The news of Ratko Mladic’s arrest in Serbia, almost 20 years since the beginning of the war is not a source of great euphoria in Bosnia and Herzegovina. No mass celebrations on the streets, not even big emotions.

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by Nidzara Ahmetasevic

Still, there is some sense of  relief amongst the public. But at the same time many people are just sad - being  reminded once again of everything they had to go through not only during the war, but of everything that came after: a country divided along ethnic lines, thousands of people still missing, hundreds of thousands of war invalids and post-traumatic stress syndrome – which still affects a huge part of the population...

Mothers of Srebrenica
The Association Mothers of Srebrenica gathered in Potocari, memorial site for  those killed in July 1995 when Mladic entered Srebrenica with his army. They expelled over 30,000 people, and killed more than 8,000. Kada Hotic was in Srebrenica on 11 July. She lost her son, two brothers and husband and is still looking for their remains. She lives alone in Srebrenica. “When I heard the news, I could not believe it. I recalled everything that happened in Srebrenica on 11 July. I could still see him in the front of my eyes... I hope he will get to The Hague and finally be put on trial,” Hotic said.

Women Victims of War
Bakira Hasecic is president of Women Victims of War, an association for rape victims. She is from Visegrad, a small town in eastern Bosnia from which she was expelled in 1992. Thousands of girls and women including Bakira were brutally raped in Visegrad and other parts of Bosnia. It is estimated that there were around 20,000 rape victims. Even men were raped in some of the concentration camps. “I started crying when I heard the news. Finally! Personally, I am happy. But, they could have done this before, only if there was a political will for something like this,” Bakira said.

Political move
Senad Avdic is editor of Sarajevo weekly Slobodna Bosna. Six months ago, it published a report that Mladic was in the area of Zrenjanin in Serbia, where he was arrested on 26 May. “The Serbian government found him at the same place where they left him,” Avdic said for Radio Sarajevo, expressing the opinion of many in Bosnia that this was just a political move by the Serbian government and that they knew for a long time where Mladic was.

Step to EU
Kemal Kurspahic, war-time editor for Sarajevo daily Oslobodjenje, in his column for Radio Free Europe, wrote how the Mladic arrest is an important step for  closing one chapter in the history in the Balkans. “This could also open up an important new chapter for reconciliation in the Balkans, but also for its integration into the EU,” Kusprahic wrote.