From the next year, the 5th of April will be officially marked as the Day of the Beginning of the 1992-1995 siege of Sarajevo. At the suggestion of Mayor Abdulah Skake, the City Council of the City of Sarajevo unanimously adopted the decision to mark the longest siege of a capital in the contemporary war history, which lasted for 44 months, in a commendable and dignified manner.
“This is the institutional support for this decision, based on which the City of Sarajevo, in partnership with other levels of government and institutions, will unite and coordinate all the occasional events that will mark this important date in the burning history of our capital. This is our responsibility, but also our responsibility towards the residents and the defenders who lived (before) four serious years of siege,”said Mayor Skaka.
Twenty-seven years ago, the longest siege after World War II began, it was the siege of Sarajevo. In the night from 4th to 5th April 1992, the barricades have appeared overnight at the international airport of Sarajevo, and soon in the suburb of Grbavica.
Peace rallies were held the very first day and thousands of people walked the streets of Sarajevo inviting government, Jugoslav National Army and all the others to stay in the “brotherhood and unity” and peace. The enemy responded by firing from the roof of the hotel Holiday Inn, and by killing Suada Dilberović and Olga Sučić on Vrbanja bridge.
Suada was a medical student from Dubrovnik, Olga mother of two children. On the bridge, which bears their name, is a memorial plaque that says “A drop of my blood gushed out, and Bosnia does not dry up.”
Since then, news about the number of dead and injured children whose dreams were broken forever, separated families and cultural and historical buildings that have been destroyed were present in the international news almost every day. Among the many recordings that have toured the world was the Markale massacre and the City Hall in flames.
The New York Times reported that Sarajevo started to look like a maze of barricades, checkpoints and traps for tanks.
According to estimates, the average of 329 shells were fired at Sarajevo every day. The record of 3,777 shells was filed on 22 July 1993. In the hills around Sarajevo was stationed 120 mortars and 250 tanks of the JNA who later ended up in the hands of the army of the Republika Srpska.
The siege Of Sarajevo lasted for 1,425 days and citizens were without food, water, electricity and other energy sources. The enemy was at the top of the hills around Sarajevo and did not hesitate to shoot at civilians, and especially children. Around 11 541 people were killed, of whom 1,600 children and more than 50,000 is were injured.
Although the war ended with the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement on 14th December 1995, according to the Army of BiH siege ended on 29th March 1996. The missile was fired on January 9, 1996 on Grbavica, an area under the control of the VRS, killing one woman and wounding 19 people. Those were the last victims of the siege.
