ON THE SCENE OF FRENZY
Sarajevo: The day the time stopped
AIM, Sarajevo, February 8, 1994
On that day in Sarajevo, time stopped. Two-years- long suffering, millions of fired missiles, overcrowded city cemetaries, homes burnt to the ground, drama of the refugees..., all that condensed into a single 120 shell. And the horror it caused. Denoted as a "report", a scanty piece of news was sent into the world: it was registered precisely that 66 civilians were killed, and 197 were wounded by a shell which fell on the "Markale" market place in the very centre of Sarajevo. All the victims were civilians who were trying to ensure their daily survival in this tragic place, by selling or buying some food.
And that very morning, pilots of the NATO demonstrated their skill in the sky above the city, disturbing the unusual silence. Then suddenly, completely unannounced as always, death sparkled. The citizens lured to come out of their houses by the beautiful sunny day, once more served as targets.
The news about the massacre in the market place reached me in the office of Prime Minister Silajdzic just as I was trying to fix the time for an interview with his secretary. The telephone rang. Pale and with a shivering voice she just transmitted what she had just heard: "They hit the market. They say that there are so many dead that they are taking them away in truckloads".
It sounded exaggerated to us who thought that we had already seen it all in this war. Several minutes later, when I ran to the scene of the crime, I realized how mistaken I had been. It was one of those rare occasions when, being a journalist, you become aware how feeble words are to describe the horror which appears you can see right in front of you.
Can you imagine what torn human limbs scattered around market stalls look like? Or bodies without heads and parts of human flesh gathered in a heap? Can anyone who has not lived through it, picture to oneself the horrible scene of bodies shoved onto trucks which are taking them away? Pools of blood that hinder your feet like glue while you walk around the scene of frenzy?
No, there are no words that can describe this. Neither can photos nor TV films help. It was in vain that many TV companies censored the worst sights so as not to disturb the anyhow lulled conscience of their public and their statesmen. Those who are not part of this hell, simply do not wish to see, nor to conceive what is going on.
The sirens of the ambulances, screams and weeping of the relatives and friends were the only sounds in the streets of Sarajevo. The citizens of Sarajevo looked death in the eye many times, the emotions are long expended, but the most recent crime still exceeded everything seen so far. A scene still keeps running in front of my eyes: a lad finds torn legs underneath a stall, picks them up in his hands and takes them to the CNN cameraman to film them. Somebody's torn head stands on a nearby counter. Deformed, bloody... Can a man store these pictures in his consciousness and stay normal?
In the State Hospital, at the entrance, I find a nurse in a blood stained uniform trying to direct members of numerous families where they could find their wounded. I see fatigue and despair in her eyes. How many has she seen in the past months, how many has she sonsoled and sent away?
Only several hours after the massacre, reactions follow, freezing one's blood in one's veins, as probably those who had ordered this crime wished would happen. A Moslem radio-station "Hayat" carried emotional outbursts of Moslems, many of which called for reprisals and pogrom of the Serbs who are still living in Sarajevo. The journalist in the studio showed no intention whatever to cut such a course of the broadcast short and censor similar statements. Noone remembered to mention that among the killed, besides the Moslems, there were both Serbs and Croats, citizens of Sarajevo who share the same destiny.
In the meantime, the power-wielders promised investigation, the authorities in Sarajevo determined that the shell was shot from the Serbian positions in Mrkovici, the Serbian sources denied everything, as usual. The people commented, even before the investigation, that the UNPROFOR would disassociate itself and say that it cannot be assessed who was to blame for the latest massacre. Unfortunately, they were right, since the UNPROFOR officials certified that the mortar shell was shot from no-man's-land, that is, from neutral territory.
In such circumstances, a man can do nothing but wonder whether this is just an attempt to pacify the conscience of Boutros Ghali, the heads of the NATO, and of the Security Council, of European leaders, who have all, by now, due to their hesitation, become accomplices in the crime.
By tomorrow, the Sarajevo massacre will be pushed aside by some other piece of news. Maybe an earthquake, a flood or an sad information that, for instance, the English Queen has sprained her ankle...
The spectre of fascism is circling around Europe.
GORAN TODOROVIC