The Photographs of Clare Smart
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Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje: An historical context
In a census carried out in 1991, prior to the Bosnian War, the estimated population for the municipality of Gornji Vakuf consisted of some 25,500 persons. Of these, approximately 56% were Bosnian Muslims and 42% Bosnian Croat, with a further 2% identifying themselves as either Bosnian Serb, Yugoslav or other.
The town was directly affected by the conflict between Bosnian Croats and Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina which lasted between June 1992 and February 1994. Fighting between the two groups in Gornji Vakuf did not begin until January 1993 and coincided with the then ongoing negotiations surrounding the so-called “Vance-Owen peace plan”. The plan was drawn up by the UN Special Envoy Cyrus Vance and the EC representative Lord Owen. The plan proposed a division of Bosnia into ten semi-autonomous areas loosely based on ethnic population. Despite having a Bosnian Muslim majority, the municipality of Gornji Vakuf was designated to be put under the control of the Bosnian Croats, who renamed the town “Uskoplje” and demanded that all Bosnian forces accept coming under Croatian control. Although the plan was never implemented, it is thought by many to have contributed to the Bosnian-Croat conflict by instigating a land grab for territory which resulted in the ethnic cleansing of many.
Fighting in the actual town began in January 1993 when the Bosnian Croat Defense Council (HVO), supported by regular troops from the Croatian Army (HV) attacked the Bosnian Muslim Territorial Army (TO). The conflict saw intense urban fighting and the use of heavy mortars and artillery by Croatian forces resulted in the destruction of most of the central town area. A UN backed report by the International Management Group (IMG) in 1995 concluded that Gornji Vakuf-Uskople was one of the worst affected areas of the Bosnian War in terms of physical destruction with an estimated 80% of all buildings having been destroyed or severely damaged. Fighting between Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats in Gornji Vakuf and elsewhere in Bosnia ended in February 1994 under the Washington Agreement, a peace deal brokered by the Clinton administration between the leaders of the Bosnian, Bosnian Croat and Croatian governments. The agreement established the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the portion of Bosnia still governed jointly by Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats) with ten Swiss-styled cantons, designed to prevent dominance by one ethnic group over another.
The legacy of the war in Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje is deeply entrenched and complex. By the end of the Bosnian War in late 1995 the town had one of the largest concentrations of unexploded mines in all of Bosnia and the vast majority of infrastructure had been destroyed. People who had grown up together now found themselves dwelling in separate ethnic communities with the town split along the 1994 ceasefire line, each with its own system of government, schooling, fire department and the like. Since the ending of the war the town has been largely reconstructed and has gradually established a number of joint municipal institutions such as a unified police force, for example. Work is currently being undertaken to build a unified town hall and school but divisions still run deep amongst the competing nationalist political parties despite international efforts to promote reconciliation. Almost two decades after the beginning of the conflict few Bosnian Muslims or Croats ever venture to the other side of town as Gornji Vakuf and its Bosnian Croat sibling, Uskoplje, remain for the most part as divided and parallel halves of the same town.
Gornji Vakuf was the centre of the British UN peacekeeping forces (UNPROFOR) for much of the Bosnian conflict and post-war periods. The first British soldier to be killed during the UN mission in Bosnia was LCpl Wayne Edwards, who was killed whilst driving an armoured personnel carrier in Gornji Vakuf. The bridge where LCpl Edwards was killed was recently renamed in his honour by the local Bosnian authorities.
Clare Smart