My town - Kakanj

Kakanj is an industrial town and a municipality in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, located north of Visoko and southeast of Zenica. It was built along the slopes of wide hills on either side of the Zgošća river. It is administratively part of the Zenica-Doboj Canton of the Federation.

                                   History

 Old history

Neolithic artifacts have been found in Obre, a nearby village.
Settlements in the region are very ancient. They are claimed to be historical landmarks of the early Bosnian state. Kraljeva Sutjeska, a Franciscan monastery, is of particular historical note. Near the monastery is Bobovac, scene of the last stand of Bosnian Queen Katarina Kosača and medieval residence of Bosnian kings. In Kraljeva Sutjeska is one of the oldest mosques in Bosnia, built by order of Sultan Mehmed II the Victorious during his expedition to Bosnia and conquest of Bobovac. The Kakanj area enjoyed a renaissance during the rule of the Kotromanic dynasty.
One of the most beautiful tombs ever found in Bosnia, with a carving of a hunting cavalier, was found in Kakanj; it is currently displayed in the botanic garden of The State Museum in Sarajevo.
Town Kakanj was the first mentioned 1468 as settlement with 90 houses. Coal mine Kakanj was founded in 1900 under Austro-Hungarian rule around a developing coal mine, which began production in 1902. In the next hundred years, Kakanj developed organically without any urban planning, initially around the coalmine, and later along the banks of the Zgošća and Bosna rivers.

After the war the population of Kakanj sum up to 48,000, of which 43,000 are Bosnjaks, 4,000 are Croats, and few hundreds are Serbs. No case of discrimination is recorded, and religious life carries on regularly. Around 10,000-14,000 people have left, and the same amound came to Kakanj, strengthening the Bosniak community. The main problem is that of around 6,000 Bosnjak refugees from Republika Srpska, occupying formerly Croat houses. From 1995 to 1998, some hundreds of Croats made individual returns to Kakanj, and 3,000 Bosniak refugees came back to their original towns.
The municipality was managed by a Bosniak SDA majority, while HDZ Croat refugees from Kakanj constituted a "shadow Municipality" in Čapljina, Herzegovina, pressing for re-possessing their houses and forming a separate, Croat Kakanj Municipality.
Economy in Kakanj as in Central Bosnia, notwithstanding promises, does not start off, and many young people leave or do not come back from gastarbeiter workplaces in Germany and elsewhere. Over 16,000 town inhabitants, more than 4,000 are unemployed. The cement factory (owned by a German company by 51%) does not work fully, and all the cement goes for construction works in Sarajevo. The coal mine hardly works: its coal is out of market because it's polluting. Cement factory workers earns the most, 800 DM/months; then came powerplant workers, and last the miners. The cost of life for a 4 persons family is around 1000 DM/month.
On 29 Septembre 1999, the High Representative (OHR) Wolfgang Petrisch removed from office the mayor of Kakanj, Kemal Brodilija, for obstructing the implementation of the Dayton Agreements and pursuing an extra-legal agenda