Safe Area Goražde: The War in Eastern Bosnia, 1992-1995

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death and religious discrimination.

Safe Area Goražde explores the Bosnian War. The conflict began in 1992 after the dissolution of modern Yugoslavia in the years after the death of its leader Josep “Tito” Broz. Tito had kept ethno-nationalist fervor at a minimum, but in the power vacuum that opened after his passing, ethnic tensions in the region worsened. In the early 1990s, Bosnia and Herzegovina began to experience rising divisions between the Muslims, Croats, and Serbs.

The Serbs, supported by Serbia, began to plan for war. They created what were called “Serb Autonomous Regions” and began to stockpile arms. In areas such as eastern Bosnia, where Goražde is located, the local population became divided. When fighting broke out between Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Muslims and Croats, eastern Bosnia became especially vulnerable. Goražde contained a large Muslim population but was quickly surrounded by Serb forces, turning the town into an enclave. The UN offered aid and declared areas like Goražde “safe areas,” but their efforts did not succeed. Srebrenica was eventually overrun and subject to brutal ethnic cleansing. Throughout the war, Goražde became the destination for many refugees while constantly fighting against Serb forces. Peace talks only began after NATO committed to airstrikes against the Serbs.

In 1995, a ceasefire was declared, and an agreement was eventually reached. The new map of Bosnia created two separate entities within the country, one for Serbs and one for Bosnian Muslims. Though Goražde largely fell into Serbian territory, a small corridor was carved into Srpska territory to keep the town connected to Bosnia. In the aftermath of the war, the international community prosecuted some of the major figures whom Sacco includes in Safe Area Goražde, such as Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić, Serbian president Slobodan Milošević, and Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladić, for ethnic cleansing and other war crimes.