Nachricht Nummer : 255 Übertragungszeit : 3 min 30 sec Nachricht von : WAM@ZAMIR-ZG.ZER.sub.org Betrifft : Zagreb Diary 30 August, 1993 Erstellungsdatum : 09.09.1993 19:36:00 S+2 Realname: Wam Kat Zagreb Diary 30 August, 1993 Dobar dan, After the official part of the meeting last evening in became clear that the local group at the meeting is divided in hard and soft liners. The hard liners stayed in the classroom after we stopped and discussion very angry with Platzer. According to their knowledge their are no working brigades on the "other side", the Serbs can't work, they only can fight, so help there is not needed. And if there are working brigades they all wear long guns and chetniks uniforms, no dough about it. Even when Platzer said that he went almost every second week over the border they said that he don't know and else that he was lying. They other went out the school with us and were friendly as always. But still we don't know what they are really thinking, they hardly ever talk about it, especially not when their chefs are around. Still I know from some of them that they have relative over at the "other side", some have even contact with them, not often but there is always a way. Other have their wife and children or husband some where "over there", but they haven't had any contact with them for now over two years. After the meeting we organised a party in our own school, the third group came at the end of their three weeks, but most of them will stay around for some time, as did about 4 people from the first and 5 from the second group, being in Pakrac is addictive, people also return with aid already and most of them who left already wrote their first letter back to the camp. Although the first week from this camp wasn't so easy due to the tensions after the killing of the four police cops just outside Pakrac and the visit a week later of the volunteers to the "other side", it was again a successful camp and the relations with the town gets better and better. Especially with the youth, who is now returned from their holidays and make the town a lot more alive. Our volunteers made a lot of contacts and immediately after the party started almost all the youth between 15 and 21 was in our classroom. It was a great party, most of the older people left soon, but around 12 the commander of the Argentinean UNPROFOR troops visit the party. In the coming days the control of this part of UNPA West will be taken over from the Canadians by the Argentineans. The Canadians, knows as the hard core of the UNPROFOR troops will go to sector South in order to make an end to the shelling on Zadar and Maslinica bridge. They replace the French which will go to sector North under Karlovac. In the beginning from our stay this was impossible, since the building is still more or less official from the Croatian police UNPROFOR and even locals weren't allowed to visit us at our rooms, the responsible people came to complain about it when it happened. Now everybody runs in and out if it is the most normal thing in the world. UNPROFOR came to bring us milk, water and on top of all some boxes of corn flakes. When the captain came in one of the youngster stole his baret and soon the barrette went from head to head in the group, everybody, inclusive me wanted to see how it looked. The captain, although talking with everybody watch his barrette with a half eye, afraid that it would disappear somewhere. But when he left 2 hours later his barrette was handed back to him, without him even have to ask for it. This is a good start for this team of UNPROFOR, the Canadians never really mixed with the locals and this guys already before they even were officially in charge, I hope that the relation stays this was, although you never know, since tomorrow something can happen what totally change the whole thing. The party went on a few hours more. The next morning everything was totally relaxed, it was a free day and everybody went his or her way. I went walking in the hills behind the school in the Croatian part with an Italian volunteer. We went up in the town and followed the small roads, with on both side the typical Slavonian houses, here the destruction is a little bit less than in the centre of the town, but still every house is in one way or another hit by the war. Slowly we walked back in the direction of Lipik (4 kilometer away from Pakrac), we get closer to the front-line and the destruction is getting worst. In some gardens people have made flower boxes from the old grenade containers. We end up on the grave yard from Lipik, as the one in Pakrac hit by mortars (I told this some weeks ago to a peace visitor and his reaction was that he don't mind about it, shooting a dead people don't hurt anybody, it is a lot better than on people who are alive, and although I see his pragmatic approach seeing this destroyed graves it hurts me). On the grave yard also fresh graves from HV soldiers and police man killed in the last two years, you can follow the accidents and heavy fighting waves by looking at the dates of their stones. When we are standing their an older and younger women come up to the graves, both dressed in black, probably the mother and the wife from one of the soldiers, if I look at the date on the stone the guy was only 24 when he died, we walk on, ashamed a bit.... Bok I Mir from Zagreb, Wam ------------------------------------------------------ Zagreb Diary can be found on a lot of different electronic networks, it is copyright free and can be ported to any network or other means of communication you like, but please drop my a line, you can reach by sending a message to wam@zamir-zg.comlink.de or wam@zamir-zg.comlink.apc.org. Zagreb Diary is dedicated to Tyche, Pjort and Rik, so that they found out what there father have been doing all that time in Zagreb. Financial support for Grassroot relief work in Croatia or BiH can be send to Kollektief Rampenplan (atn. Lylette, Postbox 780, 6130 AN Sittard, Netherlands, tel:. +31-46-524803 and fax: +31-46-516460 or to Zagrebacka Banka, Zagreb, accountnr.: 2440291594, to Kat, Pieter Jan Herman Fredrik, Brace Domany 6 6fl nr3, 41000 Zagreb. Please notify me if you send or have send any donations. ## CrossPoint v2.1 ##