Safe Area Goražde: The War in Eastern Bosnia, 1992-1995

Sacco walks with Edin to receive his new boots, brought into town by the UN. When they arrive, they learn that none of the supplies for the school arrived.

Sacco is frequently reminded of his status as an American in Goražde. Though this often makes him popular, it also occasionally causes tension. One night, while drinking with Edin and others, a man who barely speaks English tells Sacco how he once helped a journalist and received $100 for it. He grows angry with Sacco, asking why he came to Goražde, saying, “America man thinks Bosnia man primitive” (191). The man is angry that no journalists are interested in what happened in Srebrenica. Sacco becomes overwhelmed and wishes that he were anywhere but Bosnia. They leave, and when they reach Edin’s house, Sacco throws up.

Sacco visits the Silly Girls again. Kimeta has a new boyfriend, a refugee from Rogatica, and though she is happy, Sabina is upset, as her relatives have sent her knockoff jeans. She tries to convince herself that no one will notice, but Nudjejma tells her that they are obviously fake.

Riki is with them and practices his English with Sacco. Sacco also tells them about his visits to Grbavica, a Serb-held part of Sarajevo. The girls want to know what they think of the war, and Sacco tells them that many Serbs blame Muslims for the conflict and do not believe that the horrors they faced happened.

Edin began working for the British peacekeepers in January 1995, who had stayed after the conclusion of the 1994 offensive. Despite the temporary peace, the Bosnian Serb army, under the leadership of General Ratko Mladić, prepared for a final push to end the war. They recaptured weapons surrendered to the UN and began bombing Sarajevo more heavily. When NATO pushed back with airstrikes, the Serbian army took UN workers hostage and shot down a US fighter.

On June 4, Mladić met with UN representative Bernard Janvier in secret. Days later, the hostages were released. After this, on June 9, UN representative Yasushi Akashi confirmed that the UN would back away from the conflict. Janvier echoed this by saying that the protection of the enclaves jeopardized the UN’s neutrality.

Mladić then targeted the other enclaves, first attacking Srebrenica. They swept into the town in July 1995 and took Dutch peacekeepers hostage, using them to stop NATO airstrikes. Sacco interviews Nermin and Haso, both men who escaped Srebrenica. They tell him that the men of the town left in a large group to reach the Bosnian border. Chetniks fired on them as they walked, and many were wounded and died. When Haso returned to save a wounded friend later one night, he saw Chetniks with flashlights killing survivors.

The journey was 40 kilometers, and Nermin, Haso, and the other men faced ambush after ambush and claim that the Serbs attacked them with “combat gas” (200). Sacco considers that it may have been the chemical agent BZ, which disorients its victims and causes hallucinations, but admits, “Despite many eyewitness accounts, human rights watch found evidence of gas attacks ‘inconclusive’ though such attacks ‘cannot be ruled out’” (200).

Nermin recalls how the Serbs offered surrender to soldiers in exchange for access to the Bosnian border, but the soldiers were taken away. After a night surrounded by Chetniks, Nermin was alone and suffering from the gas. Chetniks found him, but he believes that they left him because they thought his mind was ruined by the gas. When Nermin ran into other groups from Srebrenica looking to surrender to the Serbs, he warned them not to. He passed many bodies on his trip to Zepa, a nearby safe area. Both he and Haso reached Zepa.

Back in Srebrenica, the Serbs transported women and children to Bosnian territory, and the hostage Dutch peacekeepers watched as they separated the men. These men, along with those who surrendered as they escaped, were led out of the town and murdered. The UN declared that it could not protect the enclaves, and Zepa fell soon after Srebrenica. Nermin and Haso both made it to Goražde.

By the end of July 1995, Goražde was the last remaining safe area in eastern Bosnia. Mladić planned to capture Goražde by the fall and make a final push at Sarajevo to end the war. The failure of the UN to protect Srebrenica pushed the US to be more involved, saying that any attack on Goražde would result in retaliatory airstrikes.

On August 28, after an attack on Sarajevo, the UN relinquished its responsibility for air power to NATO. The British soon left Goražde, telling Edin that this would allow NATO to attack the Serb lines. On August 30, NATO, with no risk of UN hostages being taken, began bombing the Serb lines. With NATO now protecting Goražde, the balance of the conflict shifted, and the Serbs felt pressure to make peace.

A ceasefire began on October 12, and UN convoys began reaching Goražde. Peace talks were planned for November in Dayton, Ohio, but many worried that Goražde would be sacrificed to simplify the new map of Bosnia.

The peace talks last for a long time. Sacco waits with Edin and others to hear the results. When an agreement is finally announced, they learn that the war is over and that there will be a single government with a rotating presidency, in which no accused war criminals can be elected. These criminals will go to the Hague, and Goražde will remain a part of Bosnia, connected by a small corridor. They celebrate, and the next day, Edin begins reworking his thesis.

On November 1, 1995, Balkan leaders arrived in Dayton, Ohio, for peace negotiations. Though Bosnian President Alija Izetbegović was once willing to sacrifice the enclaves for peace, the horrors of Srebrenica and Zepa pushed him to reject any agreements that saw Goražde traded. Though the leaders argued over how wide the corridor would be, Goražde would remain Bosnian. The other enclaves, ethnically cleansed of Bosnian Muslims, remained in the control of the Bosnian Serbs. The leaders signed the agreement on November 21.

Sacco celebrates with Riki and Edin, who discuss what peace will look like. Edin believes that peace arrives once they can move freely again, and Riki looks forward to economic activity returning to Bosnia.

Despite optimism, many people whom Sacco speaks with become disillusioned with the peace, believing that it will only prove to be a break in the fighting. They also believe that justice is not served due to the enclaves remaining with the Serbs. Though Muslims can return to their communities in Serb territory, there are no guaranteed protections. Additionally, Goražde, once a factory center, has been destroyed, and many wonder what is next for the town. There are plans to build a road connecting Goražde to Sarajevo, but many feel that the corridor still makes them an enclave, stuck in a precarious position.

More journalists pour into Goražde. Riki interviews with them, singing afterward. He shows them around and acts as a translator. Riki returns to the front for a few days and thanks Sacco for his help transcribing lyrics for songs. Sacco watches as Riki flirts with some humanitarian aid workers from Sweden and France. Sacco coordinates a ride out. As he leaves, both men hope that Riki gets out of Goražde.

Sacco makes his final trip to Goražde in January 1996. The Blue Road is more open now, and when he arrives, he learns that Edin is in Sarajevo and that Riki is leaving for the city that day. Riki is demobilized and, as a student still pursuing a degree, is given priority to return.

After Riki leaves, Sacco spends two days in the town but does not recognize it any longer. He returns to Sarajevo. On the trip, he sees Serbs leaving the city with their furniture.

In the aftermath of the war, Sarajevo sees an influx of people from rural communities. When Sacco meets Edin in the city, they run into many people from Goražde on the street. He notices that they struggle to fit in, feeling uncomfortable at clubs, and seem to miss the town that they so recently wanted to flee.

Edin, on the other hand, does not miss Goražde and is focusing on his thesis, happy to be back in Sarajevo. Sacco rarely sees Riki, who discovers that the university is going to require him to study much longer than he thought to graduate. He is busy. Edin enjoys Sarajevo but says that another war will eventually break out. He tells Sacco that a friend of his invited him to visit in Germany, but he does not want to go. Instead, Edin wants to restart the life he lost years ago.