'Sort of the Marshall Plan on a smaller scale...'
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — First came regular electricity and water at least once a day. Then trams and buses. Now, plastic sheeting on windows is being replaced with real glass, and Bosnians are starting to get roof tiles, pipes and concrete blocks to repair their homes. Six months after the warring parties agreed to cease fire, Bosnians have some trappings of pre-war life, from hot showers and nightly television to simple walks without fear of a sniper’s bullet.
“Everyone talks about reconstruction here, but I think the key is disaster recovery,” said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Matthews, who heads the NATO-led peace force’s program focusing on emergency relief.
The military has worked with international agencies on a host of small projects: restoring Sarajevo’s water capacity to 18,000 gallons of water per minute; powering the city’s main gas plant so it can provide regular service and add odor so people can smell leaks; restoring electricity to the eastern enclave of Gorazde for the first time since war started in 1992. “Every one of these things that you do in terms of disaster recovery become building blocks for reconstruction, plus it shows the people that there are benefits to peace,” Matthews said.
Spring Signals Start of Reconstruction
With winter snows melted, long-term reconstruction is about to begin. Some 55 nations gathering in Belgium today are being asked for an additional $1.2 billion this year alone. “I think it’s a vital conference for Bosnia,” said Klas Bergman, spokesman for the World Bank, which is co-sponsoring the two-day conference with the European Union.“This is a very, very big task that we’re taking on here. It’s sort of the Marshall Plan on a smaller scale,” said Bergman, referring to U.S. aid to Europe after World War II. Donors already have pledged more than $600 million toward this year’s $1.8 billion goal for reconstruction. Bergman said that is just the beginning. “Reconstruction of Bosnia will take a very long time. When you look at all the damage from the war, the closest estimate that we have is probably around $50 billion.”
'Like a marriage broker...'
Matthews said his organization acts like “a marriage broker” to bring people from the Muslim-Croat federation and the Bosnian Serbs together to discuss how they can work to restore water, electricity and telecommunications.But the Bosnian Serbs are refusing to install a switch that would allow telephone calls to be made between their territory and the Bosnian Federation. The Serbs also cut off water from a well serving one Sarajevo district, claiming they were doing repairs, but have not allowed NATO soldiers to visit the well.
Real reconstruction will take not only money, but also coordination among donors and a rebuilding of institutions, including Bosnia’s banking and finance system. “The real measure of success will be when international business people come here with three-piece suits and start making investments in this country,” Matthews said.
In the meantime, however, the emergency effort has improved life for thousands. Faweta and Ibro Bijavica, both in their mid-60s, got windows Thursday for the first time since the start of the war. Both the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees are financing major window restoration projects. His fifth-floor apartment, Bijavica said, would be much warmer Thursday night.
Bosnia's Billion Dollar Weekend
Strategy for U.S. Aid to Bosnia
Bosnian Serbs to Boycott Aid Meeting April 11
Bosnian Donors Told to Dig Deep April 11
The World Bank
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