Tensions High in Along Boundary Lines
Running Through Some Sarajevo Apartments
SARAJEVO, May 11 (Reuters) — A 23-year-old Bosnian Muslim man was wounded in the chest on Friday in a shooting incident on the dividing line between Muslim-Croat and Serb parts of Sarajevo, two city newspapers reported on Saturday. The incident, reported by Oslobodjenje and Dnevi Avaz, occurred in the western suburb of Dobrinja where the exact location of the "inter-entity boundary line" is disputed and months of negotiations have failed to produce a compromize.NATO sources said shots had been fired and at least one hand-grenade thrown in Dobrinja on Friday evening. But they had no information about the wounding of Eldar Spahic, who was reported in "serious" condition by the Dobrinja clinic. The disputed boundary line divides Dobrinja, bisecting apartment blocks and even some individual apartments.
Residents on both sides of the line worry that a final adjudication of its location may force some of them to leave the flats they occupy or live under the administration of a rival ethnic group. Under the terms of the Dayton peace agreement, since the parties cannot agree on a rationalization of the line, the final decision rests in the hands of Admiral Leighton Smith, commander of NATO peace forces in Bosnia.
U.N. police who patrol the area have reported an increase in tensions as the boundary line dispute dragged on. Shots have been fired in both directions across the line and hand-grenades thrown on several occasions. The disputed area was once a fiercely contested front line all but the soldiers who fought there have returned to barracks and the skirmishes are reported to be between civilians, sometimes involving rival Muslim-Croat and Serb police.
Berserkistan, Mar 21 · Dobrinja, Former Olympic Village New Sarajevo Hotspot
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