POLITICS-BOSNIA: Bridge Reconnects But Does Not Reconcile

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic Reprint | | Print |

Vesna Peric Zimonjic

MOSTAR, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Jul 24 2004 (IPS) - The Old Bridge of Mostar began a new life Friday night at a spectacular opening ceremony intended as the symbolic start of a process of reconciliation in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

“This is a victory for the multi-ethnic and multicultural concept of our country,” said Bosnian President Sulejman Tihic at the ceremony.

Dozens of national and visiting leaders have said similar things over the past few days. They all believe the reconstructed Old Bridge can bring the bitterly divided Bosnian Croats and Muslims together again.

In the town many think differently. “Although the new Old Bridge marks the conclusion of an important phase of reconstruction that restored key symbols of the town, progress in Mostar towards normal social conditions has been uneven and partial,” says Niamh Gibbons from Minerva Partners, a leading international non-governmental organisation based in Mostar.

Minerva has been active here for a decade now and held a seminar on ‘lessons learned in Mostar’ ahead of the re-opening of the bridge.

“Mostar remains a severely segregated city and a social barometer for the country as a whole, and like Bosnia Mostar still faces significant challenges before it can achieve full recovery,” Gibbons told IPS.

The original 29-metre bridge was built over the Neretva river in 1566 by the Turkish architect Mimar Hajrudin.

In November 1993 Bosnian Croat artillery shells destroyed the bridge during a war that continued until 1995.

Once it went down, Croatian warlords declared that the division between the two nations in this previously mixed city had become final. Pre-war Mostar was roughly 35 percent Croat and 33 percent Muslim. The rest were Serbs and people from mixed marriages who only called themselves “Yugoslavs.” Serbs left at the outbreak of war and did not return.

Muslims lived mostly on the eastern bank. To cement the division, Croats expelled them from the western part, which they regarded as solely theirs.

The internationally sponsored Dayton Peace accords that ended the Bosnian war brought little change, and the situation remains almost the same nine years later.

Thousands from eastern Mostar gathered on the steep banks of the Neretva to cheer the fireworks at the opening ceremony. Western Mostar was quiet.

“We hardly cross into the Muslim part,” 29-year-old Croat Ivana Miric told IPS. “I doubt that rebuilding the Old Bridge will change anything. There were many atrocities, and scars are still deep.”

It was the Muslims who suffered most. Some 2,000 Muslims died in this town from a pre- war population of 120,000. More than 26,000 were evicted, while 5,000 buildings were destroyed by Bosnian Croat artillery. The population has shrunk to some 100,000 now.

To mark their wartime achievement, Croats put up a giant cross on the Hum hill overlooking the town. At the bottom of the hill there is now a big new Catholic church with an unusually tall tower built to stand higher than the tallest minaret in the town.

“They both mark the wall of Christianity against Islam,” said Danko Matanovic, a Croat teacher.

The town still has separate police, ambulance and other community services. Children go to separate schools.

“In my opinion we should start with the revision of textbooks,” long time mayor of Mostar Safet Orucevic told IPS. “The minds of youngsters have to be decontaminated, ethnic hatred erased. It will be a long process, but I am optimistic.”

Despite the ceremonies and the 20 million dollars invested by UNESCO, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and Western governments in reconstruction of the Old Bridge and also the Turkish-era town on the eastern side, many people say things cannot simply unwind.

“The noble aim to re-connect the two banks does not necessarily bring reconciliation,” Zaim Nuric (44), owner of a souvenirs shop told IPS. “Each Muslim family here lost at least one member…it was unbearable to be pushed into this ghetto, so bitter memories remain. Still, it’s nice to look at the bridge and see it alive once again. I’ll cross it after thinking a few days more.”