SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina - Muslim-Croat Federation police drove into the former Serb district of Grbavica Tuesday, uniting Sarajevo after nearly four years of war and ending the looting, arson and terror campaign of Serb gangs.
A force of 100 police took control of the neighborhood just across the Miljacka River from Sarajevo's historic center shortly after 6 a.m. local time (11 p.m. MST Monday).Three hours later, thousands of people surged across the Brotherhood and Unity Bridge into Grba-vi-ca, led by five men carrying the white and blue Bosnian flag. There were hugs, kisses and tears of joy as families separated by four years of war were reunited.
What they found was a muddy landscape of urban desolation: burned and blackened buildings, trash-strewn streets and smashed kiosks. But it didn't dampen emotions.
Abdulah Alajbegovic, a 57-year-old Muslim, and his wife, Mileva, a 64-year-old Serb, watched with relief as the first group of police lined up in front of their apartment building.
"For me, the last four years were hell," he said. "Today is my second birthday, like I've been born again."
Until Tuesday, the couple had barricaded themselves in their apartment as Serbs rampaged outside.
Nearby, Interior Minister Avdo Hebib unveiled a blue sign designating a federal police station in Grbavica and declared "the reintegration of Sarajevo into its historic unity."
He said the ethnically mixed police force would protect citizens regardless of their ethnicity.
Fearing for their safety under control of their wartime enemies, most Serbs fled Grbavica, as they have from four Sarajevo suburbs turned over earlier.
For those intending to remain, the transfer of power was a dangerous period. In the days before the deadline, they faced arson and looting by Serbs. After earlier transfers, Muslim and Croat thugs terrorized Serbs who remained in the suburbs, drawing criticism from NATO officials.
In the final hours, departing Serbs tossed grenades and set more buildings ablaze before fleeing Grbavica. NATO-led troops seized 12 arsonists and a Bosnian Serb policeman who tried to rape a woman at gunpoint Monday, but Serb police freed them im-me-di-a-tely.
Federal police were overwhelmed by the early throng pouring into Grbavica but later started checking identity papers to keep out people without homes or relatives in the area.
International police gave out leaflets warning people of land mines and possible booby traps.
A woman who returned to her apartment Tuesday with federal police narrowly escaped injury when an explosive device went off in a closet.
"Fortunately, they had enough time to throw themselves to the floor, and the thing exploded, blowing out the windows and showering shrapnel all over the place," said Kris Janowski, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. Nobody was injured.
A Serb was wounded in the legs when he stepped on a mine left outside the apartment of his Muslim girlfriend, Janowski said.
Grbavica saw some of the heaviest fighting of the war. Neighbor shot neighbor and Serb gunners terrorized the government-held part of town from the tall buildings and heights.
That made Grbavica's transfer more poignant for Sarajevans than the surrender of the four other, outlying areas since Feb. 23.
But the Serb exodus has turned Sarajevo from a haven of ethnic coexistence into a much more Muslim town.
Of the 60,000 Serbs who lived in the five areas before the war, Janowski said only about 11,000 remain.
"Sarajevo became one city again today, which is good news," Janowski said. But "it is quite sad and deplorable that one of the first consequences of the Dayton accord was a new displacement of people."