Bosnia’s Warning On Ethnic Division

MOSTAR, Bosnia and Herzegovina — When a fire breaks out in the Bosnian city of Mostar, Sabit Golos, a firefighter, knows that he does not have to worry unless the flames take hold on the Muslim side of what, from 1992 until 1994, was the front line in a vicious ethnic conflict.

That is because Mostar, though long at peace, has two separate fire brigades, one made up mostly of Muslims like Mr. Golos, and a second one staffed by Catholic Croats.

As Europe and the United States struggle with the rise of ethnic nationalism, Bosnia’s divisions offer a dark lesson in how communities can stay splintered long after many people have forgotten what it was that pushed them apart.

The entrenched disunion here was reflected in recent national elections, marked by nationalist rhetoric and open questioning of Bosnia’s continued existence as a state.

“Europe is worried these days about the rise of the far right, but this place was way ahead of the curve in showing how dangerous and enduring ethno-nationalism can be,” said Tim Clancy, an American resident of Bosnia who worked in Mostar throughout the war helping victims of the fighting.

Both of Mostar’s fire brigades are part of the same municipal fire service — just as Mostar’s two garbage collection companies, two hospitals, two electricity companies, two bus stations, two popular nightclubs and two soccer teams all technically serve the same city.

“You are looking at your own future here,” said Adnan Huskic, a scholar in politics and international relations at the School of Science and Technology in Sarajevo. “We have been dealing with the rise of nationalist populism for years.”

The 1995 agreement that halted the bloodletting in Bosnia — reached by the leaders of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia — only entrenched the nationalist elites that prosecuted the