
rarely come to visit it.
"It's almost eight years since I left. Being here now, I
have a strange feeling. I could easily start crying." says
Emir Cerkez standing with his family at the site. His wife
Catherine, who learned a lot about the war from her husband,
admits: "One has to experience it to be able to understand it."
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