"Sarajevo" : UNPROFOR (4:0)

A few snipers are still spoiling the mood of the first tram passengers and sporadic machinegun shots can still be heard at night... But that's all. Sarajevo is peaceful, it is becoming more and more noisier in peace. Some 15,000 people, carrying flags of their football favourites, flocked to the Kosevo staduim to cheer at the first "Sarajevo" vs. UNPROFOR match since the city came under siege two years ago. Sarajevo won 4:0, and the main stadium served its purpose, since the auxiliary one was turned into a cemetery long ago.

Electricity supplies have been restored in the once luxurious Holiday Inn Hotel, where bed and breakfast (croissant, butter and a spoon of marmalade), cost 122 US$. The only rooms in use are on the 9th floor, and they do not have water and heating. Draughts whistle through grenade holes in the walls. One of the four elevators was recently repaired.

A grey-haired taxi driver, who last drove at 140 km/hour through "Sniper Alley", is now enjoying a slow ride. He is keeping on the right side of the Alley in order to avoid groups of pedestrians strolling in the early spring sunshine. My friend Mira left her house for the first time since May 1992.

Cafes and shops are being opened along the Alley, their windows covered with plastic sheets from UNHCR aid deliveries.

Street lights, water pipes and tram installations are being repaired. Real taxis, no matter how expensive, crusade through the streets of Sarajevo again. Sarajevans prefer to ride trams which are free of charge, in addition to two buses which, for psychological reasons, circled around the city throughout the siege. Drivers, who in the past two years wouldn't stop at any costs, now patiently wait for the green light. Definite proof that life in Sarajevo is returning to normal will be when policemen start handing out tickets.