Storyteller (41) | The night the president was arrested

(1)

The head of state was kidnapped and locked in a small room, but his survival was astonishing.

Four guards in the corners of his room, an antique phone on the table, suddenly ringing, snatching the handset and shouting in connected citizenship, tell my people I'm in jail.

(2)

Spring was just beginning to come.

Bosnia and Herzegovina did not imagine that the summer that awaits it would be so hot, when the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army would attack its cities and besiege its capital.

The European Community intervenes, calling for negotiations between the parties to the crisis in Lisbon, promising the Bosnian president safety:

Alija Izetbegović tells them that he will not participate in the negotiations unless the Serbian forces stop their attack on his country's capital.

The aggressor responds to his request, and as soon as he reaches Lisbon and talks begin, the Serbs attack again, so he decides to withdraw from the negotiations and return to Sarajevo.

"Madam, I am Alija Izetbegović, the head of state. I am at the airport after I was captured by the Yugoslav army. Please call the presidency and the television immediately and inform them of the matter."

On the second day of the fifth month of the year 1992, he and his delegation, consisting of his daughter, the translator Sabina, the head of the Bosnian government, and a member of the private guard, head to the plane of the European Community.

The plane stops briefly in Rome for fuel, then sets off to continue its route.

It approaches Sarajevo, and if the pilot of the plane informs the president that the airport, which is under the occupation of the Yugoslavian or rather Serbian army, does not respond to his calls, and he chooses between landing in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, or the Croatian capital, Zagreb.

The president thinks for a while and then chooses Zagreb, perhaps it is less foolish than Belgrade, and as soon as the plane turns its direction, the Serbs return and call the pilot of the plane to inform him that the airport is ready to receive him, as if they were afraid of losing their catch.

(3)

The airport at that time was old, an example of dismal communist buildings, closed and did not receive any planes, empty except for soldiers of the occupying Yugoslav army, cut off from the whole world to tighten the siege on Sarajevo.

The plane descends, and Ali looks out of its window. He sees nothing but tanks that have directed their nozzles at his plane. There are no European forces, nor their carriers, nor their promises to secure his return and his delegation to his country.

Sabina also looks out the window of the plane, and sees a civilian man in a gray suit, whom she imagines is the same man from the European Community who accompanied them to the airport on their way out.

She tells her dad, and he says, "Oh, so it's Doyle from the EC. Good, that means they came to get us, so let's get out."

He lands with his team, the soldiers gather around him, they take him and his team to a miserable little room, and the civilian man who was with them, but he is the airport manager who was appointed by the Serbs.

They sit them around a table in the middle of the room, and the airport commander chooses four of his soldiers to distribute them to the four corners of the room, and they prepare their weapons for firing, and they direct them in a theatrical scene at the president and his delegation.

Begović asks to call the phone, they answer that the lines are cut, their leader comes out of the room.

Two minutes later, the room phone lying on the table rings even though they claim it is not working.

Sabina knows that her father might pick up the phone, which would kill him on the spot, so she hastens to do so.

The caller is a lady who casually asks if there is any plane leaving Sarajevo soon.

Sabina is holding the phone, and her father interrupts her, ordering her to give it to him. The soldiers are confused, their leader is not here, and Begović, whoever he is, is the president of the country. Sometimes you have to make up your mind in a few seconds, otherwise the opportunity runs away from you. And this is what Ali did, snatching the phone, and telling the stunned lady :

"Madam, I am Alija Izetbegović, the head of state. I am at the airport after I was captured by the Yugoslav army. Please call the presidency and the television immediately and inform them of the matter."

The young soldiers were in amazement, not knowing what to do, whether to shoot or not, as the commander was not there, and when he returned, none of them dared to tell him what had happened.

(4)

The lady does so, and word begins to spread.

The Serbian commander decides to transfer the Bosnian president and his delegation to a military barracks in Lukavitsa, threatening that this will happen whether the president agrees or refuses, promising to give him the opportunity to make phone calls, and upon arrival they will all sit in a large hall, and there is nothing wrong with some food, while many officers come and go.

Tension reigns supreme. A large group of heavily armed Serb peasants gathers outside the barracks, asking for the president's head. About two weeks ago, a group of Sarajevo Defense Forces attacked a Serbian troop carrier, capturing most of them, including some of their own men.

The Serbian general tries to negotiate with Ali, hoping to exchange him for another Serbian general besieged by the Bosnian resistance who will later become an army.

There is an officer trying to be nice to the captive president and his delegation, repeating that it was only coincidence that put him in this position, as if he justifies his presence in the scene of the kidnapping and arrest of the country's president.

He brings them cartons of milk and opens them before their eyes, so that they will not have any doubts.

Sabina tries to contact the American ambassador in Belgrade, it is clear that she is very disturbed, and the nice officer calls and connects her to the ambassador who told him what is going on.

The news, then, spread everywhere, and the offer of exchange reassured the intention of the Serbs to solve the problem, and explained their promise to give the president the opportunity to contact the phone.

(5)

In the Bosnian TV building in Sarajevo, at exactly 3:00 p.m., one of Bosnia's most famous broadcasters, Senad Haji Vizović, goes live with his semi-news program.

At 7:23, Sanad Al Mutib was still presenting his famous show on air when the phone rang and he thought he was a viewer who wanted to participate.

The voice comes to him from the other side, “I am Ali.”

It is true that he knows his own voice well, but he thought it was a trick from the editing room to prank him, but Alia continued talking and explained the situation to him.

The president informs Sanad that General Vojislav Georgivac is negotiating with him, and he is the same general under whom Sanad worked 10 years ago in the Yugoslav army, which represented all the republics of Yugoslavia.

(6)

A night passes, which is one of the most difficult nights for Ali, perhaps more difficult than the nights in prison as he himself described it. From this barracks, the Serb forces continued to bomb the city, which means that you spend a night in a place that is not safe for yourself, or for your daughter who has contracted the flu, or for your people who Serbian cannons bombed him.

The next afternoon the exchange takes place, the Bosnians release the Serb leader, and the Serbs release the Bosnian president.

An editorial for the war warns of what the Serbs will do, and what Europe will do.