Bridge Renovation Encourages Increased Cross-border and Interethnic Cooperation
For nearly a decade, cooperation between the communities of Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Bajina Basta, Serbia and Montenegro, has been virtually non-existent. Before the war, residents crossed the bridge dividing their communities to go to school, work or shop. Today the movement of goods, people and information is very limited due to time-consuming border crossing procedures, mistrust and prejudice. Very recently, Srebrenica’s Mayor, Mr. Abdurahman Malkic, a member of the Bosniak ethnic minority, has been instrumental in initiating cooperation between the communities despite having been imprisoned and beaten by Bajina Basta police following the fall of Srebrenica, the site of the worst acts of ethnic cleansing in Europe since World War II.
On November 3, 2004, the mayors from Srebrenica and Bajina Basta held an inauguration ceremony to mark completion of the renovation and opened the bridge for increased cross-border activity. USAID provided support for the installation of lighting and asphalting of the bridge through the Cross-Border Cooperation and Reconciliation activity of Catholic Relief Services. USAID mission directors from Belgrade, Sarajevo and the Regional Services Center in Budapest were on hand to lend their support to this groundbreaking partnership. This USAID activity was supported through Department of State Stability Pact funding.
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