The Siege of Sarajevo:

1992-1996

Bosnia-Herzegovina

“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.“

-ICTY Stanislav Galic Judgment

Bosnian Independence June 25, 1991: Slovenia and Croatia declare

independence February 1992: Bosnia sues for

Independence from Yugoslavia Referendum issued

63.7 % turnout, 99.4% vote for independence Boycotted by Bosnian Serbs

March 1, 1992: Independence Declared

Warfare Begins April 5, 1992: 50,000 to 100,000 protestors

take to the street Serb gunmen fire at the antiwar protestors

2 people killed Suada Dilberovic and Olga Sucic, they are the first casualties of the siege

April 6, 1992 JNA seizes Ministry Training Academy, Central Tramway Depot, and the Airport

Breadline Massacre May 1992

Shell lobbed from hills into Sarajevo kills 16 standing in a breadline, 100 wounded.

Bosnian Muslims attack barracks of trapped Yugoslav soldiers (mostly Serbs) in the city.

Yugoslav Army official claims massacre was staged by Muslims, in effort to get international support for the Bosniak side. Whether it was an act or not the International community

released sanctions against Serbs/JNA.

Snipers

By late spring/early summer 1992 snipers are present around city. Sniper Screens and signs pop up, some

roads/areas become too dangerous to travel. Left: Trash Buildup on dangerous street. Right, sniper

warning.

Sarajevo Library 1992

Futile Attempts at Peace Carrington-Cutileiro Plan

Designed at European Community(EC) peace conference February 1992

Proposed weak central government of Bosnia with power passed to the district level

Signed March 18th by Alija Izetbegovic of Bosnia, Radovan Karadzic of Serbia, and Mate Boban of Croatia Izetbegovic pulls signature 10 days later(March 28th) and

the plan dies.

Continued….

Vance-Owen Plan Proposed January 1993 Would have split Bosnia into ten semi-

autonomous regions Rejected by Bosnian Serb Parliament

June 18th the plan is dead

Continued….

Owen-Stoltenberg Plan July 1993 Would have split Bosnia into 3 ethnic states The majority ethnic group(Muslims) would have

only received 30% of the territory Rejected August 29, 1993

Continued….

Contact Group Plan Devised by the U.S., Russia, France, Britain, and

Germany from February to October 1994 Plan presented in July 1994 Isolate the Serbs and communicate only with Sloban

Milosevic Centered on the 51/49 proposal Muslim/Serb, Croat

Rejected by the Bosnian Serbs

The Markale Market Massacres First Markale Massacre

February 5, 1994 68 Killed, 144 Wounded

Second Markale Massacre August 28, 1995

37 killed, 90 Wounded NATO responds with bombing

Sarajevo Tunnel Winter 1992-93 gas, water, and electric is sporadic at best

January 1993 tunnel work begins Sarajevans volunteer and work 8-hour shfits Finished Mid-1993

1.5 meters in height and width 800 meters in length

Connected Sarajevo with the airport Allowed supplies to flow in and out

STATS 20 million tons of food 1 million people Most famous moment was the transportation of Bosnian President Alija Izebegovic in

his wheelchair

Today 20 meters is open as part of a museum

Sarajevo Tunnel cont……

Dayton Agreement Occurred November 1-21, 1995 at Wright-

Patterson AFB Negotiations led by U.S. Secretary of State

Warren Christopher and negiator Warren Christopher

Agreement reached November 21, treaty signed in Paris December 14

Serbs get 49% of the land(mostly mountains), up from 46% but lose Sarajevo Serbs leave hills around Sarajevo February 19, 1996.

Siege Ends.

Siege Stats/Totals Lasted 1,425 days

10,000+ killed Including 1,500+ children

56,000+ wounded 15,000+ children

Late 1992, early 1993 height of the siege. Average of 329 shells per day July 22, 1993 is estimated to be heaviest day, 3,777 shells. Almost every building damages in some way

Pre-war population: 650,000 Day of Cease Fire: approx 220,000, only 65% of pre-war size

War Crimes Convictions Stanislav Galic

First commander of the Sarajevo Romanija Corp/ Republica Srpska

Indicted 1998 December 5, 2003 given

20 years imprisonment Appealed November

2006, rejected and sentence increased to life imprisonment

War Crimes Convictions cont… Dragomir Milosevic

Second commander of Romanija Corp, oversaw second Markale Massacre

Claimed Sarajevo was war zone and civilians got in the way

December 12, 2006 convicted and sentenced to 33 years imprisonment

November 12th 2009 appealed and sentence reduced to 29 years