Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the countries which emerged from the break-up of communist Yugoslavia. In Bosnia’s case, the birth-pangs were exceptionally long and painful. An American-led intervention in the late 1995 broke the fighting to a halt and cajoled the worrying parties into signing a peace agreement in Dayton, Ohio, which remade Bosnia as a loosely articulate State. Under the Dayton agreement, police by a large international peacekeeping force, nearly half Bosnia’s territory was assigned to a “Serb Republic” and the remaining to a federation dominated by Muslims and Croats. The idea was that a temporary partition would gradually give way to a more unitary state, with Muslims, Serbs and Croats rediscovering a common identity as citizens of Bosnia. Although peace has been maintained, the dream of rebuilding a multiethnic Bosnia has not been fulfilled. On the contrary, ethnic and religious divisions have hardened. For example, the Catholic Croats living in the South and West of Bosnia and Herzegovina now dream of having a political entity of their own just as the Serbs have. Islam is playing a bigger role in the life and consciousness of Bosnia’s Muslim community. Investments from Muslim countries like Turkey, Iran and Malaysia reinforcing the Islamic character of Muslim-dominated areas. At present Bosnia & Herzegovina is the only Muslim majority country in Europe. Soon Croatia and Serbia may join the European Union and Bosnia and Herzegovina could become a Muslim enclave in the heart of Europe. Meanwhile the Orthodox Christians Serbs dream of ever closer relation with their Serbian motherland. Against this background a new generation of Bosnians is struggling to come to turns with an ever-present past, a tough present and an uncertain future. To the great disappointment of those who hoped for the remaking of the cosmopolitan, liberal atmosphere of pre-war Sarajevo, the future promises to be ethnically divided.
Autonomous District of Brcko at the border between B&H and Croatia. The district is currently under British control after the last Bosnian War.
Zovki. Brcko District. Bosnia & Herzegovina. Crosses and pieces of a Catholic church that has been moved from Strepci to Zovki.
Strepci. Brcko District. Bosnia & Herzegovina. Ivana Nikolic at the border between B&H and Croatia. She lives in Strepci and studies in Osjek, Croatia.
Strepci. Brcko District. Bosnia & Herzegovina. Strepci is a small fully Catholic village up on the mountains near Brcko. Marco Nikolic is wearing a Croatian jumper together with a t-shirt of Che Guevara.
Brcko District. Bosnia & Herzegovina. Croatian flag in a teenager’s room