In Bosnia, Fear Mounts Over Rising Ethnic Tensions
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 9 February 2022
⏱️ 13 minutes
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Summary
Brutal ethnic fighting left at least 100,000 dead in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s. The U.S. brokered peace there, but the fragile, multi-ethnic state is once again in crisis, as NPR's Frank Langfitt saw on a recent trip.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | As Russian troops continue to gather near the Ukrainian border, one big question looms. |
| 0:05.7 | Is Europe on the verge of a major land war? |
| 0:08.8 | The last big wars in Europe were three decades ago, fought over the future of the former Yugoslavia. |
| 0:15.2 | After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Bosnia Herzegovina held a vote on independence |
| 0:19.6 | in 1992. |
| 0:21.5 | With most ethnic Serbs boycotting the referendum, it was left to the majority of Muslims |
| 0:26.0 | and Croats to decide on the Republic's future. |
| 0:29.1 | Western government's fear the fragmentation of Bosnia could throw the Republic into |
| 0:33.2 | a civil war. |
| 0:34.2 | Those Muslims and Croats voted overwhelmingly for independence. |
| 0:38.0 | Bosnian Serbs responded by shelling the capital Sarajevo from the mountains above. |
| 0:43.1 | They forced Bosniaks or Bosnian Muslims from their homes and into detention camps. |
| 0:48.0 | A British-based human rights group claims civilians had been executed in 11 Serb-controlled |
| 0:53.0 | camps. |
| 0:54.0 | They also alleged torture, rape, starvation and murder as part of the so-called ethnic cleansing policy. |
| 0:59.8 | More than 100,000 people were killed before the US eventually broke her peace. |
| 1:04.6 | The presidents of Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia have made a historic and heroic choice. |
| 1:14.0 | They want to stop the slaughter. |
| 1:16.1 | They want to put an end to the violence and war. |
| 1:18.8 | They want to give their children and their grandchildren a chance to lead an normal life. |
| 1:25.8 | Consider this. |
| 1:26.8 | Bosnia faded from the headlines, but the ethnic tensions there never really went away. |
... |
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