, in this combination picture made April 4, 2012. Twenty years ago this Friday, April 6, 2012, the West recognised the Yugoslav republic as independent and Serb gunmen fired on peace demonstrators in Sarajevo, the opening salvo of a siege on the capital that would last for 43 months. Pictures taken August 2, 1993 and April 1, 2012.Reuters
, in this combination picture made April 4, 2012. Twenty years ago this Friday, April 6, 2012, the West recognised the Yugoslav republic as independent and Serb gunmen fired on peace demonstrators in Sarajevo, the opening salvo of a siege on the capital that would last for 43 months. Pictures taken August 2, 1993 and April 1, 2012.ReutersA United Nations peacekeeper stands at the construction site of a shelter in front of the damaged United Investment and Trading Company (UNITIC) Towers, and an Orthodox church in Sarajevo, in this picture taken in March 1993 (top), and cars pass by the renovated towers, April 1, 2012, in this combination picture made April 4, 2012. Twenty years ago this Friday, April 6, 2012, the West recognised the Yugoslav republic as independent and Serb gunmen fired on peace demonstrators in Sarajevo, the opening salvo of a siege on the capital that would last for 43 months. Pictures taken March 1993 and April 1, 2012.ReutersA Bosnian teenager carrying containers of water, walks in front of destroyed trams at Skenderia square in the besieged Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, in this file picture taken June 22, 1993 (top), and a woman passes through the same square, in this combination picture made April 4, 2012. Twenty years ago this Friday, April 6, 2012, the West recognised the Yugoslav republic as independent and Serb gunmen fired on peace demonstrators in Sarajevo, the opening salvo of a siege on the capital that would last for 43 months. Pictures taken June 22, 1993 and April 1, 2012.ReutersWorkers put up Bosnian and U.S. national flags ahead of a visit by U.S. President Bill Clinton in Sarajevo (top), in this file picture taken December 21, 1997, and the parliament building and National Museum are seen in Sarajevo April 1, 2012, in this combination picture made April 4, 2012. Twenty years ago this Friday, April 6, 2012, the West recognised the Yugoslav republic as independent and Serb gunmen fired on peace demonstrators in Sarajevo, the opening salvo of a siege on the capital that would last for 43 months. Pictures taken December 21, 1997 and April 1, 2012.ReutersA man carries a bag of firewood across a destroyed bridge near the burnt library in Sarajevo, in this file picture taken January 1, 1994 and a man carries a box over the same bridge, now repaired, April 1, 2012, in this combination picture made April 4, 2012. Twenty years ago this Friday, April 6, 2012, the West recognised the Yugoslav republic as independent and Serb gunmen fired on peace demonstrators in Sarajevo, the opening salvo of a siege on the capital that would last for 43 months. Pictures taken January 1, 1994 and April 1, 2012.ReutersA combination photo shows (upper) the wreckage of a tram in a street following shelling in the Skenderija district in Sarajevo March 1992 and (lower) a tram travelling along the same street in the Skenderija district in Sarajevo May 30, 2011. Sarajevo announced plans on Monday to open a museum of its brutal siege by Bosnian Serb forces, saying the approaching trial of their commander Ratko Mladic made it all the more important to display the evidence. The museum will open on the siege's 20th anniversary next year and organisers said the timing of the announcement, four days after Mladic's capture in Serbia after nearly 16 years evading war crimes charges, was coincidental but fortuitous. In the early 1990s, the Bosnian capital became a symbol of suffering of its citizens, who remained stuck in the city for 3-1/2-years under daily shelling by heavy artillery and snipers from nearby hills, without water, power and food.ReutersA combination photo shows (upper) a building burning after being shelled in the Pofalici district in Sarajevo April 1992, and (lower) the same building pictured May 30, 2011. Sarajevo announced plans on Monday to open a museum of its brutal siege by Bosnian Serb forces, saying the approaching trial of their commander Ratko Mladic made it all the more important to display the evidence. The museum will open on the siege's 20th anniversary next year and organisers said the timing of the announcement, four days after Mladic's capture in Serbia after nearly 16 years evading war crimes charges, was coincidental but fortuitous. In the early 1990s, the Bosnian capital became a symbol of suffering of its citizens, who remained stuck in the city for 3-1/2-years under daily shelling by heavy artillery and snipers from nearby hills, without water, power and food.ReutersThree boys run behind a Ukrainian United Nations (UN) armoured personnel carrier (APC) as it moves past a burnt-out tram in Skenderia square in the besieged Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, in this file picture taken August 10, 1993, and vehicles, including a tram, stop at a traffic light in the same square, April 1, 2012, in this combination picture made April 4, 2012. Twenty years ago this Friday, April 6, 2012, the West recognised the Yugoslav republic as independent and Serb gunmen fired on peace demonstrators in Sarajevo, the opening salvo of a siege on the capital that would last for 43 months. Pictures taken August 10, 1993 and April 1, 2012ReutersA combination photo shows (upper) a disused tank standing at a crossroad in front of a ruined building in the Kovacici district in Sarajevo February 1996 and (lower) people walking along the same road in the Kovacici district in Sarajevo May 30, 2011. Sarajevo announced plans on Monday to open a museum of its brutal siege by Bosnian Serb forces, saying the approaching trial of their commander Ratko Mladic made it all the more important to display the evidence. The museum will open on the siege's 20th anniversary next year and organisers said the timing of the announcement, four days after Mladic's capture in Serbia after nearly 16 years evading war crimes charges, was coincidental but fortuitous. In the early 1990s, the Bosnian capital became a symbol of suffering of its citizens, who remained stuck in the city for 3-1/2-years under daily shelling by heavy artillery and snipers from nearby hills, without water, power and food.Reuters
Friday, 6 April, marks the 20th anniversary of the start of the Bosnian War and the siege of Sarajevo. The conflict has since been condemned as one of the worst atrocities in Europe since World War II.
The war started in 1992 and went on for over three-and-a-half years, kiling 100,000 people. Approximately half of the country's population - 4.4 million - fled their homes. Since then, the Eastern European country has been struggling economically and to re-build the war-torn lands.
High unemployment rate and a large trade deficit remain causes for concern.
However, the Bosnians are a proud people... they are a hard-working people... and they have worked to restore some measure of normalcy and some progress to their homeland.
Check out this slideshow that gives you glimpses of the Bosnian War, ravaged country it left behind and the new world the Bosnians are creating
