The Sarajevo airport was closed due to extensive damage. So Mission members in 3 bus loads had to be transported by land from Croatia. It was a very very slow long journey through very very steep and hilly terrain on slippery icy roads, and when in Bosnian territory we had to cross several temporary bridges built by the army. Sometimes we were asked to cross the bridges on foot as the bridges may break due to the weight of the bus. I was completely quiet throughout the journey, all the time praying very hard that I would see my young children again, hugging very tightly onto my winter sweater.
The pictures I had captured showed how heavily Sarajevo was damaged during those four years of atrocities by the Serbs. After the glory of the 1984 Winter Olympics (which Sarajevo hosted) the splendour of the city was entirely destroyed. It was estimated more than 12,000 were killed and 50,000 wounded, 85% were civilians.
In January 2003, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia convicted the first commander of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps and sentenced him to life imprisonment for the crimes against humanity. Another General was sentenced to 33 years in prison. But could this make up for the sufferings of the Bosnians?
This picture shows what was left of what could have been a very majestic building.
The city square in complete ruin
The inside of the mosque in the city centre which was completely destroyed. Despite this, I witnessed the Friday congregational prayers when I was there. Hundreds of Muslims performed their Friday prayer outside the mosque, with just pieces of prayer mats laid down either on the grounds of the mosque or on the roads surrounding the mosque.
Government representatives in the UN Mission walking through the city ruins. The interpreter who was attached to us, a young Bosnian mother of 2 infants, tearfully related to me how she lost 2 brothers during the war, how her infants went hungry and cried for hours and how the adults in the neighbourhood tried to save as much food as possible for the children, including the neighbours' children, and themselves going hungry for days.
A close-up view of a building totally destroyed by the Serbian fires.
A view of the Hotel where I stayed. Please note the broken window panes. It was the Hilton.
A close-up view of the broken window panes of the Hotel where I stayed.
The room I stayed in was in quite a deplorable condition, the windows were broken, the walls had holes and the winter winds that blew into the room at night was quite unbearable.
That is me second from left. To my left is Malaysia 's Ambassador -at- large who was the other member of our delegation. Note the snow-capped hills. This was taken a few kilometers outside the city where the countryside was littered with numerous and countless graves.
No comments:
Post a Comment