wfn.org | UMCOR assists with bridge building in Bosnia

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

Sept. 1, 2000   News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212) 870-3803 ·New York
10-71B{393}

By United Methodist News Service

A reconstructed pedestrian bridge will open Sept. 7 in the Bosnian city of
Mostar, thanks to assistance from the United Methodist Committee on Relief
(UMCOR).

The bridge is one of many projects in the Mostar region that is being
implemented by UMCOR through funding from the Dutch government. Robert
Harris, UMCOR's head of mission in Bosnia, said the agency remains "highly
committed" to establishing peace and restoring normalcy to all people in the
former Yugoslavia.

The Bosnian war left Mostar a divided city, split down the middle between
ethnic Croats and Muslims, "one of the country's most visible and dangerous
fault lines," according to the New York Times.

The new bridge is a temporary substitute for the Ottoman-period bridge
destroyed by artillery in 1993. Replacing an earlier temporary bridge washed
away during winter floods, it provides a vital economic link between the
east and west sides of the river. UMCOR engaged the Kovina Construction Co.
of Mostar to do the building, and funding came from the Mostar city
administration as well as the Dutch government.

UMCOR also has completed or is currently implementing projects in the areas
of shelter, income generation, streetlights and traffic lights for the
Bulevar (the main boulevard dividing the city), agriculture, community
development and infrastructure in the Mostar region.

Through reconstruction and infrastructure projects completed since 1993 in
the former Yugoslavia, UMCOR has supported the return of more than 15,000
families of all ethnic groups to their homes and towns. The agency also has
been involved in job training, job creation, and reconciliation and human
rights programs.

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United Methodist News Service
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