Streets of Zagreb resurrect memories

ZAGREB, Croatia - Omar Velagic was last in this ancient city in 1991, when Yugoslavia was a united country at the end of more than four decades of peace.

At first blush, Donji Grad, a fashionable older section of this capital, reminded him of his serene childhood in Sarajevo, about 220 miles to the south.

"It was just like this when I was a kid - well-dressed people walking in the streets, nice restaurants and shops," said Mr. Velagic, 21, a Bosnian now living in Loveland, Ohio. "I can't believe I'm here again."

In this city of 700,000, now the capital of an independent Croatia, people still sit in cafes drinking coffee and talking of soccer or the cold weather. Elderly women still sell flowers in the main squares.

But beneath Zagreb's peaceful veneer, Omar glimpsed the former Yugoslavia as it is now: shattered by four years of war.

"The last time I landed in Zagreb, I remember being so excited because I was returning to my home country of Yugoslavia. Now, I need a (Bosnian) passport."

Zagreb's main square, Trg Republike under Communist Yugoslavia, has been renamed Trg Bana Josip Jelacica, after a 19th-century Croat nationalist whose equestrian statue stands in the square. The red, white and blue checkered banners of the new Croat republic hang from lampposts and shop signs.

Croatian television constantly broadcasts developments from neighboring Bosnia, along with footage of the fledgling Croatian army in training. Speeches on the Croatian parliament floor focus on whether the Dayton, Ohio, peace agreement - now enforced by more than 60,000 NATO troops - will last in Bosnia.

The Tuesday edition of Vesnik, a leading Croat newspaper, featured the editorial "Croatia and Serbia: forever enemies or partners?"

In 1991, parts of Yugoslavia, including Croatia and Bosnia, declared independence from the conglomerate country. Serbian minorities in both Croatia and Bosnia rebelled against the break-up.

Only last year did Croat forces drive well-armed Serbs from about a third of the new country and end serious fighting. For now, the Dayton peace accord, signed in November, has halted fighting in Bosnia, where more than 200,000 people died in the war.

For four years, Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, Omar's home city, was under siege by the Bosnian Serb army. Many Sarajevans died from sniper fire, artillery attacks and starvation.

He has come from Ohio to Zagreb so he can catch a NATO transport plane into Sarajevo, one of the few safe ways to get into the Bosnian capital these days. He is set to return to his home city - for the first time since the war began - today. He will be accompanied by two Enquirer staff members.

Both sets of Omar's grandparents, along with other relatives and friends, have spent the entire war trapped in Sarajevo, and he has come to check on their health and well-being. Omar, his parents Nerman and Sanja, and his brother Miro have spent the war in the Cincinnati area. His father was transferred to Cincinnati for his job just before the war erupted in April 1992.

While waiting for a transport flight to be secured, Omar walked the streets of Zagreb Wednesday, taking in what has changed and what has remained the same. He saw and heard many people speaking Serbo-Croatian in the distinct accent of Sarajevo.

During the war, hundreds of thousands of Bosnian refugees fled to Croatia. Many ended up in Zagreb, and now many are desperate for work. As Omar walked the city Wednesday, he saw two young Bosnians thrown off a trolley for trying to sneak on without buying tickets.

"We just got here," one man told the conductor in Serbo-Croatian. "We don't have any money."

He also has seen hundreds of foreign troops in camouflage fatigues - NATO soldiers from the United States and 30 other countries, using Zagreb as a main staging area for their operation in neighboring Bosnia. NATO trucks and jeeps muscle into Zagreb's press of traffic.

Late Wednesday, Omar called his maternal grandparents, Muhamid and Zehra Santic, who still have an operating telephone. They told him Sarajevo is quiet these days with the arrival of NATO. Basic services - such as electricity, hot water and telephones - have been getting better every day since the peace agreement, they said.

But U.S. Army Lt. Lee Bloom, a media accreditation officer at NATO's IFOR (Implementation Force) Headquarters, who has served in Kuwait and Somalia, said she was shocked when she recently visited Sarajevo.

"You will not believe what you see," she said. "The entire place has been destroyed. You just can't believe it until you see it."

Published Feb. 1, 1996