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I could not talk. I cried for days whenever I was left alone. I could not believe that I would live longer than the old bridge. It was our bridge. How would a Frenchman feel if somebody destroyed the Eiffel Tower? How would an Italian feel if somebody ruined the Colosseum?

We spoke of it as our friend, the oldest Mostarian whom we all respected and were proud of. Many people were killed during the war, but it was when the bridge was destroyed that Mostarians spontaneously declared a day of mourning.

Many people were killed during the war, but it was when the bridge was destroyed that Mostarians spontaneously declared a day of mourning

I said at the time that it should be left as a reminder for future generations of what mad people in mad times are capable of doing. But now I hope its reconstruction will make this town less divided, and that it will bring the two sides together again. I'm proud, of course. But, you know, I still feel that something has been murdered here. The old bridge had its recognizable patina.

These builders do care, but this won't be that old bridge. I will dive, and I'll keep diving as long as my heart and body can endure that.

MOSTAR BRIDGE At the height of the Bosnian war, the medieval town of Mostar was split along the Neretva River between Croat and Muslim communities. Serbs had withdrawn from the area the year before. For nine months, the two sides exchanged small-arms and artillery fire. Anxious to protect their majestic 16th century bridge — built under the Ottoman reign of Suleiman the Magnificent — Muslim residents hung blankets, tires and plastic sheeting from an iron fence along the main span as a kind of shield from snipers. But on Nov. 9, 1993, a Bosnian Croat tank positioned near one bank blew several holes in the white stone arch. The structure collapsed and plunged into the water below. The Bosnian Croat commander who ordered the shelling, Slobodan Praljak, later said that the bridge was worth not even the finger on a Croat soldier's hand. The bridge, from which Mostar takes its name, is now being rebuilt by Turkish contractors with more than $15.5 million in international aid, including some from the Croatian government. The communities remain divided — ANDREW PURVIS

In Muslim towns along Bosnia's eastern borders with Serbia and Montenegro, Serbian guerrillas have been waging what amounts to an "ethnic cleansing" campaign ... The question is whether there will be anything to return to when and if Croats, Muslims and Serbs end their fighting. So far, property damage is estimated as high as $100 billion. For the youngest generation, home has become a threat, not a refuge. Last week at the center in Kosmaj, 4-year-old Natasha ran up to her mother in tears. A boy had taunted Natasha, saying she had to return home to Mostar in Bosnia, where the girl had recently spent three weeks underground. "Don't worry," her mother soothed. "We won't ever go back to Mostar again." When the little girl smiled, the mother looked as though she would cry. — June 8, 1992