Martin Bell Report from the Frontlines above Sarajevo

Call Number
350-1-1:559/2

General information

Call No.:
350-1-1:559/2
Part of series
HU OSA 350-1-1 Records of the International Monitor Institute: Europe: Balkan Archive
Located at
BetaSP PAL #559 / No. 2
Digital ver. identifier
HU_OSA_00000559
Date of air
1992-04-25
Date
1992
Level
Item
Primary Type
Moving image
Language
English
Duration
2 min.

Content

Form/Genre
Television program
Contents Summary
Martin Bell reports from the frontlines above Sarajevo on the morning of the Orthodox Easter celebration. Three weeks into the bloodshed of civil war, it is evident that all the communities near Sarajevo have suffered, the Muslims perhaps most of all. The Bosnian Serbs and the Federal army attacked a village near the airport, hitting a mosque and killing eight of its residents. The leader of the Bosnian Serbs, Radovan Karadzic, embarked on a peace offensive before leaving for a peace conference in Lisbon. Karadzic states that Bosnian Serbs would have taken Sarajevo if they did not believe in a diplomatic solution. To make his point, Radovan Karadzic took the BBC crew on a tour of the Serbs' frontline positions overlooking Sarajevo. The purpose of this visibility exercise was to show that the Serbs were observing the cease fire in the region and that they intend to go on doing so. "We don't shoot. We try just to keep peace and not to control the surrounding of Sarajevo," said Karadzic, while paying a visit to the Bosnian Serb military position overlooking Sarajevo. Asked by a reporter if the Bosnian Serbs could take the city the next day, he replied: "Any time." The Serbs say they are willing to negotiate about anything, but if the Muslims want war, they can have the war, and the city is indefensible. Other footage includes an Easter morning liturgy in an Orthodox Christian church near Sarajevo, a grave site adjacent to a mosque in a village near the airport in Sarajevo, and a panorama of the city of Sarajevo as seen from the Bosnian Serb military position on hills above the city.

Context

Associated Names
BBC (Producer)