I am delighted to have been asked to write a foreword to Dr John Yarwood’s book on the reconstruction of Mostar, in which he played such a major part.

Before the war in Bosnia and Hercegovina, Mostar had been a fully multi-ethnic, multi-confessional city with a very high percentage of mixed marriages. It was also a beautiful city with a mixture of Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian architecture. It was then ravaged by two wars. The first, when the Croats and the Bosniaks (Muslims) fought together defending Mostar against the Serbs from April until early July 1992, and the second the conflict...

The purpose of this chapter is fourfold: first, to describe the history of Mostar until recent times; secondly, to describe the events of the wartime; third, to describe the physical damage; and finally, to describe the origins and purpose of the European Union Administration. The author is not an expert on the history and politics of the area, and this account is cursory. Many books are available which treat these matters in depth, but it is probably helpful nonetheless for the general reader to have a short introduction.

Roman remains abound in west Hercegovina, and Christianisation was given impetus by...

This chapter will try to evoke a little of the working environment—the atmosphere, the culture, and the practical circumstances. Every organisation has such an environment—democratic, charismatic, creative, dull, hostile, cohesive, or whatever—and the product of the organisation is heavily conditioned by it. Context must be considered in order to grasp a true picture and draw reliable conclusions.

I have never known such an extraordinary atmosphere as that which developed in and around the EUAM. It arose, I think, from eight factors.

The historic gravity of the mission: we felt that we had been given an awesome and...

This chapter begins by examining the relationship between the organisation in Brussels and that in Mostar. This was the most fundamental source of success, but also the cause of several shortcomings. This leads on to a consideration of the basic aims and methods of the EUAM (as set out in the so-called ‘Memorandum of Understanding’). Then we review the internal organisation of the EUAM as a whole, and that of the Department of Reconstruction in particular. Next the relationship between the EUAM and the local municipal administrations is considered. This is followed by a consideration of the relationship between the...

Pre-war Mostar had a good planning system, and I found that local colleagues from all backgrounds understood its purpose and value. Judging from the number of people employed in the various institutes, it was overmanned and bureaucratic. But the results were visibly good. Sensible land-use zoning was properly enforced. There was virtually no illegal development before 1990, when institutional processes began to disintegrate in the run up to war. Roads and infrastructure were well coordinated with development, properly finished and maintained. Some oppressive architecture was created in the 1950s, but more recently most projects or buildings had stylish, individual designs,...

This chapter aims to summarise the system for the implementation of construction projects, such as repair of public buildings, heavily damaged houses, water and sewerage infrastructure etc. The repair of lightly damaged houses—in which thousands of properties received minor repairs—was handled differently, and that is described later.

I was pressed by Mr Koschnick to start action as soon as I arrived in Mostar, and so a system had to be created out of the blue immediately. I devised it, and wrote the contract forms in a few hours. With no time for reflection and consultation, I had to...

Without doubt, the greatest single effort in the reconstruction of Mostar was housing repair. It transformed the overall aspect of the city. The view from the bypass road, which was routed over the eastern hillsides, revealed a scene of utter devastation in 1994. Most roofs were destroyed and the mess of ruination was visible everywhere. Two years later, the same viewpoint revealed a sea of freshly tiled roofs, and pristine white apartment houses. The scale of the change was remarkable. Well over 6000 dwellings were repaired at a cost of DM40 million. It is, however, far easier to spend money...

In April 1994, Technisches Hilfswerk (Technical Relief Agency), a German governmental organisation working in the field of disaster relief, started its second mission in Mostar. The first mission had been interrupted by the second war in 1993. This was four months before the establishment of the EUAM. The goals were the reconstruction of water and electricity supply systems and schools, the removal of garbage and debris, and, most important of all, the supply of building materials to the city. Their achievement was possible only due to the concerted efforts of THW staff in Bonn as well as Mostar.

The first...

This chapter records all building projects other than housing. There is also a general discussion of political issues which impacted upon the programme and our ability to realise it.

Fifteen health buildings, all heavily damaged, were repaired and medically reequipped to a high standard. In several cases, this involved major new works to extend the existing facilities. Five health buildings were completely new structures, namely the ‘Dom Zdravlja’ hospital, the east old persons’ home and three local clinics. The contract details are scheduled in Appendix One.

These projects fall into four categories:

seven local clinics, known as ‘ambulantas’, which served...

This chapter describes a contract for the protection of damaged buildings and waste management in the reconstruction of Mostar. The work was driven by an urgent need to secure the buildings against any hazard posing a threat to human lives and health. The works were carried out between November 1995 and August 1996. The demolition and protection work was sent to international tendering as a single contract in November 1996 and the contract was awarded to Detecsa of Madrid.

We applied the EUAM Decree on Demolition of Building Structures, in close cooperation with the local municipal authorities of Mostar. They...

It became clear at the beginning that the resources of the construction industry—in terms of equipment, men, and skills (both technical, professional and managerial)—were damaged, and in east Mostar comprehensively destroyed. It seemed to me that if we spent a lot of money on physical repairs in a short time period, and if the work was mainly done by local companies, there would be a serious lack of capacity on the supply side. This would lead to high costs, poor quality and slow performance. A balanced approach therefore required us to enhance capacity as well as boost demand....

The Overseas Development Administration, part of the British Foreign Office, and now known as the Department for International Development (DfID), had operated the so-called Emergency Engineering Unit in Bosnia since 1992. It already had two staff in Mostar when the EUAM was established: Denver Brown was working on water supply and Tom Connolly on power. They had done heroic work under fire to restore some vital services, although it was partial and unreliable. Denver left in December 1994 and Tom transferred to the EUAM and stayed for a further two years. They were a great help in getting us off...

The first purpose of this book has been to record what the EUAM was, what it did and how it did it. The second purpose was to draw some lessons from its successes and its failures. Various lessons have been suggested in earlier chapters but, by way of a conclusion, four especially fundamental points will now be explored. These are as follows:

the need to enhance the technical and managerial capabilities of the European Commission in relation to the type of mission it undertook in Bosnia;

the importance of creating sustainable institutions for urban management and finance;

the need to...