When Elephants Fight (13 page)

Bosnia-Herzegovina had declared independence because it feared it would be dominated by the Serbs, who now formed a clear majority of the population, once the other republics declared independence. Those Serbian members of this newly declared country now feared that they would be dominated by the other groups who would be the majority of the population in Bosnia-Herzegovina. A war broke out which pitted the Serbs, supported by Yugoslavia, against the Croats, supported by Croatia and the Bosniaks. This conflict, which went from April, 1992, until the signing of the Daytona Peace Accord in November, 1995, effectively divided Bosnia-Herzegovina into two separate sub-states, one primarily composed of Serbs and the other Bosniaks. The conflict resulted in close to 100,000 deaths and 1.8 million people being displaced.

Sarajevo became the capital of one of the states, the Croat-Bosniak Federation. It is estimated that during the siege of Sarajevo at least 10,000 citizens, including 1,500 children, were killed, tens of thousands of others were wounded and hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee their homes to take up a new life elsewhere.

The three primary religions in the region are Islam, Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic.

The Orthodox Church
—It has over 200 million adherents and is the primary religion in many Eastern European countries, including
Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro and Serbia. It considers itself the original church of Christ and the one that most closely maintains the traditions and teachings of the early church.

The Roman Catholic Church
— It is the largest of the Christian denominations with over one billion adherents throughout the world and is the dominant religion in many Western European countries, including Italy, France, Spain and Portugal. It is centered in the Vatican, in Italy, and is under the authority of the pope. It was created after differences with the Orthodox Church, and formally subdivided in the eleventh century. There was a further schism in the fifteenth century with the creation of the Protestant movement, which presently is the second largest Christian faith with 590 million adherents.

Islam
—It is the second largest religion in the world with 1.4 billion adherents worldwide. It follows the teachings of the Qur'an, which was established by Muhammad in the seventh century. It has two main subgroups, the Sunni and Shi'a sects, which have divided into other groupings. Islam recognizes many of the prophets of the Bible, including Adam, Noah and Moses and believes that Jesus was a prophet, but that Muhammad was the final prophet.

The similarities between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church are much more significant than the differences. In fact, all Christian denominations, as well as Islam and Judaism, have common roots. All three religions share Abraham/Ibrahim as one of the most important prophets. However, despite their common threads, the three consider themselves to be inherently and fundamentally incompatible concerning their ideas about God and faith.

Yugoslavia was an ethnically diverse country with no one group forming a clear majority of the population. Within the country, however, there were many places where one group did form a clear majority. When different regions of the country declared independence this decision was based on that region feeling that it was ethnically different from the country as a whole. Within these regions, there was most often one group that did, in fact, form a clear majority. The members of the minority groups often migrated to a place where they would no longer be the minority.

Some of this migration could be described as voluntary. Prior to the declaration of independence, or subsequently, these people decided they did not wish to be part of the newly created country or in a part of the country where they would be in a minority. It is important to note that even if the decision to move was “voluntary,” it was often fueled by fear of persecution, violence or even death. People made a decision to move before they were forced to move— or were killed.

Unlike other regions that declared independence, Bosnia and Herzegovina had no clear ethnic majority: varioius ethnic groups lived in every region of the country. Close to half of the population of Bosnia, 1.8 million people in a total population of 3.9 million people, were displaced by the war.

At the time the conflict started in Sarajevo in 1991, the population was 50 percent Bosniaks, 34 percent Serbs and 7 percent Croats. In 1997 the population was 87 percent Bosniaks, 5 percent Serbs and 6 percent Croats.

The term “ethnic cleansing” has become synonymous with the conflict in Yugoslavia. Members of minority groups were beaten and had their homes, schools and churches/mosques attacked or destroyed. The “field was cleaned” of the minority group to allow the majority group to take over the land or to eliminate the possibility of support for the opposing armed forces. In the Bosnian conflict, there were regular forces made up of armies and militias and there were guerilla groups comprised of civilians. The Chinese revolutionary leader, Mao Zedong, stated that a guerilla fighter “must move among the people as a fish swims in the sea.” Ethnic cleansing drained the sea, giving the fighter no place to hide.

When an individual is killed because of his or her ethnicity, it is called a hate crime. When large numbers of people are killed for this reason, it is called genocide. Genocide is defined by the United Nations as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.” It is a crime under international law. The United Nations determined that genocide did take place during the Bosnian conflict. While they did not assign blame to any one country, they have brought criminal charges against individual military leaders of the Serbian-supported armed forces and militia.

Toma helped her mother bring out the food for the midday lunch. As the oldest daughter in the home, at nine years of age, she was responsible for helping with the meals. They set down the bowls and the big pot on the table, which sat in the shade under the big tree in the courtyard of their compound.

Her mother, Arbaba, began filling the bowls with the sweet-smelling porridge, made with sorghum, onions, okra, all in a tomato sauce. Everything in the meal was grown on the land farmed by her father. Toma passed the bowls to her family who were already seated.

The first bowl, the biggest of course, went first to her father, Khamis. He was not only a successful farmer and the head of their family, but he was the chief of the village. He was the person to whom everyone came for advice, to solve disputes or, if an agreement could not be reached, to finally make the decision that all would abide by. He was known as being fair and honorable, and he was, in some ways, like the father for the entire village.

Next Toma put bowls down for her brothers. First, came Sadam 11, then Amed 7, and Malik, who was 6. After serving the males, she served her sister, Sayeda, who was 8. Finally she placed a bowl before her mother's place and the last one for herself.

Toma was sad that they couldn't be at school today. They hadn't been to school for weeks. It wasn't close. They would leave at seven in the morning, taking some of the family's donkeys, and ride for two hours. Then, after being in school for four hours, they would ride back. It wasn't the distance that was stopping them now, though, it was the danger.

Armed men, roving gangs of militia, known as the Janjaweed, attacked members of the tribal groups. Villages were raided, burned to the
ground, people killed, kidnapped or raped. And it was rumored that these men were supported by the government soldiers who were supposed to be protecting the villagers.

Toma, right, in Forbranga, a refugee camp on the border with Chad
.

For Toma these were all just stories. In her village all was quiet and calm and peaceful. It was as it always was. She couldn't imagine any of those things happening here. Her father wouldn't allow anything bad to happen.

With the meal finished, the girls began cleaning up and the boys began to hook up the water containers to three of the donkeys. They were going to bring water up to the house from one of the village wells. That's when they heard the sounds. It was faint at first, like a popping sound... then it got louder. It was gunfire.

They stopped and turned to stare at their father. He'd know what to do. He looked scared. Now Toma was scared.

“Everybody into the huts!” he yelled.

Toma froze in place, unable to comprehend what was going on, unable to move. “Everybody, hide in the huts!” her father yelled. Still she didn't move.

The sound of the gunfire got louder, and she could hear screams
and the horses' hooves pounding against the ground, but still she couldn't move.

Toma was practically yanked off her feet as her mother grabbed her by the hand and pulled her and Sayeda into the girls' hut. Their father led the boys into the hut where the boys slept. They were two little structures, made of branches and straw, that sat on either side of a small building constructed of brick and stone where her parents slept.

As they scrambled into the hut, Toma looked back, trying to see over the fence that surrounded their whole compound. Straw and branches could keep the chickens in and wild animals out...but what good would it be against men on horses?

“Quickly, get under the mattresses, hide under the beds!” her mother yelled.

Both girls began crying, and their mother grabbed Sayeda and forced her to hide, piling the mattress and blankets and clothing on top of her until she had disappeared completely. Toma suddenly felt so exposed, so vulnerable, and she too scrambled under her bed. She felt her mother piling things on top of her.

“Both of you stop crying!” their mother yelled. “If they find you they will kill you!”

Hearing those words, the sobs got caught in her throat. She was terrified but knew she needed to be silent. She placed a hand against her mouth, trying to force the sound to stay inside of her.

The silence inside the hut only made the sounds outside even louder. There were tremendous shrieks and screaming, punctuated by rapid loud gunfire, all against the background of the horses' hooves, so loud that it was almost as if she could feel the earth trembling under her. She tried to picture the scene outside but knew she couldn't allow that. She closed her eyes tightly and covered her ears, blocking out the sound, trying to pretend that none of this was real, that none of this was happening... but she knew.

The adults of the village tried to keep things away from the children, but Toma was old enough to not only hear the hushed stories but to understand what was being said. Even worse, she had seen strangers passing through her village—people who had had their homes burned and their livestock taken. Just then she thought of the four family donkeys that were tied up just outside the gate. What was going to happen to the donkeys? No, forget the donkeys, what was going to happen to her family...what was going to happen to her?

She wasn't sure of the passage of time. It seemed like she lay there under the mattress for hours.
The sounds started to fade, and then there was silence. Finally she heard movement in the hut and was relieved to hear her father's voice, calling for them to come out. She pushed away the blankets and covers, and the mattress was lifted off of her.

“Are they gone?” she whispered to her father.

He nodded, and she felt an instant sense of relief.

“They are gone,” he said. “For now.”

Her sense of relief vanished, replaced by the fear she had just experienced.

Outside the hut, everything seemed the same. The sun was still shining brightly overhead and the bowls were still there on the table where they'd been left. There was no sight or sound of anything...there was no sound at all. It was just silent, as though even the wind had stopped blowing and was holding its breath, waiting, watching, wondering.

It was then that she noticed the smoke rising into the sky, thick and black. Her father had noticed as well. They followed behind him as he went through the gate of their fence. The donkeys that had been tied to the fence were gone. Looking beyond that she searched for the cattle that had been grazing. They were gone as well. Maybe they'd just been spooked and had run off. She could hope, but she knew that when the Janjaweed came they often took all of the livestock. She was grateful that the
goats and sheep and chickens that were inside the fence were still safe, and she hoped that the animals at the farm would be all right.