Sarajevo Under Siege- 9.17.06

I woke up, got dressed and went with Mieke and Nadia to the filthy hostel to find out about taking one of their tours of city. We got there around 10:50 and as luck would have it there only tour of the day was starting at 11 and they had room. We were informed that this was tour that would show us the courage, spirit and resistance of the people of sarajevo, that it was tour about living together and tolerance. We piled into a van and headed off to our first destination. Our driver was quite old but had the look of someone who had seen and experienced some serious stuff in his life. He drove like a maniac (we found out why later) and seem to have a real passion for Hip Hop, namely Cypress Hill...odd.

Our first destination was "The Tunnel". This was aways out of town near the airport. When Sarajevo was laid under Siege by serbian troops in April of 1992, the city was cut off from food, water, electricity, heat etc...so the UN negotiated a treaty with Milosevic (serbian president at the time whose nationalist party started the whole mess) to leave the airport open so that the UN troops could bring humanitarian aid. According to our well informed guide, Sonny (he was a young teenager during the near 4 year siege), the UN "protection" and giver of humanitarian aid was a joke. Some of their aid included US cookies from the Vietnam war (image how stale those were), anti malaria pills (not all that necessary here in europe) and boxes and boxes of condoms. They also couldn't bring enough food in for the people of Sarajevo as the Serbian troops often closed down the airport. The Bosnian powers of be decided that they should dig a tunnel connecting a town on one side of the airport to a town on the other side of the runway 800 meters away. The town on the other side (names escapes me) was heavily guarded by bosnian forces and because the airport was under UN control this was a gap in the siege. It took 4 months to build but once complete supplied Sarajevo with electricity (they installed a power cable), communication with the outside world and more food and supplies then the UN was providing. People would walk along the narrow and short tunnel (about 4 feet wide and 5 feet high) carrying 40 kilos (about 95lbs) bags worth of ammunition, food and anything else the city needed. Alot of the tunnel is now destroyed (they are going to rebuild it and create a war memorial) but you can walk 25 meters with it. They also have 40kg backpacks full of rocks if you want to try and walk down it with one. Off course i did and it wasn't easy (though my camera bad feels almost as heavy), especially all hunched over but as our guide said in times like those you do what you got to do.

The Sarajevo side of the tunnel began here

Our next stop was the Jewish Cemetery. This was along a hillside overlooking Sarajevo and where the Serbian snipers set up shop. From here they had a clear view of the main street running through Sarajevo and the holiday inn where all the war journalists were. This street was quickly renamed "Sniper Alley" and as you can imagine was not a place where one hung out. Unfortunately it was the main passage connecting the natural spring wells of the old town with most residential districts. The only way to traverse the deadly zone with two full containers of water was to sneak in between burning debris or drive a car 120 km an hour across the 2km stretch. This Sonny explained was why Bosnian's drove like madmen (chuckle chuckle). He also explain that this city was often called the European Jerusalem as before the siege Muslims, Jews and Christians all lived together harmoniously. His tour was filled with many interesting stories but he admitted the main reason why Sarajevo was never taken over was not because of their forces (there army was made up of police forces and volunteers and they one tank which was quickly blown up) but because of their incredible resiliency. People never stopped trying to live "normal" lives. They held battle of the band competitions, concerts, theater events and even a Miss Sarajevo pageant all during the siege. He said that troops would come off the battle lines and go straight to their university lectures at the University of Sarajevo which never cancelled classes the whole time.

Sniper Alley (Holiday inn is the yellow building) from the Jewish Cemetery ...Snipers perspective

Sniper Alley (Holiday inn is the yellow building) from the people of Sarajevo's perspective

The third and final destination according to Sonny promised spectacular views and opportunities of the city. It also turned out to be the same hill that i had climbed the previous day. Somewhat annoyed that i had shed pounds of weight walking up it i still took some pictures. The weather was exactly the same as yesterday but the view was still beautiful. Atthe end of 1995 two events brought the end of the siege. 1. Was the mass killings of 8000 men and boys in Srebrenica and 2. A bomb attack in a Sarajevo market killing 45 people. The In realised that their effort to protect was not working. This forced NATO's hand and they bombed the serbian troops. 5 days later Sarajevo was free.

Sarajevo

After the tour i ambled toward the Latin Bridge. This is where on June 28th 1914, the Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofia were assassinated, triggering WW1. After taking a couple of pictures i looked for a british pub that would be showing the Liverpool Chelsea game at Stamford Bridge. Liverpool dominated the game and had the most chances but lost 1-0 due to a a spectacular, goal of the season like strike from Didier Drogba. As much as i hate too it admit it, it really was an amazing goal but Liverpool did deserve a draw. Annoyed at the loss, i went to the train station to purchase my ticket to continue my tour of former Yugoslavia. I leave tomorrow morning on a 14 hour (UGH) train ride to Ljubljana, Slovenia where i will be until thursday, when i then a take a train to western italy where i meet up with Sexxxpensive boys for 3 days of Ultimate, partying and good times.

Latin Bridge where the assassination of Franz Ferdinand took place