Sarajevo's most populous Serb suburb was a ghost town Tuesday when Muslim and Croat police took over, abandoned by residents who could not bear to be ruled by former battlefield foes.
But thousands of former residents, most of them Muslims and Croats driven out by Serbs during the war, infused new life into Ilidza Tuesday as they followed the police into town from the capital, Sara-jevo.Hundreds applauded as a new sign went up proclaiming the formerly Serb-held police building to be under the control of the Muslim-Croat federation that shares Bosnia with the Serbs.
Once home to about 20,000 Serbs, Ilidza was the largest of the five Serb suburbs that are being reintegrated into Sarajevo under the control of the Muslim-Croat federation that shares Bosnia with the Serbs.
A local Serb Red Cross official said Tuesday that more than 1,200 people remained in Ilidza. Most appeared to be elderly residents who lived there before the war.
The main street soon became a place where old friends and neighbors met for the first time in almost four years.
Slavko Savic, a 67-year old Serb, stood there surrounded by three prewar pals, two Muslims and a Croat.
When war began in 1992, Savic's two sons joined different armies, the younger one the Bosnian government army and the older the Bosnian Serb army.
"It was hard for me," Savic said. "My two sons were shooting at each other."
His older son and his wife left Ilidza few days ago as the time of the handover approached.
"But they will return in a few days," he said. "Many other people will return and mine and many other families will reunite again. Better days are coming for all of us."