Sarajevans Cross Bridge on Path Toward Peace
While their leaders tried to bridge the chasms that tore Bosnia apart, Sarajevans made symbolic journeys toward peace by crossing a long-closed bridge linking the two sides of their divided city.
Four civilians from the government side and four from the Serb-held Grbavica area crossed Sarajevo’s Brotherhood and Unity Bridge under the gaze of U.N. peacekeepers.
“I am delighted the bridge is open again. Communications between separated families must exist,” said Vesna Kalacerovic, 47, the first person to cross.
Ten other people were to cross later in the day.
Other Sarajevans mourned loved ones lost in the war. Wednesday was All Saints’ Day, and some residents entered cemeteries that snipers have long prevented them from visiting.
And in a central Sarajevo park, 500 children and a group of bereaved mothers heaped toys and flowers in memory of the estimated 10,615 children who have been killed in government-held territory since the war began in April, 1992.
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