SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Four mayors from Sarajevo have signed an agreement to help restore the supply of electrical lighting to 400 impoverished families in Gaza living in darkness following Israeli offensives.
The mayor of Sarajevo, Ivo Komsic, along with three other mayors from municipalities across the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Friday signed the protocol on cooperation with a joint project to help with the reconstruction of lighting supplies in the Gaza Strip.
Komsic said at a signing ceremony in Sarajevo: "This help will be directed to those households which have suffered extensive damage during the bombing of Gaza and who remain without lighting."
He added: "The people of Sarajevo know what solidarity means. Sarajevo suffered bombing on more than 1,470 days during the Bosnian war. We also lived in the dark."
The municipalities will donate 38,250 Bosnian marks ($25,000) under the scheme.
'Act of solidarity'
After signing the protocol, Komsic reminded the citizens of Sarajevo that they also had to reconstruct their homes after the Bosnian war in 1992-1995, just as the Gazans were doing.
"This is an act of solidarity with those with whom we sympathize," he added.
The President of the Association of the Palestinian Diaspora in Bosnia, Mohammad Hamad, told the press the campaign had been launched as aggression was being wrought on Gaza and Bosnia and Herzegovina was ready to play its part in humanitarian actions to help the people of the sealed city.
He said: "I was in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War and I know what it means to be in the dark. No one is allowed to walk on the streets."
"It is the same situation in Gaza now ... this is a very important project," he said.
Hamad added that majority of the population in Gaza was living in the dark following Israel's attacks.
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