by Amra Hadziosmanovic
MOSTAR, Bosnia-Hercegovina, July 23 (AFP) - The sound of two solo trumpets performing the Bosnian anthem opened the ceremony Friday to inaugurate a replica of the destroyed 16th century Mostar bridge, a potent symbol of reconciliation in the war-ravaged former Yugoslav republic.
As the music spread from the two towers on the opposite sides of the 30-meter (100-foot) span, thousands of people from across Bosnia and international dignitaries watched in silence from the surrounding narrow streets.
Those in attendance included regional leaders and the foreign ministers of France, Italy, and the Netherlands.
Destroyed by Bosnian Croat artillery in 1993, the original world heritage-listed bridge has been painstakingly rebuilt with help from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the World Bank.
The new bridge was fashioned with stones taken from the same quarry used by Ottoman architect Mimar Hajrudin, who built the original in 1566 when Bosnia was under Turkish rule.
All 1,088 stones were carved by hand and constructed using traditional tools and techniques, gleaned through archaeological work on the original`s remains and historical records across Europe.
But for Mostar residents the Stari Most (Old Bridge), from which the town takes its name, is more than just a masterpiece of Ottoman architecture. It is a link between cultures that have coexisted here for centuries.
"When the bridge went down it hurt my soul and my heart but it couldn`t prevent people communicating with each other," said painter Zarisa Velic, a 55-year-old Muslim.
Most of Mostar`s ethnic Serb residents fled during Bosnia`s 1992-95 war, when the Muslim and Croat communities fought bitterly for control of the town after centuries of relatively peaceful cohabitation.
The town`s Croats and Muslims are divided to this day, keeping mainly to their respective sides of the Neretva, sending their children to separate schools and patronizing different bars.
But they were united in their opinion about the importance of the bridge.
"I feel like being born again and I think that this feeling is shared by every Mostar resident," Borislav Sukic, a Croat head of the emergency medical service in Mostar said.
"The war wounds are still open and it will take time for hardliners to step aside ... but in few years, I hope, Mostar will again be united," he added.
The European Union has set the reunification of Mostar as one of the pre-conditions Bosnia must fulfill before it can start negotiations on an association agreement with the bloc.
"We want to help citizens of Bosnia-Hercegovina make their passage to the European Union," EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten earlier told journalists.
"Inauguration of this bridge is one of the most helpful steps on that journey."
The international community`s top representative in Bosnia, Paddy Ashdown, said the re-opening of the bridge was "signal of our resolve to re-establish the tradition of multiconfessional, multinational co-existence that, contrary to common misperceptions, has characterised life in this part of the world for most of the last 500 years"
Ashdown has a key role in guiding this country`s fortunes in his capacity as High Representative in Bosnia, a post created by the 1995 Dayton peace accords on Bosnia.
He described Friday`s event as "the moment when hope for the future of this country became stronger than the fear of the past."
"As with this bridge, so with Bosnia-Hercegovina. What seemed impossible yesterday is reality today. And that is truly a matter for celebration."
The inauguration ceremony was to include the choirs of children from all Bosnia`s ethnic groups, star singers and a group of whrling dervishes from Turkey.
Bosnian Croat general Slobodan Praljak, who allegedly ordered the Stari Most`s destruction, is currently awaiting trial before the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague.