2.3.
The Siege Explainer
Telecommunications
The aggressor blocked all telecommunications and destroyed the Post Office. The city was left without telephones, and communication with the outside world was rendered impossible. And the destruction of the city began.
Shelling
Every day, some 4,000 shells hit the city, and four million shells were fired at the city – targeting, among others, hospitals, schools, mosques, churches, synagogues, maternity hospitals, libraries, museums, and the places where the citizens stood in lines for bread and water.
Snipers
During the years of the siege, all the city streets were exposed to the most accurate sniper fire. Virtually every citizen of Sarajevo was the target. There was not a single 50-meter length of street that was not exposed to it. That was a special kind of terror: it was made clear that there was no freedom of movement and that no movement was permitted on the streets. Such a thing has never before been recorded in the history of an urban area, and the situation lasted for four years. “There was sniper fire anywhere we went. They preyed upon us like animals. When the snipers stop, you run. But once you cross the bridge, they start shooting again. Suddenly, you find yourself riveted to the spot: you're in the middle of the street, you're aware of what this street is, and suddenly, a sniper starts shooting, but you cannot move. It's just for a moment – then you move and go ahead.” The cemeteries were expanding.
Funerals
Frequently, or exclusively, the burials took place at night, and the first time, I naively took a flashlight, and everybody around me screamed, ‘A flashlight! Are you crazy? We will all get killed, turn it off!’ As I am a priest. I knew some prayers by heart so that I could perform funerals in the dark.” During the funerals, imams sometimes had to jump into the graves for shelter, so later, they started to perform burials at night – that way, fewer people were endangered; they tried to preserve as many lives as possible.
Food
The food supply was fast disappearing. UN humanitarian airlift began on 3 July 1992 to provide humanitarian supplies for Sarajevo. It was the longest airlift in the history of aviation, in modern warfare: 467 days longer than the one in Berlin. Each UNHCR or UNPROFOR plane brought 30 tons of food and first aid supplies to Sarajevo. Every citizen of Sarajevo was entitled to 1,250 grams of beans, 300 grams of sugar, 300 grams of oil and 1 kg of flour from humanitarian aid.
Water
The aggressor kept all the city water sources; the water supply was reduced from a total of 2,500 litres per second (l/s) before the war to a flow rate of 5 l/s coming from a small water source within the city and approximately 30-40 l/s from the Hrasnica source at the outskirts of the city.
Gas
All gas installations were beyond the siege lines. The aggressor cut all gas supply to the city; they simply closed all gas valves.
The Electricity Supply
The electricity supply was cut off. The Electro Distribution workers were doing their best to repair the transmission lines. It often happened that a transmission pole was raised only to be knocked down during the following night. The workers sometimes had to climb the same pole as many as 15 times to replace a damaged insulator.
The Sarajevo Tunnel
The Sarajevo Tunnel was constructed between March and June of 1993 during the siege of Sarajevo. The tunnel allowed food, war supplies, and humanitarian aid to enter the city and people to get out. In March 1996, after NATO air strikes and the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords, Sarajevo's blockade was lifted, and the city's peaceful reintegration was effected.