Jovan Divjak in his office in BiH Gradi Obrazovanje (Photo Tinaut © Albert Lazaro, 2008)
On Friday March 4, the transient received a terse e-mail in French from her friend Bosnian Dzana: "Good morning, Albert, I hope you are well. Just wanted to inform you that General Divjak was arrested yesterday in Vienna by Interpol at the request of Serbia. Still do not know why ... you soon. " For the Bosnians, Jovan Divjak is still "general", although voluntarily left the country's army, which had helped to form in 1992 [1] , after a political disagreement with the president, Alija Izetbegović.
As luck would have the passer knew Jovan Divjak on October 30, 2008 during a flight from Ljubljana and Sarajevo, in a Slovenian airplane so small that not even he could carry in hand luggage, had to leave on a cart next to the ladder to travel in the hold. At the bottom of that same ladder had a display with various newspapers, and the pedestrian was a copy of Le Monde , the only non-Slavic newspaper of being offered.
Beside him sat a big man and looks strong, he had been talking animatedly, in Serbo-Croat, with a small group of passengers until the commander stuck his head and asked everyone to sit down and fasten their belts. The passer-by the window, began to read the newspaper and, midway through the flight, your seatmate was addressed in French:
- Are you a journalist? "He asked suddenly.
"No, I'm not a journalist.
"And if I am not indiscreet, what it takes to Sarajevo?
So began a conversation that lasted the rest of the trip, which lasted circling, among thick clouds black, until the commander was allowed to land, at no time spoke of himself. It was just after 16 hours, but the night had already begun to fall on the Bosnian capital since the country, located far to the east, zone shares with Spain.
"I expect someone at the airport.
-No. I have some contact in Sarajevo, I have to call some people with whom I stayed, but I do not expect anyone.
The man gave the card passer, asked him to phone the next day and told him to follow him off the plane. When they arrived, walking in a light drizzle, to the terminal, and passengers while the other was preparing to queuing at the control room of the police, the man made a strong signal to the passer, a little disoriented that time, was after he and two other men, and went to the door of authorities, where he was greeted with a hint of respect and reverence for the police to keep. He said something, the officer took the passport of the passer and, without even identifying him, slammed the entry stamp on a page.
The card his seatmate gave the passer.
The man who encouraged him to continue walking at a brisk pace. They stopped at the tape where they should leave the luggage and said it was a moment to the bathroom. The suitcases and packages soon appeared, and with luggage in hand, he hastened further step to meet, leaving the terminal, with a young Bosnian. They shook hands as he smiled and exchanged a few words each, and the boy received a short order, both took the luggage and took him under more intense rain, up to an SUV parked nearby, and then the man said the passerby, after asking where you stay:
"I accompany you to the center, which is quite far, and there you can take a taxi to your hotel.
had already completely dark. By the way, this man was showing the various buildings abroad passer while mentioning some military events that took place at specific points of the route during the Bosnian war (1992-1995). It also will show him the passage from one to another of the four municipalities ( Gradsko option)-divided, in turn, local communities ( mjesne zajednice ) - which make up the city, from west to east: Novi Grad ( City Yugoslav, built during the regime of Tito), Novo Sarajevo (built after the First World War), Centar (Austro-Hungarian town) and finally, Stari Grad, the old city or Ottoman historical reminiscences.
An armored vehicle of the United Nations in Sniper Alley
during the siege of Sarajevo.
The vehicle traveled about from one end to the lengthy boulevard Selimov Mese, that during the siege of the city was called away Snajperska ('Avenue of the snipers' perhaps best known for its English name: Sniper Alley [2] ) lengthwise across the conurbation of Sarajevo over ten kilometers.
Boulevard Mese Selimov in November 2008. (Photo © Albert Lazaro Tinaut)
Sibilj At the beautiful triangular square in the heart of the popular neighborhood Baščaršija They are full of life the old town of Sarajevo, the car stopped, the young driver took the bags of passers and the man who was serving so well was to talk with the taxi drivers waiting at a stop very close. He gestured to the passerby to come closer:
"This man will take you to your accommodation," he said.
"But ... I have not even had time to change money ... "He said, concerned the passer.
- Do you have a ticket for 5 euros?
Fortunately yes, was a bystander.
"But this bill will be more than happy the driver - added outlining a smile.
They parted, and the man reminded the passer-by who had to phone the next day morning.
The passerby was staying at the guest house Kandilj nice, not far from where he had taken the taxi. Having known the city could be reached on foot within minutes. There he was a young woman with a wide grin, the first test of the Balkan hospitality, and escorted him to the room she had reserved a room clean and spacious with three single beds, a small table where he had a telephone , paper and pen a neat bathroom, no doubt, had recently been renovated, and a generous window from which you could see the courtyard which gave access to the house. It was cozy place in which the transient planned to spend four nights, which eventually became eight. A quiet place where silence was lord and master until the muezzin from the nearby mosque called to prayer, through the speakers of the battlements, five times a day the Muslim ritual established.
Bistrik The mosque ulica, a few meters from the guest house Kandilj
.
(Photo © Albert Lazaro Tinaut, 2008)
After settling and cool off, the transient down to the basement of the small building, where was the breakfast room with a corner furnished with a couple of couches and the floor covered Carpet, with a TV. At the foot of the stairs leading to place a computer was 24 hours a day to serve guests. All simple, nothing you seem luxuries, except some old samovar and some ornaments tastefully hung from the walls and red embroidered tablecloths covering the tables, very low, with their stools, and even lower unsuitable the length of the legs of passers, unaccustomed to Eastern traditions and customs.
Sitting at the computer, the passer is linked to Google and typed the name on the card, that it was not entirely unknown: Jovan Divjak. Wikipedia , with versions in English and Catalan even cleared his doubts:
Jovan Divjak ( Belgrade, March 11, 1937) is a former military Bosnian Serb, Bosnian head of different sectors of Territorial Defense (TO) of the JNA, who left to join the staff of the Army of the Republic Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) during the Bosnian war and reached the rank of general. Actively participated in defense of Sarajevo during the siege of the city, so it has been known as the "defended Serb Sarajevo and the Serb with a higher military rank in the Bosnian army, although he himself has defined as Bosnian repeatedly. Since the end of the war has written several books and is currently director of the BIH Gradi Obrazovanje (The Education Builds Bosnia and Herzegovina, OGBH), established in 1994.
Jovan Divjak during the war, his uniform general campaign of Armijo of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
That organization was, in fact, the board had given him. About talks he had with former General Divjak during his stay in Sarajevo and write about your character in future installments transient. Talk of a kind man, friendly, good conversationalist, that that day was also in Barcelona, \u200b\u200bwhere he had participated in some activities organized by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, and had traveled on the same flight of the Slovenian company Adria Airways carried both of the Catalan capital ljubljana airport Brnik, which had a stopover. The pedestrian only aim now in one of those conversations, Jovan Divjak said he was on a long list of alleged war criminals, despite their participation in categorically contradicted the facts against him, and that sword Damocles hanging, then, on his head, but seemed to downplay it.
His arrest at the airport in Vienna on March 3, he was preparing to fly to the Italian city of Bologna, where he was to give a lecture, it was not the first one of the "suspects" as part of that list: in March 2010 and was arrested in London's Heathrow Airport one of them, Ejup Ganic, who was a member of the collegial presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, "but in July the same year a British court dismissed his extradition to Serbia and released him.
Jovan Divjak, the important role he played in defense of Sarajevo during the long siege that the city underwent the Yugoslav People's Army (composed mostly of Serbs and Montenegrins few) and the forces of the self-proclaimed Republika Srpska Bosnia, a siege that began on April 5, 1992 (the day when Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaimed its independence) and ended on February 29 1996, is considered by Bosniaks [3] a national hero: the streets of Sarajevo were filled demonstrators now assert their innocence and demanding his release at the Embassy of Austria.
Jovan Divjak and his wife on the terrace of his home, north of Stari Grad (the background is the building, now under reconstruction,
of the former National Library) .
[1] The Army of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina (Armijo Republike Bosne i Herzegovina, ARBiH ) was the first armed force in the country, independent from Yugoslavia on April 5, 1992. The officially created, ten days after independence, the Bosnian-Sefer Halilović its first commander, that after a few months also would cede control to the Bosnian-Rasim Delić, former Bosnian Serb and Bosnian Croat Jovan Divjak Stjepan Siber. After the war, following the signing of the Dayton Accords (November 1995) form, with the inclusion of the Republika Srpska Army, the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH snag Oružane ).
[2] Durante la guerra de Bosnia (1992-1995) los snipers (francotiradores serbios) tomaron esta avenida, se apostaron en lo alto de algunos edificios, en las colinas próximas o parapetados detrás de tranvías o autobuses, y disparaban indiscriminadamente contra cualquier civil o militar que se les pusiera a tiro. Fue uno de los episodios más terribles de aquel conflicto, ya que dificultó enormemente el abastecimiento de la ciudad que, en absoluto secreto, se hacía a través de un túnel excavado en las proximidades del aeropuerto, túnel por el que también eran evacuados los heridos más graves. Según los datos recopilados en 1995, esos francotiradores mataron a sangre fría a 225 personas (Including 60 children) and wounding 1030. To cross the street, citizens had to use as shields armor of the United Nations, where passers by, or circulated at night at full speed with your vehicle without turning on the headlights. The Bosnians will explain the passerby who had become used to run zigzag in the vicinity of that area to be targeted more difficult to reach with rifles and other automatic or semiautomatic weapons used by the snipers . Transient advised to read (in Portuguese) of a witness in the blog em Written day through http://blogda-se.blogspot.com/2006/02/sarajevo-1994-sniper-avenue_08 link. html cartoon book and The Sleeping Monster , Enki Bilal (Norma Editorial, Barcelona, \u200b\u200b1998).
[3] should distinguish between Bosnian Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Bosnjaci ), formerly called "Muslims" Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats, the three most important towns that make up the State. To these must be added several minorities ethyne.
Do click on pictures to enlarge.
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