Surviving the longest siege in modern history

In the early 1990s during the break-up of former Yugoslavia, Bosnian Serb forces laid siege to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, for more than four years.

Over a quarter of a million people were confined to the city which was bombarded from all sides on a regular basis and only sustained by humanitarian aid supplied by the United Nations and supplies brought in via smuggling routes.

More than 10,000 people were killed during the siege which officially ended in early 1996 weeks after the signing of the Dayton peace agreement which halted the Bosnian war in December 1995.

Vedrana Seksan, aged 15 when the war broke out in 1992, lived in the city throughout the siege. She told Witness about the experience.

Witness is a World Service programme of the stories of our times told by the people who were there.