PORTRAIT OF SARAJEVO ON 5 APRIL 1992 – IN LIGHT OF THE ATTACK ON THE SRBIH MINISTRY OF INTERIOR PERSONNEL TRAINING CENTRE
PORTRAIT OF SARAJEVO ON 5 APRIL 1992 – IN LIGHT OF THE ATTACK ON THE SRBIH MINISTRY OF INTERIOR PERSONNEL TRAINING CENTRE

Summary/Abstract: A deteriorated military and political situation in Sarajevo in March 1992 was, among other things, additionally complicated by a division of the Socialist Republic of BiH (SR BiH) Ministry of Interior (MOI) into Serbian and Bosnian parts, whose final rift took place in the early days of April. This cause-and-effect situation escalated and culminated on 5 April, which according to the number and importance of events, places it among the critical dates in the recent history of Sarajevo. This paper presents an overview of the most significant events of 5 April with reference to the attack on Sarajevo carried out with the aim of isolating and besieging the city. The attack on the SR BiH MOI Personnel Training Centre, which is the focus of this paper, is merely one of the events focused on splitting Sarajevo in two parts, starting with the Police Academy in Vraca. Findings to date about the attack on this Centre and its occupation are expanded and revised in the paper using new sources, which primarily helped to reconstruct the event itself and the time that the staff and trainees of the Centre were held captive when it was occupied. In addition to the role that the Yugoslav People’s Army (YPA) and Serb MOI played in this attack, the role of the SR BiH MOI in the protection and defence of the Centre is also examined, since there were indications, as well as timely information, that the Centre would be attacked.

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