SARAJEVO, 23 October 2003 — Tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslims gathered in heavy rain here yesterday to bid farewell to Alija Izetbegovic, the father of the Balkan country’s independence who died of heart failure at the weekend.
Known affectionately as dedo, or grandpa, Izetbegovic was buried at the Kovaci cemetery, beside fighters who died defending Sarajevo during the 1992-95 siege of the city by Serb forces.
More than 150,000 people lined the streets of the capital for a final respectful farewell to Izetbegovic, whose body, wrapped in the country’s blue and yellow flag, had been driven to the hilltop cemetery in a military cortege.
Mourners, some of whom arrived on over 500 buses and special trains from around Bosnia, carried Izetbegovic’s body on their shoulders along the last part of the three-kilometer long road to the cemetery.
During the funeral procession through the capital’s war-scarred streets crowds uttered Islamic prayers and chanted Allahu Akbar (God is Great).
An honorary military guard fired shots in the air and three rounds were fired from a cannon that more usually signals the end of the daily fast during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan after his body had been laid in the ground.
“He led his nation and prevailed in a war in which some sought annihilation,” the international community’s top representative in Bosnia, Paddy Ashdown, said in an address at a religious ceremony ahead of the burial.
“There are men and women of good will in Bosnia-Herzegovina today (who can) build a future for this country that is better than its past.”
Elected chairman of Bosnia’s collective presidency in 1990, Izetbegovic led the country to independence from Yugoslavia two years later and won worldwide sympathy as he carried on working throughout the Serb siege of Sarajevo.
Muslims regard him as the hero of their resistance during the war, in which some 200,000 people lost their lives and more than two million were forced out of their homes.
“Bosnia always had sons who wanted to live together and be tolerant and it will always be like that because Bosnia’s sons ... will honor the memory of Alija Izetbegovic,” the head of Islamic community, Mustafa Ceric, told the crowd.
He said Izetbegovic’s final wish had been for the people of Bosnia “to be free to practice their faith and be free from fear and poverty in their homeland.”
Most shops were closed, many with framed portraits of the late leader adorning their doors and windows.
Tributes have poured in from around the world since Izetbegovic passed away in a Sarajevo hospital on Sunday at the age of 78.
Those who have offered their condolences include UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and NATO Secretary-General George Robertson.
Iran and Turkey sent delegations for the funeral, the latter led by Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. The United Nations commander in Bosnia during the war, French Gen. Philippe Morillon, was also on hand to pay his respects.
A day of mourning was proclaimed in the Muslim-Croat Federation, an autonomous territory which makes up postwar Bosnia along with the Serb-run Republika Srpska.
But Bosnian Serbs see Izetbegovic as the man who triggered the war through his divisive 1992 referendum on independence.
They wanted to see him tried for war crimes at the United Nations tribunal, where former Yugoslav president and Serbian nationalist Slobodan Milosevic is facing some 60 counts of war crimes and genocide.
Tribunal officials confirmed yesterday that Izetbegovic had been under investigation, but they said the case was now closed.
“Muslims can cry for Izetbegovic if they like ... but Serbs have nothing to mourn,” Serb pensioner Pero Arandjelovic told AFP in Banja Luka, the administrative seat of Bosnia’s Serb-run part.
After the war, Izetbegovic held the Muslim seat in the country’s tripartite presidency that also included a Croat and a Serb.
He stepped down in October 2000 due to failing health.
