The story from the wartime Mostar in 1993 – a report that showed the conflict zone and demarcation in that divided city that was followed by the internationally rewarded reporter and reporter of CNN, Brent Sadler:
There is one way in and one way out for the Bosnian Muslims defending or escaping the city of Mostar. This remote mountain trail is the only strand of hope left for people driven by fear and desperation.
Exhausted groups of men, women, and children hold themselves in more than 40 miles of physical endurance. It’s a journey of sadness. An exodus of despair. Most of them are totally unprepared for this. Many women walk over boulders in no more than slippers. The strong carry the weak. The old and hungry often collapse. They bring along just enough to survive, a little food, some water, a weapon to defend against the robbers. Scattered, the groups of people with nothing left, nowhere certain to go.
“We were expelled by HVO Croats, nine of our houses were burned and one mosque. They killed two of our men and set fire to their bodies. We saw with our own eyes when they killed them.”
Mostar has been under siege for more than a hundred days, every little helps. Eighteen-year-old Adnan Selimovic walked six days to take in a fraction of what is needed, one bag of medicines.
“I have to help my city. The city is dying. I have to do something.”
A hundred mile an hour race through streets, crisscrossed by sniper and rocket fire. The front lines are on top of each other. You can hear the bullets hissing by. The Muslim quarter is spilled with scenes of lifelessness and devastation.
“There is no humanitarian aid, there are thousands of refugees!”
At least 55,000 people are trapped in a rubble.
“It is a hell! We don’t have anything here, we don’t have food, we don’t have water, we don’t have electricity.”
The fighting and suffering here are going on unchecked and usually unobserved. The United Nations are tempting to break the siege and convince Bosnian Croats to stop using food and killing innocent people as a despicable weapon of war. A plea which remains unanswered.
Brant Sadler from Mostar
“We are terrified and full of fear, especially after UNPROFOR left, after the trucks left, especially after the Spaniard battalion that was there all the time, that the other side, the HVO, will start shelling our city again.”
(Source: N1)
