We have officially met with nearly every
religious group in Bosnia-Herzegovina!
On Monday we meet with the Muslim leader, Grand Mufti of Bosnia, Dr.
Mustafa Ceric and on Friday we met with a member of the Serbian Orthodox
Church. Therefore, in all we have
meet with Jewish, Orthodox Christian, Muslim and Catholic religious leaders. I am still amazed at how tolerant they
are of each ethnic group especially after the ethnic war.
Mustafa Ceric is also part of the Interfaith Council along with the Catholic Cardinal and the Jewish leader Finci. He was extremely happy that we were able to join him. Like many other people that we have spoken to, Mustafa Ceric accredited the United States for ending the war in Bosnia. He spoke of the need for the community to forgive others for what was done in the war otherwise there will soon be another war.
Mustafa Ceric is also part of the Interfaith Council along with the Catholic Cardinal and the Jewish leader Finci. He was extremely happy that we were able to join him. Like many other people that we have spoken to, Mustafa Ceric accredited the United States for ending the war in Bosnia. He spoke of the need for the community to forgive others for what was done in the war otherwise there will soon be another war.
Dr. Mustafa Ceric
Last week we met with a member of the Office
of the High Representatives, Rod Moore.
The OHR was established from the Dayton Peace Accords (the peace
agreement established in 1995 to mark the end of the Bosnian War). The OHR was established because they
knew there was going to be a heavy influence of international personel in Bosnia after the war. At first the OHR had a great amount
of power but today they are working towards pushing Bosnia to make progress
themselves. The OHR was only
supposed to be temporary however, the international community is still not
fully convinced that Bosnia is fully capable of continuing on there own. Rod believes that EU accession will
help BiH over all because it will improve human rights, decrease corruption,
and improve the economy (hopefully).
However, as we heard at East Sarajevo University, not all Bosnians would
like to work towards EU accession.
Peyton, Myself and Allie
Looking official at the conference room!
