Bridge between Srebrenica and Bajina Basta Municipalities Refurbished with U.S. Support
On Wednesday, November 3, an inauguration ceremony will be held to mark the completion of renovations of the bridge connecting Skelani, in the Municipality of Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Bajina Basta, in Serbia and Montenegro. The people of the United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), provided support for installing lights and laying asphalt on the bridge. Participants at the ceremony will include USAID Regional Director Dr. Ray Kirkland, USAID/Belgrade Mission Director Keith Simmons, USAID/Sarajevo Mission Director Howard Sumka, Srebrenica Mayor Abduraham Malkic and Bajina Basta Mayor Miloje Savic. The ceremony will take place on the bridge at 12:00. All media representatives are invited to attend.
Closely connected before the war, many residents in Srebrenica and Bajina Basta municipalities would cross the bridge for their essential daily activities such as work, school, and shopping. This interaction, however, was essentially cut off when the hostilities began. Through a joint project of the two communities, and with the support of the people of the United States through USAID, local NGOs, municipal officials and representatives from the power distribution companies in both communities worked together to repair the road as well as to install lighting on the bridge. The effort, with both practical and symbolic importance, represents the first major activity completed by the newly established Cross Border Committee, which will continue to respond to the common needs of both communities.
The Srebrenica/Bajina Basta project is one of four pilot sites in Southeast Europe under USAID’s Cross-Border Cooperation and Reconciliation (CBCR) project, which seeks to advance inter-ethnic reconciliation and local democracy in border communities. The $1.5 million project, which includes over $350,000 contributed by USAID partner Catholic Relief Services, supports responsive local governance and inter-ethnic understanding through joint activities of ethnically diverse communities in border areas.
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