Returning to an ethnically diverse Bosnia

BY KATHERINE BOYLE, MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

[an earlier version was published by the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, and has been republished by The Bosnian Institute, a London-based organization that provides education and information on the history and culture of Bosnia-Herzegovina]

Overnight people became beasts.

Seida Karabasic can think of no other explanation for the beginning of the Balkan wars, which, in 1992, turned neighbor against neighbor in Prijedor, her municipality.

"Because it happened so quickly, a lot of people don't trust those of other ethnicities anymore," said Karabasic, who is ethnically Muslim or Bosniak. "They feel [the fighting] could happen again at anytime."

Across Bosnia, this distrust is evident not only in civilians' attitudes but in the ethnic makeup of communities as well. Many areas that were ethnically diverse before the war are now home to ethnically homogeneous communities.

The shift has been facilitated in part by the large number of Bosnians who were killed during the war or chose to flee the country. But another significant contributing factor has been the relocation of many Muslims, Orthodox Serbs and Roman Catholic Croats to different areas of Bosnia.  (More)

The Iraqi collaborator and his family's exit strategy

BY KATHERINE GLOVER, MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

After three years in the United States, 25-year-old Mohammed went back to his home in Baghdad, Iraq, to live with his mother and younger brother and sister.

He thought with Saddam Hussein gone, everything would be better. He didn't realize the city had fallen into violent chaos and his U.S. ties would put his family in danger.

This is the story of Mohammed's time in Iraq and his struggle to get his family safely to Syria.

He has asked that his last name not be used for the safety of his family.

To listen to the story, click on the screen.  (More)

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