Thirty years later, Sarajevo has kept its soul and its scars

Special Envoy to Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

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In my worst nightmares, I would not have imagined that there could be a war in Yugoslavia, and especially not a siege of Sarajevo.

Besides, I who had been a member of the pioneers under Tito, I still do not understand how this could have happened.

Haris Bjelak was 28 on April 6, 1992, when the siege of the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the six components of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, was about to begin.

He was a taxi driver.

“A few days before the worst happened, a journalist from the independent television station Yutel had asked soldiers of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) why they were digging trenches on the hills surrounding the city.

“It's a defense against the external enemy,” they replied.

We didn't immediately realize that the guns were pointed towards the city,”

breathes Haris in a weary tone, his face furrowed.

Suddenly, at 19, I who had a music group, a nice group of friends, I found myself under a daily rain of bombs, a moving target of snipers

Almir Kurt Kugla, illustrious actor and eccentric designer

At the beginning of spring, thirty years ago...

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