"Is coexistence of the ethnic groups really going to be recovered?" With such questions, and having been interested in peacemaking activities performed by religious groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina since before, I visited Mostar in March 1996, which was said to be the center of tolerance of the ethnic groups and the key city to realize the peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Instead, What I saw there was the city going to be divided far away from the coexistence even then.

The city could be seen to be calm though many houses and buildings that are reduced to rubble still remained here and there. There was a lot of traffic in the streets and I could see many people having a chat in the afternoon cafe. On a Sunday in the park, families were having a relaxing time. A lot of little flowers were seen on and off in the undergrowth. Children were playing football with their fathers, and mothers were chatting, watching over their children, sitting on the bench. It was a peaceful scenery that can be seen everywhere on the earth.
"It is not a hatred among the ethnic group, since we two are so good friends, although I am living in the east (side of Mostar) and she is from the west" young women working in hotel "ERO" smiled.
　　The reconstruction of the city was going on, although seemed slowly. And the city was gradually regaining liveliness. Most of the traffic signals and sign boards seemed to have been replaced with the brand-new ones and new glasses were set in the windows of the buildings, even in the east side of Mostar where the pace of the reconstruction was slow compared with the west (side of Mostar). I could see a lot of new bricks prepared and stocked to rebuild houses here and there, scaffoldings around the several large half-destroyed buildings, and male blue-collar workers. Goods were affluent at every shops, kiosks and markets.

But such civil life was going to be torn apart into the two sides; east and west, by political powers and some radical factions. Each of the two political bodies; one in the east side and the other in the west side of the Neretva River which run through Mostar, have popularized each different contrastive symbols extensively: the symbol of blue shield with sword and lily has been popularized in the east side, while the west side is been popularized a red and white checkered coat of arms. The former is the Bosnian national flag and the latter is the Croatian flag. Not only that those flag of large size were flown at the buildings considered to be the governments-related, I saw those symbols everywhere but one kind in one side: those symbols in the frames and on the walls of restaurants, cafes, barbershops, etc. Several Croatian national flags were suspended from the electric wire crossing above the main streets of the west side and that made me wonder if I were in Croatia. Post cards for tourist sold at kiosks were, as I thought, different from each other in the east side and the west side. I saw the obituary notices with the photographs of the dead on the notice boards and utility poles around the city. The notices of the east side were with a symbol of the crescent (that is a symbol of Islam) and the west side’s notices were with the cross. As such, even the dead people have got involved in the division. As you can easily guess, their currency was different from each other. In the east side, Bosnian Dinar with the Bosnian national symbols was in circulation, while in the west side, Croatian currency, Kuna, which look alike Deutsche Mark was in circulation. Although a new strong steel-framed bridge between the east and the west across the Neretva River has re-installed, the traffic between the east and the west was little. There were two different kinds of license plates, one with Croatian national flag and the other with Bosnian and I could hardly see the opposite kind in the other side, except the EU patrol vehicles. I took a taxi in the east side to the guest house which I was going to stay at, but the taxi driver carried me to the area just across the bridge. He said “I can’t go further.” although the right to the free passage was concluded officially by the peace agreement. There were murder cases. "Last night, a friend of my acquaintance was killed on the playground of the elementary school over there. I saw the blood spot" a Croatian young high school student told me. He didn't answer my question about the cause of the murder except "I don't know." I told the story to the master of the guest house and he said “I don’t know since it was neither on TV nor newspaper.” During my five day staying in the city, I heard gunshots twice in two nights.

I suspect that the struggle for monopolizing Mostar which is militarily and economically important is the primary background of the division and the pressure to maintain the division. Not only that Mostar is the main locality of Aluminum in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but that air base and many munition factories are located there. The secondary background of the division and pressure to maintain the division is to aim at refueling the conflict. The essential aspect of the Conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the destruction of the fact of coexistence among the ethnic groups .The destruction has been plotted by the people who were using nationalism and hostility among the ethnic groups as a cover for their territorial ambitions. Those conducts which oppose to the ideal of the peace agreement must be from their aim for maintaining the territorial status quo and its expansion in the future, expecting the withdrawal of IFOR of UN.

A former officer of Merhamet, an Islamic humanitarian organization, told me about the relationship with Catholic in the city. "We seldom have cooperation with them, although Caritas (Catholic Relief Service) sometimes provided us with money but the amounts were not large". The relation was different from the case in Sarajevo where three major religious groups said to have weekly meetings for the cooperation in the humanitarian fields. "Our office at the west side with about six to eight rooms equipped with computers, including hospital facility was destroyed during the conflict" It can be that the reason why their cooperation across the bridge was not made any more was because almost all of their intended people of their own ethnic group has moved out from the other side of the bridge. It is estimated that the population of Muslim people in the west side of the city before the war was about 20,000, however, as of now (Dec 1995), it is about 1,000. I asked him the future outlook of the city. "We probably cannot get back to what we used to be, although we hope to live together" This reminded me of the words of a catholic sister of the west side. "We are all the same before the difference of the ethnicity" "We are all children of god" These are worthy words. But they didn't tell me about what they will do. They told me that there has been no plan yet for healing the suffering and hatred of the people, which should be the essential role of the religions.

The divided city, Mostar is located at being close to the sacred village Medjugorje　which is known for the apparition of Saint Mary since 1984. Instead of the fulfillment of the mercy of Saint Mary, the reality I witnessed in Mostar during my visit were newly built graves spotted here and there and many people who were offering flowers on them. In order to ease sorrow of the people and for no more sorrows, I must say we need much more endeavor and dedications.