Former Combatants Reach Out Over Phone Lines
Not all Serbs, it seems, are thinking about fighting to keep control of their Sarajevo suburbs. Some residents of Serb-held districts are reaching out to the other side.
A Bosnian TV talk show host received a call from Serb-held Grbavica on Thursday night after the Bosnian peace deal was signed in Paris. And the manager of an appliance repair shop already has had calls from former Serbian employees wanting their jobs back.
Serbian resolve to hold on to their sections of Sarajevo is complicating the transition to peace. On Friday, the Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, declared an end to war in all of Bosnia except Sarajevo.
But while many Serbs say they would rather leave Sarajevo than live under government rule, others have made tentative contacts over telephone lines that remained open between the Serb- and government-held areas throughout the 3 1/2 years of war.
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