Siege of Sarajevo - Start of The War

Start of The War

On 2 March 1992, Serb paramilitaries set up barricades and sniper positions near Sarajevo's parliament building, but the threatened military coup d'état was thwarted by thousands of Sarajevo citizens who took to the streets in front of the snipers.

Following the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina's declaration of independence from Yugoslavia on 3 March 1992, sporadic fighting broke out between Serbs and government forces all across the territory. It continued through the run-up to Bosnia and Herzegovina's recognition as an independent state.

On 5 April, ethnic Serb policemen attacked police stations and then an Interior Ministry training school. The attack killed two officers and one civilian. The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared a state of emergency the following day. Later that day, Serb paramilitaries in Sarajevo repeated their action of the previous month. A crowd of peace marchers, between 50,000 and 100,000 comprising all ethnic groups, rallied in protest. As the largest section moved towards the parliament building, gunmen shot and killed two young women in the crowd, Suada Dilberović and Olga Sučić. They are regarded as the first casualties of the siege. Vrbanja Bridge, where they were killed, has since been renamed in their honor.

On 6 April, 12 European Community foreign ministers announced that their countries recognized the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Recognition by the United States followed the next day.

Shortly after the European Community recognized Bosnia and Herzegovina as a sovereign state, armed conflict broke out. The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) attacked the Ministry of Training Academy in Vrace, the central tramway depot and the Old Town district with mortars, artillery and tank fire, and also seized control of Sarajevo's airport. The Bosnian government had expected the international community to deploy a peacekeeping force following recognition, but it did not materialize in time to prevent war from breaking out across the country.

Serb and JNA troops overwhelmed the poorly equipped and unprepared government security forces to take control of large areas of Bosnian territory, beginning with attacks on Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) civilians in Eastern Bosnia. Serb military, police and paramilitary forces attacked towns and villages and then, sometimes assisted by local Serb residents, applied what soon became their standard operating procedure: Bosniak houses and apartments were systematically ransacked or burned; civilians were rounded up, some beaten or killed; and men were separated from the women. Many of the men were forcibly removed to prison camps. The women were incarcerated in detention centres in extremely unhygienic conditions and suffered numerous atrocious abuses. Many were repeatedly raped. Survivors testified that Serb soldiers and police would visit the detention centres, select one or more women, take them out and rape them.

On 22 April, a peace rally in front of the Republic Assembly building was broken up by shots that came from the Holiday Inn. By the end of April, the form of the siege was largely established.