Muslims and Jews in Bosnia observe Holocaust Remembrance Day and call for peace and dialogue
Jews and Muslims from Bosnia and abroad gathered in Srebrenica to jointly observe International Holocaust Remembrance Day and promote compassion and dialogue amid rising global sectarian hatred fueled by Israelโs war in Gaza.
Choking smog lands Sarajevo at top of Swiss index of most polluted cities for 2nd straight day
The Bosnian capital of Sarajevo has been intermittently engulfed in a toxic haze since the start of December, with air quality so bad it was placed first on a list of the worldโs most polluted cities for a second straight day.
In Srebrenica, thousands gather to remember the 1995 massacre and bury the newly identified dead
Thousands of people have gathered in Srebrenica, in eastern Bosnia, for the annual commemoration of the 1995 massacre and to give a dignified burial to victims unearthed from mass graves and only recently identified through DNA analysis.
Hundreds gather in Sarajevo to pay their respects to Srebrenica massacre victims
Hundreds have lined the main street of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, as a truck carrying 30 coffins passed on its way to Srebrenica, where newly identified victims of Europeโs only acknowledged genocide since World War II will be buried on the 28th anniversary of the crime.
Bosnia: Protest over draft law to recriminalize defamation
Dozens of journalists and rights activists have protested outside parliament in Bosniaโs Serb-run part as lawmakers debated whether to advance a contested law which critics say would restrict freedom of expression and silence critical media.
Bosnia recounts Serb president race after reports of fraud
Amid widespread reports of fraud in Bosniaโs general election, the ethnically divided countryโs top electoral body has announced it will conduct a recount of a Bosnian Serb presidential ballot allegedly rigged by a staunchly pro-Russian leader.
Amid tensions, Bosnian Serbs celebrate outlawed holiday
Under growing international pressure over their leader's secessionist aspirations, Bosnian Serbs have celebrated an outlawed holiday with a provocative parade showcasing armored vehicles, police helicopters and law enforcement officers with rifles, marching in lockstep and singing a nationalist song.
International envoy warns of Bosnia breakup amid tensions
The chief international representative in Bosnia is warning that the war-scarred Balkan nation could face the biggest โexistential threat of the post-war periodโ if the international community does not curb threatened separatist actions by Bosnian Serbs.
UN council rejects Russian bid to get rid of Bosnia high rep
The U.N. Security Council has rejected a resolution put forward by Russia and China that would have immediately stripped the powers of the international high representative overseeing implementation of the 1995 peace agreement that ended the devastating war in Bosnia.
Foreigners flock to Serbia to get coronavirus vaccine shots
People wait in line to receive a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine at Belgrade Fair makeshift vaccination center in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, March 27, 2021. Thousands of vaccine-seekers from Serbia's neighboring states have flocked to Belgrade after Serbian authorities offered free coronavirus jabs for foreigners if they show up over the weekend. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)BELGRADE โ Thousands of vaccine-seekers from countries neighboring Serbia flocked to Belgrade on Saturday after Serbian authorities offered foreigners free coronavirus jabs if they showed up over the weekend. Others say that the AstraZeneca vaccine shots Serbia is giving foreigners are nearing their expiration date and need to be used as soon as possible, a claim that could not be verified. Serbia has one of the highest inoculation rates in Europe, mainly thanks to the government's large purchases of the Sinopharm vaccine from China and the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.
Western Balkan countries to tighten virus rules amid surge
Vaccinations started from a batch of 10,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines donated by neighboring Serbia. Doctors in Bosniaโs capital of Sarajevo warned that infections have โexplodedโ in recent days and urged people to comply with pandemic regulations. On a positive note, the first AstraZeneca vaccine doses donated by neighboring Serbia, were administered in Sarajevo on Wednesday. Experts have blamed the recent surge on flouting of the rules, and the fact that ski resorts remained open throughout the winter season. Authorities in the Balkan country of 2.1 million recorded last week a 60% increase in infections over the previous week.
Bosnia receives jabs from Serbia amid COVAX dispute
In this photo provided by the Serbian Presidential Press Service, a worker holds a box of the Astra-Zeneca vaccines at Sarajevo Airport, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 2. Bosnia on Tuesday received 10,000 vaccines from neighboring Serbia amid a dispute with the international COVAX mechanism over a delay in planned shipments. Serbia's populist President Aleksandar Vucic flew to the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo to deliver the Astra-Zeneca vaccines to the authorities there. (Serbian Presidential Press Service via AP)SARAJEVO โ SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Bosnia on Tuesday received 10,000 vaccines from neighboring Serbia amid a dispute with the international COVAX mechanism over a delay in planned shipments. Serbiaโs populist president, Aleksandar Vucic, flew to Bosnian capital Sarajevo to deliver the AstraZeneca vaccines to the authorities there.
Trash fills Bosnia river faster than workers can pull it out
This aerial photo shows a dam garbage floating in the Drina river near Visegrad, eastern Bosnia, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021. Environmental activists in Bosnia are warning that tons of garbage floating down the Balkan country's rivers are endangering the local ecosystem and people's health. The Drina River has been covered for weeks with trash that has piled up faster than the authorities can clear it out. The Drina River, located on the border between Bosnia and Serbia, has been covered for weeks with trash that has piled up faster than the authorities can clear it out. โThis is a problem of huge proportions,โ warned Dejan Furtula of the local environmental group Eko Centar Visegrad.
Islands of garbage clog rivers, threaten dam in Balkans
Plastic bottles and other garbage are among tons of garbage clogging rivers in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia that were once famous for their emerald color and crystal clear waters. (AP Photo/Dragan Karadarevic)VISEGRAD โ VISEGRAD, Bosnia-Huge islands of garbage floating on some rivers in the Balkans are causing an environmental emergency and threatening a regional hydropower plant. Plastic bottles, rusty barrels and other waste could be seen clogging the Drina River near the eastern Bosnian town of Visegrad on Tuesday. A broken barrier this week caused a massive buildup of garbage on the Drina that has threatened Bosnia's Visegrad dam. Running along the border between Bosnia and Serbia, the Drina is highly popular with river rafters in the region.
After criticism, Bosnia sets up tents for freezing migrants
Migrants warm themselves around a fire at the Lipa camp outside Bihac, Bosnia, Wednesday, Dec. 30, 202, after hundreds failed to be relocated from the burnt-out tent camp in the northwest of the country. Bosnia has faced international criticism for leaving some 1,000 migrants without shelter after a fire engulfed the squalid Lipa refugee camp near its northwest border with Croatia over a week ago. Earlier Friday, the migrants held a protest to highlight the horrendous conditions they are facing in Bosnia. Aid groups said hundreds of migrants rejected food and held up banners calling for international help. The migrants spent 24 hours in a convoy of buses, waiting to move, but ended up back in the burned-out Lipa camp instead.
Hundreds of migrants freezing in heavy snow in Bosnia camp
A migrant walks through the snow wrapped in a blanket at the Lipa camp northwestern Bosnia, near the border with Croatia, Saturday, Dec. 26, 2020. (AP Photo/Kemal Softic)BIHAC โ BIHAC, Bosnia-Hundreds of migrants were stranded Saturday in a squalid, burnt-out tent camp in Bosnia as heavy snow fell in the country and winter temperatures suddenly dropped. Migrants at the Lipa camp in northwest Bosnia wrapped themselves in blankets and sleeping bags to protect against the biting winds in the region, which borders European Union member Croatia. "Snow has fallen, sub-zero temperatures, no heating, nothing," the International Organization for Migrationโs chief of mission in Bosnia, Peter Van Der Auweraert, tweeted. Left without a solution, migrants put down carboard on the floor and set up improvised barriers for privacy inside the only standing tent at the Lipa camp.
Fire breaks out at squalid migrant camp in Bosnia
Smoke rises from a fire at migrant camp Lipa, Wednesday, Dec 23, 2020, near Bihac in western Bosnia. Thick black smoke could be seen rising Wednesday from parts of the Lipa camp near the Croatian border which currently houses some 1,200 migrants. Thick black smoke rose from the Lipa tent camp near the Croatian border that once housed 1,200 migrants. He said most camp residents were still around the area because โthere's no alternative accommodation availableโ in Bosnia for them. The Lipa camp was only set up as a temporary shelter during the summer to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
Bosnian Serbs say icon given to Russian minister not stolen
Bosnian Serb member of the tripartite Presidency of Bosnia Milorad Dodik, right, welcomes Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the start of their meeting in the capital Sarajevo, Bosnia, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. (AP Photo/Kemal Softic)SARAJEVO โ SARAJEVO, Bosnia-An Orthodox icon presented to Russia's foreign minister had not been stolen from the Ukraine, the office of Bosnia's Serb leader said Tuesday, amid an international diplomatic spat over its origins. The presiding Serb member of Bosniaโs three-member presidency, Milorad Dodik, gifted the gilded icon to Russiaโs Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov when he visited Bosnia on Dec. 14. Russiaโs foreign ministry said Saturday it would return the icon to the Bosnian Serbs for an international police investigation about its origin. The statement did not say how Dodik came to possess the religious artwork or how it was brought to Bosnia.
Bosnian city of Mostar holds 1st local election in 12 years
(AP Photo/Kemal Softic)MOSTAR โ MOSTAR, Bosnia-Long-entrenched ethno-nationalists were projected to win the first local election in Bosniaโs southern city of Mostar in 12 years, but early results of Sunday's vote also indicated multiethnic parties and alliances would be a strong part of the future city council. Mostar is split between Muslim Bosniaks and Catholic Croats, who fought fiercely for control over the city during the countryโs 1992-95 war. It hasnโt held a local election since 2008, when Bosniaโs constitutional court declared its election rules discriminatory and ordered them changed. Thus, the lawmakers from multiethnic parties appear set to become tiebreakers in all but certain disputes between the dominant Bosniak and Croat nationalists. Prior to the war, ethnically mixed couples made up 10% of all marriages in Mostar, and the city was markedly cosmopolitan.
Air pollution in eastern Europe adds to pandemic health woes
With the arrival of cold and foggy winter weather, eastern Europe is facing another health hazard in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, namely dangerous air pollution. (AP Photo/Eldar Emric)SARAJEVO โ SARAJEVO, Bosnia-With the arrival of cold and foggy winter weather amid the pandemic, eastern Europe is facing an extra respiratory health hazard โ air pollution. Countries such as Bosnia and Serbia in the Balkans, and even European Union nations Poland and Croatia, traditionally report high levels of dangerous pollution from heating in winter months. The United Nations has warned in previous years that people in all major cities across the Western Balkans face alarming levels of air pollution that are reducing their life expectancies. The embassy uses its own air quality monitoring equipment to measure PM 2.5 fine particulate matter and define air quality.
Opposition parties win major cities in Bosnia's local vote
Members of a mobile electoral commission prepare go to voters during local elections in the capital Sarajevo, Bosnia, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2020. Polls have opened at Bosnian local elections, where over 3 million voters will have the right to choose their local mayors and city hall parliament members for the next four years. While the lower turnout has historically benefited Bosniaโs dominant nationalist parties, for the first time in 25 years many of their faithful voters appear to have sat out the vote. Ahead of the vote in Bosniaโs largest cities, opposition parties, despite their ideological differences, closed ranks and campaigned on bread-and-butter issues rather than stoking ethnic tensions. In some cities, including Sarajevo, opposition parties united with a common platform and jointly fielded candidates.
New Bosnian film on Srebrenica screened at place of massacre
A woman prays at the memorial cemetery in Potocari, after the first public showing of Bosnian filmmaker Jasmila Zbanic's film on the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica - "Quo Vadis, Aida? The Srebrenica massacre was the culmination of Bosnia's 1992-95 war, which pitted the country's three main ethnic factions - Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims. The Srebrenica massacre was the culmination of Bosniaโs 1992-95 war, which pitted the countryโs three main ethnic factions โ Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims, known as Bosniaks โ against each other after the break-up of Yugoslavia. I was not seduced by the spectacle of war,โ Zbanic said. An ethnic Serb, Sladjan Tomic, said during the post-film discussion that he hopes those who still celebrate the perpetrators will watch the film.
UN official: Bosnia authorities expose migrants to suffering
A migrant washes himself in a river near the Croatian border near Kladusa, Bosnia, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020. A top U.N. official in Bosnia says local authorities expose migrants and refugees stuck in the country to needless suffering despite having access to funds to provide them with proper housing and assistance. Local authorities only allow me to have 500. For its part, Bosnia has repeatedly promised, and failed, to identify additional suitable public properties for temporary accommodation of migrants. Instead, decrying an alleged failure by other parts of the country to share the load of the lingering crisis, Krajina authorities recently begun emptying some of the existing reception centers there.
Bosnian Serbs honor late ex-official convicted of war crimes
SARAJEVO โ SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Bosnian Serb authorities on Wednesday held an official commemoration for a top former wartime leader, despite his war crimes conviction by a U.N. court. The gathering illustrates the continued Bosnian Serb denial of their wartime leadersโ role in the atrocities committed against non-Serbs during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia. A leading Bosnian Serb official, Milorad Dodik, who is the member of Bosnia's multi-ethnic presidency, praised Krajsnik's โhistoric roleโ in establishing the Serb entity in Bosnia, according to Bosnian Serb broadcaster RTRS. He was a close aide to Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, who was convicted of genocide by the Hague tribunal. Bosnian Serb forces took control of large swaths of Bosnian territory, expelling Bosniaks, who are mostly Muslims, and Croats from their homes and brutally killing thousands.
7 arrested in Bosnia over wartime killings of civilians
SARAJEVO โ SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Authorities in Bosnia on Wednesday arrested seven former Bosnian Serb military officers and troops who are suspected in the killing of 44 civilians during the 1992-95 Bosnian War. In all, nine people are suspected of killing the Bosniak civilians in September 1992 in the area of Sokolac, in southeastern Bosnia, the Bosnian prosecutorโs office said in a statement. Bosnian Serbs later blew up a local mosque in Novoseoci and threw its parts over the bodies at the dump area. The suspects detained Wednesday were members of the so-called โcrisis committeeโ that was formed when Bosnian Serbs took control of the area in 1992. Bosnian prosecutors said he will be questioned in prison in Poland.
Lawyer tells UN judges Mladic may not be fit for key hearing
FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017 file photo, Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic enters the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, to hear the verdict in his genocide trial. Mladic is appealing Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020 against his convictions for crimes including genocide committed throughout the 1992-95 Bosnian War. At a hearing last month, Mladic's legal team warned that the former general could be suffering from early stage dementia. His former political master, Radovan Karadzic, also was convicted of crimes including genocide for overseeing atrocities by Bosnian Serb forces during the war. His appeal was rejected almost in its entirety and judges raised his sentence from 40 years to life imprisonment.
Sarajevo's landmark hotel faces hard times amid pandemic
(AP Photo/Kemal Softic)SARAJEVO SARAJEVO, Bosnia-The bright yellow Hotel Holiday in downtown Sarajevo has seen good times and bad times in its 37-year history. Now the boxy landmark is in danger once again, with the coronavirus pandemic leaving it with few guests. Amid the pandemic, there are hardly any tourists or business travelers visiting the capital, leaving the hotel with many empty rooms. As journalists rushed to Sarajevo to cover the escalating tensions, the Holiday Inn became the place to be. The hotel survived through a lot, and I think that we will overcome this corona crisis, he said.
Survivors mark 25th anniversary of Srebrenica massacre
Women lean on a gravestone in Potocari, near Srebrenica, Bosnia, Saturday, July 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Kemal Softic)SREBRENICA SREBRENICA, Bosnia-Bosnia is marking the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, the only crime in Europe since World War II that has been declared a genocide, with only a small number of survivors allowed to take part in commemoration events due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Srebrenica massacre is the only episode of Bosnias 1992-95 war to be defined as genocide, including by two U.N. courts. Body parts are still being found in mass graves and are being put together and identified through DNA analysis. Newly identified victims are buried each year on July 11 the anniversary of the day the killing began in 1995 in the memorial cemetery just outside of Srebrenica.
25 years on: A look at Europe's only post-WWII genocide
In July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces massacred over 8,000 men and boys, an event that is officially marked on Saturday July 10, 2020. With Bosnian Serb troops taking control over eastern Bosnia which borders Serbia thousands of Bosniak Muslim refugees streamed into Srebrenica. Within the next 10 days, however, Bosnian Serb troops killed the male prisoners and hunted down many of those who tried to escape through the surrounding hills. In an attempt to hide the massacre, the Bosnian Serbs buried the bodies in mass graves, only to dig them out and move later. Bosnian Serbs, however, still largely deny the scope of the killings and refuse to acknowledge they amounted to a genocide.
With measures lifted, Balkans hit by coronavirus case spike
Serbia went from having very strict lockdown measures to a near-total lifting of the government's emergency rules. Serbia reported 71 new confirmed cases of infections on Thursday, compared to 18 new cases on June 1. The total number of confirmed cases in the country with about 2.1 million people stands at 3,364, including 164 deaths. Authorities in Albania reported reported 44 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the highest daily number so far and the third consecutive day with an increase. As of Wednesday, Albania had a total of 35 virus-related deaths and 1,385 confirmed cases.
Bosnia: Officials, firm owner arrested over ventilator deal
Civil protection workers move boxes of ventilators at the customs post in the Bosnia capital Sarajevo, Thursday, April 30, 2020. (AP Photo)SARAJEVO Bosnian authorities have detained two high-ranking state officials and the owner of a private company which imported 100 ventilators from China that were found to be useless for COVID-19 patients. The three are being investigated for money laundering, fraud, embezzlement of state funds and other crimes, the prosecutors were quoted as saying. The company owner has rejected accusations that he imported the ventilators at highly inflated prices. Bosnia, which went through a bloody civil war in the 1990s, is composed of the Muslim-Croat federation and a Serb entity.
Epidemiologist's COVID-19 death raises concern in Bosnia
Medical staff gesture in the triage unit of the Vrazova community health center in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Tuesday, April 7, 2020. โMy husband was not killed by the coronavirus, he was killed by our health care system,โ Elna Pasagic wrote in an open letter. Even before the pandemic Bosnia's health system was in poor shape, and the country has suffered severe doctor and nurse shortages since its 1992-95 civil war. Health care workers are underpaid, overworked and short on protective and medical equipment. โAll over the world people stay home to protect their public health care system, only we are staying home to protect ourselves from ours,โ Konakovic tweeted.