Siege of Sarajevo | |||||||
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Part of the Bosnian War | |||||||
![]() Bosnian parliament building after being hit by tank fire |
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Belligerents | |||||||
![]() 22x20px NATO (1995) |
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Strength | |||||||
40,000 (1992) | 30,000 (1992) | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
6,110 soldiers killed or missing[3] | 2,229 soldiers killed or missing[3] | ||||||
Civilians: 10,000 killed/missing, 56,000 wounded |
The Siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare.[4] Serb forces of the Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army besieged Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 during the Bosnian War. The siege lasted three times longer than the Siege of Stalingrad and a year longer than the Siege of Leningrad.[5]
After Bosnia and Herzegovina had declared independence from Yugoslavia, the Serbs—whose strategic goal was to create a new Serbian State of Republika Srpska (RS) that would include part of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina,[6]--encircled Sarajevo with a siege force of 18,000[7] stationed in the surrounding hills. From there they assaulted the city with weapons that included artillery, mortars, tanks, anti-aircraft guns, heavy machine-guns, multiple rocket launchers, rocket-launched aircraft bombs and sniper rifles.[7] From 2 May 1992, the Serbs blockaded the city. The Bosnian government defence forces inside the besieged city were poorly equipped and unable to break the siege.
It is estimated that nearly 12,000 people were killed or went missing in the city, including over 1,500 children. An additional 56,000 people were wounded, including nearly 15,000 children.[8] The 1991 census indicates that before the siege the city and its surrounding areas had a population of 525,980. There are estimates that prior to the siege the population in the city proper was 435,000. The current estimates of the number of persons living in Sarajevo range between 300,000 and 380,000.[8]
After the war, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted three Serb officials for numerous crimes against humanity for the siege. Stanislav Galić[9] and Dragomir Milošević[10] were sentenced to life imprisonment and 29 years imprisonment respectively, while Momčilo Perišić was sentenced to 27 years.[11] One of the 11 indictments against Radovan Karadžić, former president of Republika Srpska, is for the siege.[12] In the case against Stanislav Galić, the prosecution alleged in an opening statement that:
The siege of Sarajevo, as it came to be popularly known, was an episode of such notoriety in the conflict in the former Yugoslavia that one must go back to World War II to find a parallel in European history. Not since then had a professional army conducted a campaign of unrelenting violence against the inhabitants of a European city so as to reduce them to a state of medieval deprivation in which they were in constant fear of death. In the period covered in this Indictment, there was nowhere safe for a Sarajevan, not at home, at school, in a hospital, from deliberate attack.
— Prosecution Opening Statement, ICTY vs Stanislav Galić, 2003[13]
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From its creation following World War II, the government of Yugoslavia kept a close watch on nationalist sentiment among the many ethnic and religious groups that comprise the country, as it could have led to chaos and the breakup of the state. When Yugoslavia's longtime leader Marshal Tito died in 1980 this policy of containment underwent a dramatic reversal.
A substantial contributory factor in Yugoslavia's breakup was the legislation for, and formation of, the multi-party democracy required of the Milošević FRY government in 1988 by the UN Convention on Human Rights.[citation needed]
On 2 March 1992, Serb paramilitaries set up barricades and sniper positions near Sarajevo's parliament building, but the threatened military coup was thwarted by thousands of Sarajevo citizens who took to the streets in front of the snipers.[14]
Following the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina's declaration of independence from Yugoslavia on 3 March 1992, sporadic fighting broke out between Serbs and government forces all across the territory. It continued through the run-up to Bosnia and Herzegovina's recognition as an independent state.[15]
On 5 April, ethnic Serb policemen attacked police stations and then an Interior Ministry training school. The attack killed two officers and one civilian. The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared a state of emergency the following day.[15] Later that day Serb paramilitaries in Sarajevo repeated their action of the previous month. A crowd of peace marchers, between 50,000 and 100,000 comprising all ethnic groups, rallied in protest.[14] As the largest section moved towards the parliament building, gunmen shot and killed two young women in the crowd, Suada Dilberović and Olga Sučić. They are regarded as the first casualties of the siege.[16] Vrbanja Bridge, where they were killed, has since been renamed in their honor.
On 6 April, 12 European Community foreign ministers announced that their countries recognized the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[17] Recognition by the United States followed the next day.[15]
Shortly after the European Community recognized Bosnia and Herzegovina as a sovereign state, armed conflict broke out. The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) attacked the Ministry of Training Academy in Vrace, the central tramway depot and the Old Town district with mortars, artillery and tank fire, and also seized control of Sarajevo's airport.[9] The Bosnian government had expected the international community to deploy a peacekeeping force following recognition, but it did not materialize in time to prevent war breaking out across the country.
Serb and JNA troops overwhelmed the poorly equipped government security forces to take control of large areas of Bosnian territory, beginning with attacks on Bosniak civilians in Eastern Bosnia. Serb military, police and paramilitary forces attacked towns and villages and then, sometimes assisted by local Serb residents, applied what soon became their standard operating procedure: Bosniak houses and apartments were systematically ransacked or burned; civilians rounded up, some beaten or killed; and men separated from the women. Many of the men were forcibly removed to prison camps. The women were incarcerated in detention centres in extremely unhygienic conditions and suffered numerous atrocious abuses. Many were repeatedly raped. Survivors testified that Serb soldiers and police would visit the detention centres, select one or more women, take them out and rape them.[18]
On 22 April, a peace rally in front of the Republic Assembly building was broken up by shots that came from the Holiday Inn.[9] By the end of April, the form of the siege was largely established.
In the months leading up to the war, JNA forces in the region began to mobilize in the hills surrounding Sarajevo. Artillery, together with other ordnance and equipment that would prove key in the coming siege of the city, was deployed at this time. In April 1992, the Bosnian government under President Alija Izetbegović demanded that the government of Yugoslavia remove these forces. Slobodan Milošević, the president of Serbia, agreed only to withdraw individuals who originated from outside Bosnia's borders, an insignificant number.[8] Bosnian Serb forces in the JNA were transferred to the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) under General Ratko Mladić, the VRS having rescinded its allegiance to Bosnia a few days after Bosnia seceded from Yugoslavia.[citation needed]
On 2 May 1992, Bosnian Serb forces established a total blockade of the city. They blocked the major access roads, cutting supplies of food and medicine, and also cut off the city's utilities (e.g., water, electricity and heating). Although they possessed superior weaponry they were outnumbered by Sarajevo's defenders, and attacks by JNA armored columns failed to take the city. Therefore the Serbs concentrated their efforts on weakening it by continual bombardment from at least 200 reinforced positions and bunkers in the surrounding hills.[citation needed]
The second half of 1992 and the first half of 1993 were the height of the siege of Sarajevo, and atrocities were committed during heavy fighting. Serb forces outside the city continuously shelled the government defenders. Inside the city, the Serbs controlled most of the major military positions and the supply of arms. With snipers taking up positions in the city, signs reading Pazite, Snajper! ("Beware, Sniper!") became commonplace and certain particularly dangerous streets, most notably Ulica Zmaja od Bosne, the main street which eventually leads to the airport, were known as "sniper alleys". The sniper killings of Admira Ismić and Boško Brkić, a couple who tried to cross the lines, became a symbol of the suffering in the city.[19]
Serbian offensives were mounted to take over some neighborhoods, especially in Novo Sarajevo. To counterbalance the siege, on 30 May 1992 the Security Council demanded Sarajevo Airport be included in a Sarajevo security zone,[20] which was opened to UN airlifts in late June; Sarajevo's survival became strongly dependent on them.
Compared with the siege force, the Bosnian government forces were very poorly armed. Bosnian black market criminals who joined the army at the outset of the war illegally smuggled arms into the city through Serb lines, and raids on Serb-held positions within the city yielded more. The Sarajevo Tunnel, completed in mid-1993, was a major asset in bypassing the international arms embargo (applied to all parties to the Bosnian conflict, including the defenders of Sarajevo). It helped supplies and weaponry reach the city's defenders, and enabled some inhabitants to leave. The tunnel was said to have saved Sarajevo. However, by April 1995 there were only 20 artillery pieces and five tanks left to defend the city. The strength of the First Corps lay in its considerable supplies of rocket-propelled grenades, anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tank missiles, but they could not really be used in the types of offensive actions needed to break out of Sarajevo.[citation needed]
Reports indicated an average of approximately 329 shell impacts per day during the course of the siege, with a maximum of 3,777 on 22 July 1993. This urbicide by shellfire extensively damaged the city's structures, both residential and cultural. By September 1993 it was estimated that virtually all the buildings in Sarajevo had suffered some degree of damage, and 35,000 were completely destroyed. Among buildings targeted and destroyed were hospitals and medical complexes, media and communication centers, industrial complexes, government buildings and military and UN facilities. Other significant buildings damaged or destroyed included the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the National Library, which was set on fire and burned to the ground, destroying thousands of irreplaceable texts.
The shelling took a heavy toll on residents. Mass killings of civilians, primarily by mortar attacks, made headline news in the West. On 1 June 1993, 15 people died and 80 were injured in an attack on a football game. On 12 July, 12 people were killed while waiting in line for water.
The biggest single loss of life was the first Markale marketplace massacre on 5 February 1994, with 68 civilians killed and 200 wounded. Medical facilities were overwhelmed by the scale of the civilian casualties, and only a small number of the wounded benefited from medical evacuation programmes like 1993's Operation Irma.[21]
On 6 February 1994, a day after the first Markale marketplace massacre, UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali formally requested NATO to confirm that air strikes would be carried out immediately.[22] On 9 February 1994, agreeing to the request of the UN, the North Atlantic Council of NATO authorized the Commander of Allied Forces Southern Europe (CINCSOUTH), U.S. Admiral Jeremy Boorda, to launch air strikes against artillery and mortar positions in and around Sarajevo that were determined by UNPROFOR to be responsible for attacks against civilian targets.[23][24] Only Greece failed to support the use of airstrikes, but did not veto the proposal.[22] The Council also issued an ultimatum at the 9 February meeting to the Bosnian Serbs demanding that they remove heavy weapons around Sarajevo by midnight of 20–21 February or face air strikes.[22] There was some confusion surrounding compliance with the ultimatum, and Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Boross announced that his country's air space would be closed to NATO aircraft in the event of airstrikes.[22] On 12 February 1994, Sarajevo enjoyed its first casualty-free day in 22 months (since April 1992).[22]
In 1995, the international forces firmly turned against the besiegers after the second Markale massacre of 28 August, in which 37 people were killed and 90 wounded. On 11 July 1995, NATO aircraft attacked targets in the Srebrenica area as identified by, and under the control of, the United Nations.[25] On 1 August, the Council authorized military planning aimed at deterring an attack on the safe area of Sarajevo. On 4 August, NATO aircraft conducted air strikes against Croatian Serb air defence radars near Udbina airfield and Knin in Croatia.[23]
On 30 August, the Secretary General of NATO announced the start of air strikes, supported by UNPROFOR rapid reaction force artillery attacks.[26] On 1 September, NATO and the UN demanded the lifting of the siege, removal of heavy weapons from the heavy weapons exclusion zone around Sarajevo, and complete security of other UN safe areas. The Bosnian Serb leaders were given a deadline of 4 September, and the Operation Deliberate Force bombing campaign was suspended. Heavy weapons had not been removed when the deadline passed. On 5 September, air strikes resumed on Bosnian Serb positions around Sarajevo and near the Bosnian Serb headquarters at Pale.
On 14 September, they were again suspended, this time to allow the implementation of an agreement with the Bosnian Serbs which included the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the exclusion zone. Finally, on 20 September 1995, French General Bernard Janvier (Commander of UNPROFOR) and U.S. Admiral Leighton W. Smith, Jr. (CINCSOUTH) agreed that it was not necessary to resume the strikes as the Bosnian Serbs had complied with the UN's conditions. Operation Deliberate Force was terminated.[27]
Fighting escalated on the ground as joint Bosnian and Croatian forces went on the offensive. The Serbs were slowly driven back in Sarajevo and elsewhere, which eventually allowed the city's heating, electricity and water supplies to be restored. A ceasefire was reached in October 1995. On 14 December, the Dayton Agreement brought peace to the country and led to stabilization. The Bosnian government officially declared an end to the siege of Sarajevo on 29 February 1996, when Serbian forces left positions in and around the city.
A large number of Sarajevans were killed or wounded throughout the siege.[8] A report on the total number of deaths over a span of 315 days concluded that 2,474 persons died, with an average of approximately eight killed in the city per day.[8] A report on the total number of persons wounded over a span of 306 days concluded that 13,472 were wounded, an average of approximately 44 per day.[8] It should be noted that actual daily casualty numbers in Sarajevo are probably higher than reported, as the varied centralized city casualty counts relied upon may not include many victims who were taken to district morgues and clinics.[citation needed]
The number of people killed or missing in the city is estimated at nearly 10,000. This includes over 1,500 children. An additional 56,000 people were wounded, including nearly 15,000 children.[8] The 1991 census indicates that before the siege the city and its surrounding areas had a population of 525,980. There are estimates that prior to the siege the population in the city proper was 435,000. Estimates of the current population range between 300,000 and 380,000.[8]
The siege affected all sectors of Sarajevo's population. UNICEF reported that of the estimated 65,000 to 80,000 children in the city, at least 40% had been directly shot at by snipers; 51% had seen someone killed; 39% had seen one or more family members killed; 19% had witnessed a massacre; 48% had their home occupied by someone else; 73% had their home attacked or shelled; and 89% had lived in underground shelters. It is probable that the psychological trauma suffered during the siege will bear heavily on the lives of these children in the years to come.[8]
As a result of the high number of casualties and the wartime conditions, there are makeshift cemeteries throughout Sarajevo and its surrounding areas. Parks, athletic fields and other open spaces were utilized as graveyards. One such site is the sports complex built for the 1984 Winter Olympics.[8]
A 1994 report stated that "the siege has also had a profound effect on the psyche and future of the city's population. The Bosnian Government has reported a soaring suicide rate by Sarajevans, a near doubling of abortions and a 50% drop in births since the siege began."[8]
A memorial with the names of 521 children killed during the siege was unveiled on 9 May 2010. The cases of another 500 children are being verified.[28]
The structural and property damage in Sarajevo as a result of the siege included specifically protected targets such as hospitals and medical complexes, medical facilities (including ambulances) and medical personnel, as well as cultural property, such as the manuscript collection of the Oriental Institute in Sarajevo, one of the richest collections of Oriental manuscripts in the world.[29] For foreigners, an event that defined the besiegers' cultural objectives occurred during the night of 25 August 1992. This was the bombardment – with incendiary shells – that resulted in the total destruction of the irreplaceable National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the central repository of Bosnian written culture and a major cultural center for all the Balkans. Among the losses were about 700 manuscripts and incunabula, and a unique collection of Bosnian serial publications, some from the middle of the 19th-century Bosnian cultural revival. Libraries all over the world cooperated afterwards to restore some of the lost heritage, through donations and e-texts, rebuilding the Library in cyberspace.
Also unjustified by any military necessity, and equally prohibited, were the attacks on civilian property. The Bosnian government estimated that shelling destroyed over 10,000 apartments and damaged over 100,000 others. Of the other buildings in the city, 23% were reported as seriously damaged, 64% as partially damaged and 10% as slightly damaged. In its report, the Council of Europe's Committee on Culture and Education commented on the structural damage in the city.[8] The Committee stated:
It is plain that Sarajevo has suffered badly at the hands of its attackers. Apart from the obvious human cost in the continued suffering and difficulties of day to day living, there has been serious damage to the urban fabric. The infrastructure (drainage, electricity, telephone services, etc.) is badly damaged. Most buildings are damaged significantly and probably all buildings are damaged to a greater or lesser degree (broken glass etc.). Some buildings have been completely destroyed including ancient monuments (such as the Library) and including a number of modern steel framed buildings (such as the Unis Building) which in some cases have simply collapsed. 35,000 dwellings are also assessed to have been destroyed during the past year.[8]
Sarajevo has made a substantial recovery in terms of the number of buildings that have been fully restored and reoccupied. However, as of 2011, many buildings remained heavily damaged and scarred.
Although the city had been a model for inter-ethnic relations, the siege brought dramatic population shifts. In addition to the thousands of refugees who left the city, many Sarajevo Serbs left for the Republika Srpska, and the percentage of Serbs in Sarajevo decreased from more than 30% in 1991 to slightly over 10% in 2002. Regions of Novo Sarajevo that are now part of the Republika Srpska have formed East Sarajevo, where much of the prewar Serbian population lives today.
New construction projects and foreign capital investment have made Sarajevo perhaps the fastest-growing city in the former Yugoslavia. The population grew to 401,000 in 2002, which is 20,000 short of pre-1991 census estimate.
On 5 December 2003 the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted the first commander of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps, General Stanislav Galić, of the shelling and sniper terror campaign against Sarajevo, including the first Markale massacre.[9] Galić was sentenced to life imprisonment for the crimes against humanity during the siege.[9] In 2007, General Dragomir Milošević,[10] who replaced Galić as commander of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps, was found guilty of the shelling and sniper terror campaign against Sarajevo and its citizens from August 1994 to late 1995, including the second Markale massacre. He was sentenced to 29 years in prison. The ICTY concluded that the Markale town market was hit on 28 August 1995 by a 120 mm mortar shell fired from Sarajevo-Romanija Corps positions.[10]
In 2011, the former Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army, General Momčilo Perišić, was sentenced to 27 years in prison for aiding and abetting murder because the Yugoslav army under his supervision provided "large-scale logistic support in ammunition, fuel and spare parts" as well as "necessary expert assistance" to the VRS during the siege.[11] According to an estimate of the Main Staff from 1994, the VRS received about 25 million bullets and over 7,500 shells from the Yugoslav army to wage the war in Bosnia. However, the judges ruled that Perišić did not have effective control over the VRS officers, who largely fought independently of his instructions yet still received payment and benefits from Belgrade.[30]
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Sarajevo (Bosnia/Croatian/Serbian cyrillic Сарајево) (Serbo-Croatian pronunciation: [sǎrajeʋo]) is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with an estimated population of 369,534. The Sarajevo metropolitan area, including Sarajevo, East Sarajevo and surrounding municipalities, is home to 688,354 inhabitants. Moreover, it is also the capital of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity,and the center of the Sarajevo Canton. Nestled within the greater Sarajevo valley of Bosnia, it is surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans.
Sarajevo is the leading political, social and cultural center of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a prominent center of culture in the Balkans, with its region-wide influence in entertainment, media, fashion, and the arts.
The city is famous for its traditional cultural and religious diversity, with adherents of Islam, Orthodoxy, Judaism and Catholicism coexisting there for centuries. Due to its long and rich history of religious and cultural variety, Sarajevo is sometimes called the "Jerusalem of Europe" or "Jerusalem of the Balkans". It was, until late in the 20th century, the only major European city to have a mosque, Catholic church, Orthodox church and synagogue within the same neighborhood. A regional center in education, the city is also home to the Balkans' first institution of tertiary education in the form of an Islamic polytechnic called the Saraybosna Osmanlı Medrese, today part of the University of Sarajevo.
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