FRESH from a successful summit with Balkan leaders, the US Secretary of State, Mr Warren Christopher, ended a tour of Sarajevo yesterday with a televised appeal to Bosnians to support free and fair elections next month.
"What I heard and saw today gives me great confidence - confidence that hope can triumph over violence, and tolerance over hate on September 14th," Mr Christopher said in a direct address on Bosnian government television.
Four years ago a small minority began a war that most Bosnians did not want. On September 14th, the majority have a chance to be heard. I hope and believe that you will choose a better future over a bitter past."
Mr Christopher also joined the Bosnian President, Mr Alija Izetbegovic, in a ceremony which opened the battle- scarred city airport to commercial traffic for the first time in more than four years. The ceremony occurred just hours after the first scheduled commercial flight arrived from Istanbul.
Small but enthusiastic crowds greeted the Secretary of State with bursts of applause when he toured the city's old district on foot.
He bought a bunch of grapes at a fruit and vegetable shop and received a Bosnian flag and Tshirt from a man in the old town's market square.
"I'm happy to have the opportunity to give a present to Mr Christopher, who is a real friend to my country," said Mr Husein Hrapovic (48).
Mr Christopher also greeted a Bosnian family whose house had been destroyed in the war and recently rebuilt with US aid.
He walked from Sarajevo's main cathedral to the site of the city's infamous "Bread Queue Massacre" of May 27th, 1992, where scores of people were killed by a single shell in a scene which was to be repeated many times before the Bosnian war ended.
He laid a memorial wreath at the point where the explosion scarred the pavement and observed a minute's silence with those gathered.
The Secretary of State then visited a new children's playground, one of 10 built in the city since the war with the help of US funding.