The famous Old Bridge in Mostar has been lit up in colours of the German flag on Tuesday evening in honour of former German Foreign Affairs Minister Klaus Kinkel, who died a day earlier.

Kinkel was the one who first proposed the establishment of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

The gesture was organised by the Centre for Peace and Multiethnic Cooperation, which said that citizens of Mostar and of all of Bosnia and Herzegovina remain indebted to Kinkel and will always remember his support for the wartime victims of Mostar and Srebrenica and his advocacy for coexistence in the country.

The Centre reminded of a meeting that took place in Mostar on July 23, 1994, between Kinkel and the then-presidents of Bosnia and Croatia, Alija Izetbegovic and Franjo Tudjman, respectively.

“The return of those expelled back to their homes, the rebuilding of what was destroyed and the rebuilding of the Old Bridge as a symbol of the resurrection of coexistence were the dominant talking points on that day. And Kinkel’s contribution to that was enormous,” former mayor of Mostar and director of the Centre, Safet Orucevic, said.

“We remember merits and Mostar does not forget its friends,” he said.

Kinkel died on Monday at the age of 82.