For Immediate Release
March 30, 2002

Contact Glenn Ruga: 978-461-0909 or [email protected]

Boston-area Groups Prepare Week of Events to Commemorate Tenth Anniversary of Siege of Sarajevo and Wars in the Former Yugoslavia.

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BOSTON–Five Boston-area groups are preparing a week of events to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the siege of Sarajevo and the wars in the former Yugoslavia. Friends of Bosnia, the International Institute of Boston, Boston College, and Physicians for Human Rights, and the Global Citizens Circle are organizing "From Requiem to Renewal: A Decade of Balkan Conflict" beginning Wednesday, April 3 with a concert by Vuk Kulenovic, classical music composer from Sarajevo and Belgrade. Kulenovic organized one of the first public demonstrations against Milosevic in Belgrade in 1990. On Thursday, April 4, John Shattuck, former State Department Official; Mirza Kusljugic, Bosnian Ambassador to the UN; and Edita Tahiri, negotiator at Rambouilett, will be speaking at the Old South Meeting House.

The siege of Sarajevo by Serb paramilitary forces began ten years ago on April 6, 1992. During the summer of 1991, Serb and Croatian nationalists fought each other over the Krajina region. Two years earlier, on June 28, 1989, Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic gave his infamous speech near Pristina on the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo, setting off violent reprisals and establishing draconian laws against the Kosovar Albanian population. Today Milosevic stands trial in The Hague for charges of crimes against humanity and genocide for the conduct of troops and paramilitary forces loyal to him during these wars.

While four wars were fought in the former Yugoslavia, it is Sarajevo that captured the world’s attention more than any other location, partly because it was there that the 1984 Winter Olympics were held. It was also Sarajevo that the world watched live on TV as innocent civilians were killed by sniper fire and much of the city was destroyed by shelling. The world also watched as the great powers were impotent to stop the carnage. It was not until three-and-a-half-years later in September 1995 that NATO bombed Serb positions around Bosnia, finally putting an end to their hold on the country. This was too late to prevent the fall of Srebrenica where 7000 Bosnians–mostly unarmed men and boys–were killed in July of that year. But it was this tragic event that finally forced the world to take action.

Four years later in 1999, the Balkans were at war again, this time in Kosovo. A second NATO bombing campaign forced Serb soldiers and paramilitaries to withdraw.

Serbia is now on the path to recovery, as is Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, and Kosovo. But all these states have a lower standard of living than they did 10 years ago. Unemployment is rampant, economic infrastructure is crumbling, and much of the political problems that existed in 1992 still exist
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It is with this backdrop that Friends of Bosnia, the International Institute of Boston, Boston College, Physicians for Human Rights, and the Global Citizens Circle are presenting "From Requiem to Renewal: A Decade of Balkan Conflict."