On 29 February 1996, one of the darkest pages in European history closed with the end ofsiege of Sarajevo. It occurred during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and lasted from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996. According to experts, it was the longest siege in 20th century European history.
Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and Bosnian Serb (VRS) forces attempted to take Sarajevo, opposing troops of the newly independent Bosnian government from Yugoslavia. The pro-Serb forces aimed, in fact, to destroy the newly independent Bosnia and Herzegovina and to establish the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Siege of Sarajevo: the numbers of the tragedy
The numbers of the tragedy are chilling. It is estimated that there were some during the siege of Sarajevo more than 12.000 victims and over 50.000 injured, with 85% of civilian casualties. Due to deaths and forced migration, in 1995 the population shrank at 334.664, 64% less than the pre-war population.
Official reports recorded an average of 329 explosions per day, with a peak of 3.777 on 22 July 1993. By September 1993, before the war had even ended, all of the city's buildings had already been damaged, with 35.000 completely destroyed. Among the most significant damages were those of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the National Library of Sarajevo, a place of knowledge and culture, the heritage of all humanity, which was completely destroyed together with over a million volumes, 155.000 rare or precious ones and 478 unique manuscripts. Yes he saved only the Haggadah of Sarajevo, the oldest Jewish document in Europe, brought there by the Sephardic Jews expelled from Catholic Spain to be welcomed into Muslim land.
Siege of Sarajevo: the background
After World War II, the Yugoslav government maintained strict control over nationalism, but with the death of Tito in 1980, this policy faltered. The various ones ethnic independence and the nationalistic tensions that had been quelled during his regime began to emerge, leading to the fragmentation of Yugoslavia and the wars that followed. In 1991, Slovenia and Croatia declared independence, followed by Macedonia in 1991 and Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992. Ethnic tensions thus began to grow, fueled by emerging nationalisms and mutual suspicions among ethnic communities of Bosnians (Muslims). , Serbs and Croatians.
In the run-up to the war, JNA forces deployed in the hills surrounding Sarajevo, stockpiling artillery and other equipment essential for the impending siege. In April 1992, the Bosnian government asked Yugoslavia to withdraw its troops, but Milošević only agreed to withdraw non-Bosnian soldiers, of which there were few. These Bosnian Serb troops were integrated into the VRS, which had declared independence from Bosnia shortly after the separation from Yugoslavia.
On April 5, Serbian paramilitaries attacked the Sarajevo Police Academy, a strategic command position in Vraca, in the upper part of the city.
Siege of Sarajevo: 5 April 1992, the beginning of the horror
The Siege of Sarajevo thus began on April 5, 1992, when Bosnian Serb forces surrounded the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, trapping its inhabitants in a situation of desperation and terror.
May 2, 1992, Sarajevo it was completely isolated by Bosnian Serb forces, with main access routes blocked and supplies of food and medicine interrupted. Only a few humanitarian organizations were able to provide aid. Despite being outnumbered by the Bosnian defenders, Serbian soldiers around the city were better equipped and shelled Sarajevo from bunkers in the mountains after failed JNA assaults.
In 1992 and the first half of 1993, the siege reached extreme levels of violence, with serious atrocities and continuous shelling of the defenders. The Serbs controlled many positions and prevented supplies. There city was infested with snipers and some neighborhoods fell under the control of the attackers. Sarajevo's airport was opened to the United Nations in June 1992 for supplies, becoming vital to the city's survival.
What followed were years of indiscriminate bombing, armed assaults and extreme deprivation that left the city in ruins and its population physically and psychologically devastated.
On June 1, 1993, during a football match, 15 people were killed and 80 injured. On June 12 of the same year, 12 people were killed while queuing for water. The largest of these tragedies occurred on February 5, 1994, known as the Markale massacre: an attack on the city's market that left 68 civilians dead and 200 injured.
For almost four years, Sarajevo has been a symbol of the brutality of war in the Balkans, with thousands of civilians killed or injured and inhumane living conditions that have made every day a struggle for survival. The siege also saw the systematic use of heavy weapons against civilian targets, such as schools, hospitals and markets, a clear sign of disregard for international humanitarian norms.
The Sarajevo Tunnel
During the siege of Sarajevo, he came dug a tunnel about a kilometer long (it was 1,60 meters high with an average width of about 0,80 metres) which ran from the suburbs of the city of Sarajevo to the airport, controlled by the United Nations. Known as "Sarajevo tunnel“, was used to transport weapons, food and other essential materials for months during the siege. Even the then president of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Alija Izetbegović, traveled through the tunnel in a wheelchair.
Today, the preserved 20 meters of the tunnel are part of a visitable museum.
Sarajevo: the long path to peace
During the four years of siege, there was only a brief truce, between 11 and 12 December 1992, thanks to a group of 500 pacifists led by Don Tonino Bello, coming from Italy and coordinated by the Paduan association Blessed Builders of Peace. The following year, in August, the group tried again without success. In October things went even worse, because the Italian religious and pacifist Moreno Locatelli he was hit by a sniper during the demonstration.
In 1995, after another attack on the Markale market that killed 37 people and injured 90, international forces began criticize the besiegers. In response to a Serbian raid on a UN weapons collection site, NATO attacked Serbian ammunition depots and other military targets, initiating theOperation Deliberate Force. The clashes increased, also involving Bosnian and Croatian armed forces, until the Serbs lost ground in the Sarajevo area.
The “ceasefire” came following the Dayton Accords in October 1995, under the mediation of the United States, which laid the foundations for the end of the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. After a period of stabilization, the Bosnian government officially declared the end of the siege of Sarajevo only on February 29, 1996.
Sarajevo: reconstruction and rebirth of a city
Before the siege, Sarajevo was in a period of growth and development, and had also hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics. It was a cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic city, with a history rich in cultural diversity. The city was known for its multi-ethnic integration, but during the siege this cohesion was shattered, leading to dramatic divisions. Many refugees left the city, while large numbers of Serbs from Sarajevo moved to Republika Srpska. The percentage of Serbs in Sarajevo dropped dramatically, from 30% in 1991 to 10% in 2002. The areas of Novo Sarajevo, now part of Republika Srpska, made up East Sarajevo, where much of the pre-war Serbian population resided. Some Serbs who remained in Sarajevo faced discrimination from refugees who returned to their homes.
With the end of the siege, Sarajevo undertook a arduous reconstruction process, both physical and social. Efforts to repair damaged infrastructure, provide humanitarian assistance to victims and restore a sense of normality to daily life have been enormous, requiring the support of the international community. But beyond the material reconstruction, there was a long emotional and psychological journey to overcome the traumas of the war. The city has faced immense challenges in trying to reconcile divided communities and build a shared future based on peace and tolerance.
Twenty-nine years after the end of the war, however, Bosnia and Herzegovina is still based on a precarious peace. The country is composed of two entities, the Croatian Muslim Federation and the Serbian Republic with the latter starting to establish separate institutions such as an army and a judicial system, increasing the risk of a new secession and conflict
