by Andy McNab
Jerry strapped on his bumbag. One of the downsides of being a photo man is the kit always has to be with you.
‘Yeah, why not? Frothy, no sugar.’
I watched him leave, and as the door closed behind him my eyes were drawn to the emergency-information sheet pinned to the back of it. I got up and studied the diagrams, but none of them seemed to show me what to do if I needed to run away from people armed with AKs. I dug around for my room card and went out on to the landing.
The coffee area was hidden under its stripy canvas canopy, but Jerry hadn’t got there yet. He was pacing up and down just outside the main doors, the Thuraya against his cheek. He wasn’t just testing for a signal, he was talking. The conversation ended and he disappeared under the tent.
I was back on my bed, channel-hopping for CNN or BBC World, when he came back with a cup and saucer in each hand. His coffee was black, with several sachets of sugar sitting in the saucer.
‘You sure that’s healthy?’
‘Few extra calories never hurt anyone.’ He handed me mine.
‘I meant all that phoning. You’re going to end up with a brain tumour.’
‘Just a quick one to DC. He’s got nothing new.’
It was eleven forty-three. The second prayer of the day was some time after midday. Times changed, depending on where you were in the world and daylight saving, all that sort of stuff. ‘Maybe we could make Zuhr?’
Jerry called down to Reception. They’d know prayer times, which would probably be in the papers anyway. Even if we missed the Salkic guy this time round, we could hang about, have a brew and something to eat, and try again during Asr.
Jerry got off the phone as I checked my bumbag. ‘One twenty. Plenty of time.’
We tuned the TV to a German soap with Serbo-Croat subtitles, put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door, and headed for the lifts.
I looked down into the atrium. A group of five American troops were sitting by the coffee shop, getting into their brews and cigarettes. In this part of the world, they wore green BDUs and were part of SFOR. They’d probably been stationed in Germany before being posted here, and counted themselves lucky. Going by the size of them, they had a KFC at the camp gate that only sold family buckets. They didn’t look like their lean and mean mates who were getting the good news in Baghdad.
69
The air was crisp outside, just cold enough to see a little vapour as we breathed. We were going to need coats.
We picked our way across the wide dual carriageway that used to be Snipers’ Alley. Traffic careered along the outside, and trams moved fast down the middle. Instead of turning left to the city centre, we were going to cut straight on down to the river, less than two hundred metres from the hotel.
Some of the trams rattling past looked as though they were left over from the war. Jerry read my thoughts. ‘Least they don’t have to be dragged along by trucks, these days.’
We passed the burnt-out shell of the parliament building I’d been looking at from the hotel. The underground car park was obviously still usable: two policemen were on stag at the entrance, checking cars in and out.
Nearer the river, we found ourselves among older, grander, more lavish Hungarian-style buildings. They were still inhabited, but had taken a fearsome pounding. The other side of the Miljacka, less than forty metres away, was where the Serb front line had penetrated this part of the city; even the wired glass protecting the balconies was still splattered with strike marks. Lumps of grey plaster had been blown away, exposing the brickwork beneath.
As far as I could tell, the only difference between then and now in this part of town was that the roads were no longer covered with rubble, or blocked off by trucks and sheets of corrugated iron to provide cover from sniper fire. I remembered seeing four wooden cargo containers at the bottom of this very road, piled on top of each other to create a screen. The Serbs still took random potshots into the woodwork, and occasionally managed to drop the odd pedestrian who just happened to be legging it behind.
Every bit of the city had been a danger zone. Bridges and crossroads were particularly vulnerable if you were on foot, and it paid to be a sprinter – but at least you knew what you had to do. In other parts of town, you were never sure whether to walk fast or slow. Were you going to walk into a mortar round as it impacted, or was it going to land on your head anyway because you weren’t moving fast enough? Signs saying ‘WATCH OUT – SNIPER’ had been painted on pieces of cardboard or UNHCR plastic sheeting, or just chalked on the walls. To a lot of Sarajevans, and me, UNPROFOR’s most important role was providing APCs to shield us from sniper fire as we crossed the street.
I felt myself break into a smile as we passed another bunch of fucked-up buildings facing the river. One night some madman had painted a big yellow Smiley face on the wall, and ‘Don’t worry, be happy!’ underneath. It got annihilated the following day. I was never sure if that meant the Serbs had got the joke or not.
Walking beside me, Jerry also seemed to have disappeared into the past again, back to the days he’d spent dodging from one piece of cover to another as he tried to get a photograph to pay the bills.
We hit the river by the Vrbana bridge, and everything looked familiar except the little monument that had been erected exactly halfway across it. Jerry pointed at the bunches of fresh flowers arranged below it. ‘I was here when it happened.’
He leaned his shoulder against the glass panel of a brand-new bus shelter, behind which a poster told us that if we bought a bottle of Coca-Cola Light, we could win an Audi.
‘Romeo and Juliet?’
‘Fucking nightmare, man. I was with Jason before the enclaves blew up. We were just cruising, looking for something different to shoot. But everywhere you went in Sarajevo was the same, wasn’t it? We decided to check out the front line a bit before going back to the hotel.
‘There was a stand-off, city guys against a group of Serbs just over there. This Serb tank appeared from nowhere and started firing. We ended up with the city guys. Next thing I knew, one was yelling at us to get our cameras. He was pointing at a young couple running towards the far side of the bridge.
‘They got the guy first. The girl was just wounded, and I got a shot as she crawled across to his body and put an arm round him before she died. Turned out she was Muslim, he was Serb . . .’ He had the sort of expression I probably showed every time I caught myself thinking about Zina or Kelly. ‘Fucked up or what, man? It was the first time I ever cried doing this shit. First time I ever wanted to put down my camera and pick up a gun.’
It was business as usual these days. Cars crossed the bridge, people walked around with bags of shopping. On the steep rising ground immediately the other side of the river, all the roofs were shiny, and all the mosques had new minarets. There seemed to be one every two hundred metres or so. It was easy to spot a Muslim house: its roof was pyramidal while the rest were gabled. Satellite dishes sprouted from just about every wall; these guys must have been as keen on The Simpsons as the Iraqis.
Just to the right of the bridge, flags of every description fluttered over a new steel and glass building. I pointed it out to Jerry. ‘That must be where our friend the general takes his meetings about meetings. I wonder how Paddy puts up with him.’ The Right Honourable Lord Ashdown was the UN’s High Representative in Bosnia. It was the sort of title you only expected to find in Gilbert and Sullivan, but in effect he ran the country.
We turned left and followed the river towards the city centre, but we hadn’t gone far when there was the dull thud of an explosion up on the high ground.
Everyone in the street looked up. A small plume of grey smoke floated above a square of trees, surrounded by rooftops. Two old women coming towards us, weighed down with carrier-bags, tutted to each other as if this was an everyday annoyance.
‘What do you reckon, Nick? A mine?’
‘Had to be.’
When the Serbs withdrew, they left hundreds of thousands of the little fuckers in their w
ake. There was no need for Keep Off the Grass signs in Bosnia.
70
There was some reconstruction in progress along the riverbank, but most buildings still hadn’t been patched up. A few of the places immediately facing the Miljacka had all but collapsed. Others had done so long since, their rubble cleared to make room for muddy car parks. At least the river was nice and picturesque these days. The last time I’d seen it, there’d been bodies floating downstream.
A tram stopped just ahead of us, brand new with a sign announcing it was a gift from the people of yet another guilt-ridden country that had done fuck-all to help when it was really needed. Passengers jostled to get on and off with their shopping, a very few in headscarves, some in grey raincoats, briefcases in their hands and cellphones to their ears.
Soon we couldn’t move for people and cafés. A coffee shop seemed to have sprung up every ten paces, but these were indigenous. George would have given Sarajevo the thumbs up: there wasn’t a Starbucks or skinny latte in sight. A lot of them had outside tables with canopies and butane heaters so the punters didn’t have to stem their nicotine and caffeine intake even when the temperature dropped.
Most of the buildings were still peppered with shrapnel and bullet scars, but at street level it was all plate glass and stainless steel, bright lights and rap. We even passed a Miss Selfridge, where women were holding up the new season’s collection against themselves, and teenage girls lounged around in Levi’s, smoking and listening to their Walkmans.
Our first stop was to buy us each a coat. We didn’t think that the Sunday Telegraph would stretch to Versace so we headed into one of the old local boys’ shops. I settled for a brown three-quarter-length number that didn’t look or feel remotely like leather, despite what the salesman said. But, then, what can you expect for about twelve dollars? Jerry spent about the same on a waterproof with a fleecy lining. We looked like dickheads, but at least we were warm.
Sarajevo isn’t big, but it’s teeming with different ethnic neighbourhoods. We moved into another Hungarian quarter. The pedestrian area, once cratered by mortar rounds, was now paved with flat stone.
The old black and red board was still where I remembered it, inviting us to visit the Café Bar Muppet. The Firm had had a room above it, which was very apt, I’d always thought. There was an archway through into a very small square, and the café was just off to the right. Even at the height of the war it had felt protected. A direct hit wouldn’t have been too healthy, although it would probably have been better than a bullet in the back. I’d preferred the Bodyguard Café up the road, for the simple reason that it was in a cellar. But you had to be quick, because every other fucker wanted to get in there too.
The smell of cevapcici, grilled sausages served with pitta bread, drifted through the streets, signalling that we were coming into the old Turkish area, Bascarsija. The Gazi Husrev Bey mosque, or ‘Gazzer something’ as Rob had called it, was the largest in the city, and now close enough to spit at.
71
When a mortar round explodes on a hard surface like a road or pavement, it creates a characteristic pattern. We came across a lot of strike marks that had been filled with red cement as a memorial to whoever had died on that spot. Bascarsija, a warren of narrow cobblestoned streets, alleyways and dead-ends, had more than its fair share of ‘Sarajevo roses’. The Serbs had been particularly fond of busy places like markets and shopping arcades.
The area was dotted with mosques and lined with tiny interconnected one-storey wooden shops, selling leatherwork and brass tea-sets, postcards of bombed-out buildings and pens to write on them made from spent .50 cal cases. I didn’t see any tourists haggling with the owners. Most customers, when there were any, seemed to be in uniform with SFOR flashes.
We turned a corner and the massive Gazi Husrev Bey mosque was suddenly there in front of us, pristine and white. They’d really gone to town on the renovation. Elevations had been re-rendered, strike marks in the stone had been removed, and there were brand new his’n’hers washrooms in the courtyard area.
The arched entrance was protected by a stone portico. Big carpets were laid out beneath it, perhaps for those who wanted a quick prayer without going inside, or to cater for overspill when the mosque was full.
There are different lengths of prayers for the different prayer times, and shorter prayers if you’re travelling or ill. They can be said alone, or in congregation. It’s pretty much a pick ’n’ mix affair to suit the individual. You can even combine a couple of prayer times, like some Catholics do on a Saturday night to save them having to get up early the following morning.
A lone man in his mid-sixties, wearing jeans and an Adidas windcheater, was kneeling and offering Salah [prayers]. His shoes were tucked into the racks provided. We made our way towards the side door, past a small shop window decked out with a lifetime’s supply of Qur’âns and other religious paraphernalia and two stone shrines to a couple of high-rankers in the Muslim world. Jerry couldn’t remember exactly who they were and actually blushed with embarrassment because he felt he should: after all, this was the most historic mosque in Europe.
We took off our shoes before going in. Non-Muslims are welcome in mosques; they don’t like you trying to take part if you’re not one of the faithful, but you can stand at the back and watch if you want, it’s no big deal. The two religions I had most time for, Judaism and Islam, both managed to create this sense of everyone being part of one big family.
The interior was cavernous, with a dome at least twenty-five metres high. Chandeliers hung down on cable and chain. The walls were decorated with beautiful framed quotes from the Qur’en. The entire floor was covered in intricately woven Oriental carpets.
Four old women had their backs against the wall to our right, heads covered and mumbling to themselves. I smiled, gesturing for their permission to enter. They smiled back and ushered me in. They gave Jerry a strange look, which made me smile: in a world of Muslims, he was clearly the weird-looking one.
The moment we stepped out of the hustle and bustle of the street, there was a sense of tranquillity I could almost touch. People seemed to glide across the carpets; voices were hushed.
I looked down and could see my socks were leaving sweat marks on the highly polished tiles. I shrugged an apology to the women.
They all smiled back.
Encouraged, I moved closer to them. ‘English? Speak English?’
They smiled even more, nodded and said nothing. I thought I might as well start asking about Salkic. I wanted as many people as possible to know we were looking for him. With luck, the bush telegraph would swing into operation. He’d either run for cover, or get curious and come looking.
‘Mr Salkic? Do you know him? Ramzi Salkic?’
They looked at each other and gobbed off, then just smiled and nodded again.
I had another go, but got exactly the same response.
I shrugged my shoulders and thanked them, then started to back out with Jerry. We put on our shoes and left.
‘You did well there, didn’t you?’ At least Jerry thought it was funny.
‘C’mon, then, we’ll go in the shop. Let’s see you do better.’
It turned out to be little more than a table covered with a jumbled selection of books and cassettes and other religious bric-à-brac. Maybe this was where the airport’s minibus driver had bought his greatest-hits collection. A guy with a grey beard stood behind the display, in a black tanktop over a white shirt buttoned all the way up his neck. He smiled at me and I smiled back.
Jerry tried his luck. ‘Speak English?’
He looked almost offended. ‘Of course!’
‘I’m looking for Ramzi Salkic. We were told he prays here. Do you know where we can find him?’
He didn’t even give it time for the name to sink in. ‘No, no. I’ve never heard that name. What does he look like?’
‘That’s the thing, we don’t really know.’
He opened his hands, palms upwards. ‘The
n I am sorry.’
‘Never mind, thanks a lot.’
Dark clouds were scudding across the sky as we emerged from the mosque, and it had turned noticeably colder. ‘We’ve got thirty-five till Zuhr.’ I shoved my Baby-G under his nose. ‘Let’s get a brew. Pointless hanging around.’
We left the sanctuary of the courtyard and moved back into the hustle and bustle of the streets. A guy in a fluorescent vest was holding a fat hose over a blocked manhole while his truck sucked noisily. Paddy obviously hadn’t got round to sorting out the sewers yet. It probably wasn’t top of his list of priorities because, according to the waffle on its side, this shit-clearing vehicle was a gift from the German Red Cross. I wondered if they were being ironic.
72
There were cafés everywhere, and each one was a bigger lung-cancer factory than the last. Bosnians smoked like chimneys. Last time I’d been here the running gag was that if the Serbs didn’t finish you off, the Drinas certainly would. Health and safety probably worked in reverse here, like so much else. If they found out you had an extractor fan or a no-smoking policy, they’d probably shut you down.
We walked into one with lots of glass and chrome, cutting through a curtain of nicotine. We sat down and ordered a couple of cappuccinos. Apart from the smoke, we could have been in London or New York. The spectrum was the same, from teenagers sipping hot chocolate and obsessively checking for texts, to old boys on their own trying to make a small coffee last a lifetime.
The brew finally turned up just as Adhan, the call to prayer, sounded across the rooftops. Quite a few customers got up and headed for the till. We joined the queue, trying to get the hot liquid down us before we made the thirty-metre trek back to the mosque.
We walked through the wrought-iron gates, past men and women lining up in their separate, segregated areas. Little kids ran in and out of the legs of middle-aged men in business suits. Teenagers stood chatting to grannies.
