Well healed: the sights and scars of Sarajevo
Sarajevo has had a turbulent history and, now laughter has replaced gunfire in the Bosnian capital, locals are showing off the scars. Words and pictures by Tim Pile
My tour guide was born 20 years too late. Amir is a member of the local rifle club and, to prove it, he narrows his eyes towards the distant treeline and fires an imaginary machine gun.
The trigger-happy teenager was an infant during Sarajevo's darkest days so his sightseeing spiel lacks any first-hand tales from the frontline. Amir compensates with detailed descriptions of modern weaponry and how he would incapacitate enemy combatants with a single blow.
The Siege of Sarajevo lasted from April 1992 until February 1996. Serbian militia positioned in the surrounding hills targeted civilians and infrastructure with rocket, mortar and sniper fire. Few parts of the Bosnian capital were safe and simply nipping out for a loaf of bread meant risking life and limb.
Sarajevans were shot on their balconies and in their living rooms. They were picked off as they scurried along city streets, as they boarded trams and even at funerals. In 1994, a direct hit on the main market killed 68 and wounded 144 in the worst atrocity of the entire siege.
By the time an uneasy peace had been brokered, 11,000 people were dead and large parts of Sarajevo flattened. But for the ingenuity of a besieged population, however, things would have been far worse.
