Residents frustrated over lack of aid fivemonths after floods
maglaj, bosnia- herzegovina » Five months after the Sahman family lost nearly everything in massive floods, they have received almost no help from Bosnian authorities — just two beds fromtheir municipality for their ruined home.
They have seen nothing of the $1 billion that international donors pledged to help Bosnia recover from the country’s worst floods in 120 years, an event so calamitous that it displaced 90,000 people from their homes and left 43,000 homes in need of repair.
Bosnia’s foreign minister, Zlatko Lagumdzija, said the money has not yet reached government accounts.
“Payment — zero. This is how much money we received until now from the donors’ money onto the accounts of institutions ofBosnia,” Lagumdzija said at a news conference inSarajevo.
U.S. officials say that Bos- nian officials have failed to present credible plans for spending the money.
Disillusion over the situation is adding to a sense of hopelessness that pervades the country asBosnians prepare for Sunday’s elections.
Bosnia’s 3.3 million voters will elect more than 500 officials, including a three- member presidency, a national parliament and leaders of Bosnia’s two regions.
The Sahmans, like many others, feel that electing new officials won’t help them much. “We are losing hope,” said Elvira Sahman, 48, who works in administration in a paper factory. “If we could, wewould leave this country.”