Editing Siege of Sarajevo (section)

==Aftermath==
===Casualties===
[[File:Sarajevo martyrs memorial cemetery 2009 2.jpg|thumb|right|The Martyrs' Memorial Cemetery Kovači for victims of the war in [[Stari Grad, Sarajevo|Stari Grad]]]]
[[File:Sarajevo – Kovači memorial 2.jpg|thumb|right|Names of all victims on a wall next to Kovači Cemetery]]
The besieged population comprised not only Bosniaks and Croats, but also Serbs that had remained in the town and who were killed by fire from the besieging VRS forces. The 1991 census indicates that before the siege the city and its surrounding areas had a population of 525,980. There are estimates that prior to the siege the population in the city proper was 435,000. Estimates of the current population range between 300,000 and 380,000. In 1994, a report filed on the total number of deaths over a span of 315 days concluded that 2,474 people died, with an average of approximately eight killed in the city per day. A report on the total number of wounded over a span of 306 days concluded that 13,472 were wounded, an average of approximately 44 per day. This same report estimated the number of people killed or missing in the city to be nearly 10,000, including over 1,500 children. An additional 56,000 people were wounded, including nearly 15,000 children.<ref name="UNCOE" /> A report produced by the ICTY after the war put the death toll of the siege at 4,548 [[Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina|ARBiH]] soldiers and 4,954 Sarajevan civilians killed.<ref>{{cite web| publisher=ICTY|
url=http://www.icty.org/x/file/About/OTP/War_Demographics/en/slobodan_milosevic_sarajevo_030818.pdf| author=Demographic Unit, OTP|title=Death Toll in the Siege of Sarajevo, April 1992 to December 1995: A Study of Mortality Based on Eight Large Data Sources| id=IT-02-54| date=18 August 2003| access-date=1 August 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| publisher=BBC| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13561407| title=Ratko Mladic arrested: Bosnia war crimes suspect held| date=26 May 2011| access-date=1 August 2013}}</ref> The Research and Documentation Center in Sarajevo (RDC) found that the siege left a total of 13,952 people dead: 9,429 Bosniaks, 3,573 Serbs, 810 Croats and 140 others. Of these, 6,137 were ARBiH soldiers and 2,241 were soldiers fighting either for the JNA or the VRS.<ref name="rdc" /> On the other hand, according to historian Smail Čekić, the ARBiH suffered 3,587 casualties within the besieged city of Sarajevo, with 1,114 soldiers being killed in 1992 alone.<ref name="Cekic">{{cite book |last1=Čekić |first1=Smail |title=Monografija 1. Korpusa |location=Bosnia |url=http://www.institut-genocid.unsa.ba/userfiles/file/monografija_1Korpus_DIGITAL_optimizirano.pdf |pages=390–392 |access-date=19 February 2024 |archive-date=15 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240515213117/http://institut-genocid.unsa.ba/userfiles/file/monografija_1Korpus_DIGITAL_optimizirano.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{failed verification|date=May 2024}} The RDC estimates that a total of 5,434 civilians were killed during the siege, including 3,855 Bosniaks, 1,097 Serbs and 482 Croats. More than 66 percent of those killed during the siege were Bosniaks, 25.6 percent were Serbs, 5.8 percent were Croats and 1 percent were others. About 14.5 percent of all Bosnian War fatalities occurred in besieged Sarajevo.<ref name="rdc" /> Officials of the [[Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina]] have estimated that at least 150 Sarajevan Serb civilians were killed by government forces, while some nationalistic groups among Serbs and Republika Srpska officials have put the number at "many thousands". However, efforts to substantiate Bosnian Serb claims have been unconvincing.<ref>{{cite book| last=Donia| first=Robert J.| title=Sarajevo: A Biography| publisher=University of Michigan Press| year=2006 |isbn=978-0-472-11557-0|page=323}}</ref>

[[UNICEF]] reported that of the estimated 65,000 to 80,000 children in the city, at least 40% had been directly shot at by snipers; 51% had seen someone killed; 39% had seen one or more family members killed; 19% had witnessed a massacre; 48% had their home occupied by someone else; 73% had their home attacked or shelled; and 89% had lived in underground shelters. It is probable that the psychological trauma suffered during the siege will bear heavily on the lives of these children in the years to come. As a result of the high number of casualties and the wartime conditions, there are makeshift cemeteries throughout Sarajevo and its surrounding areas. Parks, athletic fields and other open spaces were utilized as graveyards. One such site is the sports complex built for the [[1984 Winter Olympics]]. A 1994 report stated that "the siege has also had a profound effect on the psyche and future of the city's population. The Bosnian Government has reported a soaring suicide rate by Sarajevans, a near doubling of abortions and a 50% drop in births since the siege began."<ref name="UNCOE" />

A memorial with the names of 521 children killed during the siege was unveiled on 9 May 2010. The cases of another 500 children are being verified.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=3006345 |title=Sarajevo unveils memorial for children killed during siege |author=Agence France-Presse |date=9 May 2010 |newspaper=National Post |access-date=10 May 2010 }}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

[[File:Mezarje Stadion Cemetery.jpg|thumb|center|800px|Mezarje Stadion Cemetery, Patriotske lige, [[Sarajevo]].]]

===Structural and property damage and destruction===

[[File:Sarajevo Grbavica.JPG|thumb|left|Heavily damaged apartment buildings near [[Vrbanja bridge]] in the [[Grbavica (Sarajevo)|Grbavica]] district on the left bank of the [[Miljacka]] river, on Zagrebačka street]]
The structural and property damage in Sarajevo as a result of the siege included specifically protected targets such as hospitals and medical complexes, medical facilities (including ambulances) and medical personnel, as well as cultural property, such as the manuscript collection of the [[Oriental Institute in Sarajevo]], one of the richest collections of Oriental manuscripts in the world.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wjfBaNW1i4EC&pg=PA62 |title=Libraries in open societies&nbsp;... – Google Books |isbn=9780789019684 |access-date=5 August 2010|last1=Leich |first1=Harold M. |year=2002 |publisher=Psychology Press }}</ref> For foreigners, an event that defined the besiegers' cultural objectives occurred during the night of 25 August 1992. This was the bombardment – with incendiary shells – that resulted in the total destruction of the irreplaceable National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the central repository of Bosnian written culture and a major cultural center for all the Balkans. Among the losses were about 700 manuscripts and incunabula, and a unique collection of Bosnian serial publications, some from the middle of the 19th-century Bosnian cultural revival. Libraries all over the world cooperated afterwards to restore some of the lost heritage, through donations and e-texts, rebuilding the Library in cyberspace.

[[File:Evstafiev-bosnia-cello.jpg|thumb|right|[[Vedran Smailović]] playing in the partially destroyed [[National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina|National Library]] in Sarajevo in 1992]] [[File:Dobrinja in 1996.JPEG|thumb|Destruction in Sarajevo's [[Dobrinja]] district photographed after the siege]]

Also unjustified by any military necessity, and equally prohibited, were the attacks on civilian property. The Bosnian government estimated that shelling destroyed over 10,000 apartments and damaged over 100,000 others. Of the other buildings in the city, 23% were reported as seriously damaged, 64% as partially damaged and 10% as slightly damaged. In its report, the [[Council of Europe]]'s Committee on Culture and Education commented on the structural damage in the city.<ref name="UNCOE" /> The Committee stated:

{{blockquote|It is plain that Sarajevo has suffered badly at the hands of its attackers. Apart from the obvious human cost in the continued suffering and difficulties of day to day living, there has been serious damage to the urban fabric. The infrastructure (drainage, electricity, telephone services, etc.) is badly damaged. Most buildings are damaged significantly and probably all buildings are damaged to a greater or lesser degree (broken glass etc.). Some buildings have been completely destroyed including ancient monuments (such as the Library) and including a number of modern steel framed buildings (such as the Unis Building) which in some cases have simply collapsed. 35,000 dwellings are also assessed to have been destroyed during the past year.<ref name="UNCOE" />}}

Sarajevo has made a substantial recovery in terms of the number of buildings that have been fully restored and reoccupied. However, as of 2017, many buildings remained heavily damaged and scarred.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A City that Doesn't Forget: Sarajevo Thirty Years after the War |url=https://www.sah.org/community/sah-blog/sah-blog/2022/07/08/a-city-that-doesn-t-forget-sarajevo-thirty-years-after-the-war |access-date=2022-12-13 |website=Default}}</ref>

Although the city had been a model for inter-ethnic relations,{{citation needed|date=July 2015}} the siege brought dramatic population shifts. In addition to the thousands of refugees who left the city, many Sarajevo Serbs left for the Republika Srpska, and the percentage of Serbs in Sarajevo decreased from more than 30% in 1991 to slightly over 10% in 2002.{{citation needed|date=July 2015}} Regions of [[Novo Sarajevo]] that are now part of the Republika Srpska have formed [[East Sarajevo]], where much of the pre-war Serbian population lives today.

New construction projects and foreign capital investment have made Sarajevo perhaps the fastest-growing city in the [[former Yugoslavia]]. The population grew to 401,000 in 2002,<ref name=":7" /> which is 20,000 fewer than the pre-1991 census estimate.

[[File:Robna kuća Sarajka (today BBI Centar).jpg|thumb|center|800px|An iconic building before the war was ''Robna kuća Sarajka''. Today [[ARIA Centar]] stands in its place.]]