Nachricht Nummer : 330 Übertragungszeit : 3 min 50 sec Nachricht von : WAM@ZAMIR-ZG.comlink.de (Wam) Betrifft : Zagreb Diary 8 December, 1993 Kopienempfänger : /APC/YUGO/ANTIWAR, /CL/EUROPA/BALKAN Erstellungsdatum : 15.12.1993 11:21:00 W+1 Realname: Wam Kat Zagreb Diary 8 December, 1993 Dobar dan, It is dangerous in the city, not that we have snipers or so, no, it started to melt and everywhere on the most incredible moments big pieces of ice are falling of the roofs, further on the streets are becoming real skating places after 4 o'clock. One of those ice blocks had cut the telephone line from ARK, it was a nice clear cut and of course the immediately called the HPT to get it made, since the telephone line is one of the most important connections they have. But when that "specialist" from the post came yesterday he cut just the first telephone cable he could find and connected that one with the telephone, result our BBS (computer system) was out, the telephone line from that one was connected to the normal telephone. On ARK people got crazy since the phone went of every five minutes, but nobody was on the other side of the line (since it were computers who called) and the ZaMir users crazy, since the BBS wasn't reacting. At such a moment you find out how many users are completely depending from the system. I personal went nearly passed my pacifistic believes, a message which I have to have delivered in Beograd by tomorrow couldn't get out because of that idiot. So I spend the evening repairing the telephone lines, and didn't join Sophy to sector west, I made the agreement with Goran that we would go today. You can imagine what my feeling was when I shortly passed by the Peace center this morning and found out that the same idiot, ones more had been busy with the lines and now really mis connected about each line in the building. It took me a while, but just after 3, Goran and I finally drove of to the sector. It is still foggy, so also today now helicopters will fly, although what an army, when at the first fog the helicopters have to be on the ground, I thought they could fly in all weather. The flights to Sarajevo, by the way, went on as planned later yesterday afternoon, it were only the helicopter flights which were all cancelled. It is a surprising car ride, the world is new for us, always just about 50 meter before we come somewhere we are able to recognize were we are. We nearly miss the Jordanian checkpoint and Goran can just in time slow down before we passed it without being checked. Goran opens the window and shout "Salumalykom" or something simular and the guards at the checkpoint reject with a loud "Hy de Bok", what a world. When we drive some minutes later through Gaj, we hardly can see all the destroyed houses, the fog covers them. Back in Pakrac, first to our office, but of course the telephone line is still not working. on the way to the office we meet Dr.Lindner, the Austria pensioned doctor, who came in the hope to repair the hospital, but slowly found out that that is by far not as easy as it may seen. Repairing and humanitarian aid is not always that easy in this country, you are confronted with an unbelievable amount of rules and institutions, which already scared off a lot of organisations from abroad. I remember some co-ordinator from Humanitarian organisations running around in there office shouting that those idiot Croats should find out themselves how they could be helped, but they gave up and moved out. Although also thanks to the help of Dr. Lindner last weeks the first persons from the Serbian part of the sector have been in the Croatian part of Pakrac to go the small improvised hospital, his work with the Hospital is not getting so fast as the people from Austria, who want to sponsor a part of the re-building of the Pakrac hospital had thought it would go. It indeed takes weeks of negotiation, during which the "problem" of the Croatian national flag on top of the building is just one of the small problems, which has to be solved. According to IFRC (Int. Fed. Red Cross) that flag should be removed, especially when the hospital should be used in the future (as in the past before the war) by all people in the area, no matter from which side of the cease-fire they come from and return to. Also from the Serbian side a lot of criticism came on that flag. But also things like, if building materials coming from Austria are coming into the country as humanitarian aid, so without tax, or that their should be paid a normal import tax over it. Which is a discussion which is already going on since this type of aid started to come. An extra problem following this discussion is that when Croatia claims that building materials are no humanitarian aid, also the transport of that type of aid over the cease-fire line will caused problems. As last week when a transporter from Slovenia, which brought roof-tiles for the Croatian side and doors and windows for the Serbian side got it to "problems". On the Croatian side all the goods for the Serbian side were loaded into UN trucks and those went over to "the other side". Local authorities, however claimed that the UN was breaking the boycott against Serbia (although their is no boycott decision against Krajina, which was the destination), since doors and windows didn't belong to their definition of Humanitarian Aid, let's say not the type of aid, which Croatia have to let through on the bases of the Geneva convention. Anyway Dr. Lindner just returned from the "other side" and brought a big plastic bag with pig meat, which he got from some patients to whom he has brought some essential medicines. Like everywhere in this part of the world the pigs get killed in these days and since there is no trustable electricity in Krajina you get more meat than what they would have gave you in the past as a kind of tradition token being a good host. I don't eat meat but I think the English volunteers will be happy with it. 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 v2.92 ##