Bosnia marks war anniversary

Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday marked the 20th anniversary of the start of the civil war that claimed 100,000 lives and left the country still divided along ethnic and religious lines.

On Sarajevo's main street, exactly 11,541 red chairs were lines up in rows representing the men, women and children killed in the 44-month assault on the city. It became the longest siege of a city in modern history, with some 330 shells hitting every day.

"This city needs to stop for a moment and pay tribute to its killed citizens," said Haris Pasovic, organizer of the exhibition titled the "Sarajevo Red Line." Concerts, performances and other exhibitions were also planned to mark the occasion.

Bosnia had declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, supported by a referendum in February and March the following year. The vote was boycotted by a majority of Bosnian Serbs, who largely wanted to stay part of the Serb-dominated Yugoslavia.

On April 6, 1992, some 40,000 people from all three of the country's main groups - Muslim Bosniaks, Catholic Croats and Christian Orthodox Serbs - demonstrated in a central square in Sarajevo against the divisive nationalism espoused by many political leaders.

Serb nationalists began firing on the demonstrators from a nearby hotel, creating what many consider the first casualties of the war that lasted until 1995.

The Dayton Accord peace agreement brokered by the United States ended the fighting, but left Bosnia and Herzegovina divided into two semi-autonomous regions linked by a weak central government. The European Union has insisted on more centralization if the country hopes to join the bloc, but lingering nationalism continues to divide the country.

acb/ipj (AFP, AP)