Return to Mostar

'Angel of Mostar'

BBC News

15 years after she risked her life to save hundreds of Bosnian children, the Angel of Mostar Sally Becker has made an emotional return to the city torn apart by civil war. See More

Crossing the river, I felt inclined to duck-for too many bullets had whizzed past my head in this place and it was hard to believe that the snipers were gone. Some of the buildings were still pockmarked with shrapnel and bullet holes, incongruous amongst the colourful awnings of the sidewalk cafes and a Benetton store.

Sadly the city remains divided, with the majority of Croats living on the West side of the river and Bosnian Muslims in the east. Poorly targeted international assistance, lack of international co-ordination, and suspect foreign investment by western companies have cemented the ethnic divide. Residents pay taxes to parallel ethnic governments that administer separate infrastructures, public services, healthcare and police. Even the schools are segregated.

In Mostar there are graveyards where there used to be parks and as I walked amongst the gravestones I was deeply saddened by the fact that they each bore the date of 1993. I saw a man bring flowers to the graves of two young boys, probably his sons.

Yet despite the damaged buildings and the endless lines of graves, parts of Mostar are thriving and tourists flock there in the summer The narrow cobbled streets look like something from a Hans Anderson fairy tale and whereas during the siege people would run past the snipers, terror etched on their faces, now they linger over coffee at sidewalk cafes. The ‘old’ bridge, destroyed by shelling in November 93 has been restored to its original magnificence, a symbol of unity in an otherwise divided city and as I crossed from the east to the west, a young man prepared to dive into the river, just as his father might have done before the war.

Stari Most. The magnificent 15th century bridge has been completely restored.
Sally crosses the new bridge for the first time.
View from the bridge.