Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Sarajevo - city of contrasts
I had mixed feelings during the flight into Sarajevo. I was leaving the familiarity and relative stability of countries within the European Union, and going to a country that is still trying to heal from the deep wounds of the Balkan War. Quickly I realized that Bosnia-Herzegovina(BH) is a Nation of dramatic contrasts.

On the flight in, we saw views of beautiful mountains and rivers blanketed in fresh snow. We were greeted at the airport by our hosts Sevko Bajic and Edisa Kuljuh from the Civil Society Promotion Center, the largest NGO in BH with a mission to strengthen relationships between government and civil society. Sevko and Edisa epitomize the strength, beauty, and optimism of BH people, and we were impressed by their strong character.

Immediately after leaving the airport we began to see the physical scars of war. Many buildings remain gutted, destroyed by military action during the nearly four year Siege of Sarajevo (one of the longest sieges in modern warfare) and the resulting fires. A large percentage of inhabited structures remain riddled with bullet holes, mortar damage, and other visible destruction. I have never seen a modern city with this type of damage and obvious evidence of relatively recent death and destruction.

Scars from the war are evident everywhere. Most of the people we met lived through the siege of Sarajevo and have friends and/or family that were killed during the war.

An example of what the city looked like during the seige.

Monument to children killed during the war



The old city is surrounded by dozens of large concrete apartment buildings constructed during communist rule.


Basic services (trash removal) remain problematic in some regions. One of the rivers we saw was horribly littered with plastic. Our guides explained that much of this litter is leftover from the total collapse of services during the war.


The city's architecture reveals a past heavily influenced by foreign rule - mosques abound from Ottoman Empire rule and a majority of the city's population is actually muslim. More recent structures reflect Austrian influence from Hapsburg rule leading up to World War I. From the hotel one could simultaneously here Catholic or Orthodox church bells and calls to prayer from local mosques. This religious and ethnic diversity has led some to call Sarajevo the "Jerusalem of Europe."

Princip Bridge - named after Archduke Ferdinand's assassin, Gavril Princip

Intersection where Archduke Ferdinand and wife Sophie were assassinated in 1914, the incident that helped trigger the start of World War I.




BH remains a Nation with deep divisions. Indeed the 1995 Dayton Accords ended the military conflict, but it appears ethnically-based tensions between Bosnian Muslims, Croatians, and Serbians are alive and well, and the process of reconciliation is only just beginning.

A word about our wonderful MMF team in Sarajevo. I was fortunate to be travelling with Kristy Teskey, Amy Gardner, Blaine Griffin, and Natalie Vestin. Krisy and I were together in Rome, and Amy and Blaine were previously in Lisbon. Natalie flew into Sarajevo from Athens. We had a great and diverse group with complementary strengths and interests.

After settling into the hotel on Friday afternoon, we were treated to a welcome dinner with representatives from the Civil Society Promotion Center, including Director Aida Sljamo, the Deputy Mayor of Sarajevo, and local GMF alum. It was a great start to our visit.

Welcome dinner


Our hosts used the weekend to get us out of the city and experience some BH culture and scenery. Saturday we drove to the city of Visoko for a private tour of the recently discovered Bosnian "Pyramids." A non-profit called the Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun Foundation is currently excavating multiple sites as they attempt to piece together the story of what type of ancient activity occurred in this region.
The pyramids have alot of skeptics, but I think we all saw evidence of some ancient human activity. You can read about it here: http://www.piramidasunca.ba/en/

Hiking up the Moon Pyramid

View of the Moon Pyramid

Inside the Pyramid caves - looking at one of the large monoliths excavated by the foundation



Entrance to the caves

One of the many terraces excavated by the pyramid foundation. The rocks here are extremely large and weigh several tons each.

Beautiful scenery around the Moon Pyramid

On Saturday evening we had a wonderful dinner of traditional Bosnian foods at Avlija restaurant, and then went to a local night club to hear some live music known as "Turbo Folk," basically traditional Bosnian folk music with a modern twist - a very interesting sound.

Sunday was another day of cultural activity and exploration of the countryside. We travelled southwest by van through the mountains to the cities of Medugorje (location of several reported sightings of the Virgin Mary), Buna, and Mostar (all of these cities are in the Herzegovina region of the country). The scenery was stunning.

Beautiful scenery enroute Herzegovina:








Medugorje holy sight - thousands make the pilgrimmage up the rocky hillside to pray. Some do it barefoot, some even do it on their knees.


In Buna we visited a 15th century Muslim monastery at the base of a huge cliff and adjacent to the underground source of the River Buna.

The river Buna and our visit to the monastery:











In Mostar we saw a 15th century city still rebuilding from the devastation of the Balkan war. Mostar was on the front line between Croation (Catholic) and Bosniak (Muslim) forces, and much of the city was destroyed or heavily damaged, including the historic bridge. The bridge has since been rebuilt using the original stone retrieved from the bottom of the river.

Some photos from Mostar:





The city remains divided, with Croats generally occupying one side of the river, and Bosniaks the other. In Mostar we sat down for a working dinner with two representatives from local NGOs working to improve civil society. While tensions and mistrust remain high in Mostar, both of the NGO representatives were cautiously optimistic about the way ahead.

On Monday I met with Dubravko Lovrenovic, Chairman of the BH Commission to Preserve National Monuments, and had a great discussion about their work to build ethnic cooperation, stimulate economic growth, and preserve cultural heritage through the establishment of national monuments.

Later we toured the BH Parliament, a building that was heavily damaged during the war and rebuilt with a donation from Norway. Many in the country feel the BH government, in particular the Parliament, has failed to deliver meaningful results/legislation. The structure of the Parliament was determined by the 1995 Dayton Agreement ending the war, and is designed to give generally equal represenation/power to the three main ethnic groups in the country: Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks.

BH Parliament




This is what happened to the government/parliament complex during the war.

On Monday night Sevko surprised us by announcing we would be guests on one of the most popular TV/radio shows in Sarajevo and throughout the Balkan state on Tuesday morning. The host, Bahtko, was a really neat and funny guy, and asked us some basic questions about our impressions of the country, and American views towards BH. There are definitely some in BH that wonder whether the United States "still cares" about the situation in the Balkans. We all felt very fortunate to be part of this great regional PR opportunity for the MMF program.










Later we visited the BH national court, and had a briefing with U. S. Judge Phillip Weiner, one of the international judges serving on the court. The court is the busiest war crimes court in the world, and continues to fight to bring war criminals to justice. The court system in BH is still maturing, and Judge Weiner shared some of his very impressive insights on the current status of the country's judiciary and the way ahead.


Lunch at the source of the Bosna River




Our farewell dinner to BH was a great opportunity to reflect on what we had seen and done. We all agreed that Sarajevo was the most emotionally moving city we had seen during the Fellowship. While the physical fighting between ethnic factions is over, the wounds remain fresh and deep, and the reconciliation process is far from over.
Throughout our visit we heard citizens expressing particular frustration with the country's current political leadership, and their propensity to capitalize on fear and ethnic tensions to move forward with specific political agendas that may not be in the best interest of the country. Despite these and other challenges, the people of Sarajevo remain optimistic.

Visiting Sarajevo was an amazing and enriching experience; I feel extremely fortunate to have had this unique opportunity to expand my understanding of the region's exceptionally complex characteristics and challenges.

Next stop, Bucharest.

This tailor didn't speak any English, and I didn't speak any Bosnian. Nevertheless he did an excellent job with my new Italian suit (hotel in Rome bought it for me after they lost my clothes). He is a veteran of the former Yugoslavian Navy and showed me some pictures from his time at sea.