December 10, 1995
Web posted at: 12:00 p.m. EST (1700 GMT)
From Correspondent Brent Sadler
TRNOVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (CNN) -- Serbs and Muslims fought bitterly for control of the town of Trnovo, 20 miles southeast of Sarajevo.
It changed hands three times, ending up under Serb control.
In the fighting, homes were set ablaze, buildings were
sacked, belongings looted. The broken bell of a church now
sits on the ground, a symbol of the life that once rang
through the town.
The pending peace agreement hasn't done much to ease tensions
between Serbs and Muslims in Trnovo. "I would rather commit
suicide than live with Muslims," said a Serb woman. "They
killed my 80-year-old mother who was alone here."
Trnovo is a dismal place to be. Serb soldiers appear sullen and empty of emotion. Only one of them spoke to a CNN crew. "If they've found peace now, why couldn't they do it before and spare the suffering of all these people," he said.
Deeper in Serb-held territory, the townspeople of Foca are
suspicious of NATO, resentful of a force that smashed their
main bridge over the river Drina. Half of Foca's pre-war
population was Muslim. Now only Serbs remain.
Three and a half months after NATO bombed the Serbs, it is the alliance's responsibility to implement peace, to oversee the reconstruction of vital supply routes, and to help create an atmosphere of stability.
Some Serbs say they will find it difficult to trust the new implementation force. "How can we?" said one woman. "It's impossible to trust someone who attacks you."
Many Serbs who resent the new map of Bosnia are moving,
distancing themselves from areas where Muslims will go.
Relief workers expect 2,500 people to leave villages that
straddle a strip of Serb-populated land that will be turned
into a corridor for Muslim access from Sarajevo to Gorazde.
Many are settling in homes in and around Foca from which
Muslims fled.
For many families, it is not the first time they have had to
pull up stakes and resettle in the ethnic swirl that has
divided Bosnia.
"We have to hurry," said Zoran Golbavic. "We're working night and day so that we have a roof over our heads." The Golbavic's weren't forced to move, but in their minds there was no choice. They feel safer among their own kind.
Post-war Bosnia is supposed to function as a multi-ethnic society. But the examples set in Trnovo and Foca show that it will take more than a peace agreement to overcome the bitterness of a war that brought great loss and, as yet no gain.
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