Nachricht Nummer : 194 Übertragungszeit : 3 min 42 sec Nachricht von : WAM@ZAMIR-ZG.ZER.sub.org Betrifft : Zagreb Diary 14 July, 1993 Erstellungsdatum : 21.07.1993 10:27:00 S+2 Realname: Wam Kat Zagreb Diary 14 July, 1993 Dobar dan, A small train takes us through the country side of Slavonia, this remains me a lot on the Yugoslav films I use to see, which were made in this area. This is so different from for example the Adriatic coast or Istria, it looks a bit like my own region, back home in Limburg, or the Po area in Italy, green, a little hilly and fields full of grain and corn. Slowly the train pulls the three wagons (with wooden benches) through agricultural landscape. I show Jojo the UNPROFOR checkpoints at the road, when we are entering the UNPA zone and I am surprised with him that nobody comes controlling in the train. We pass by the main Canadian base and see hundreds of trucks, jeeps, APC's, bridge building machine, and I don't know what kind of machinery more. Some soldiers are busy renewing the white paint of some of the trucks, which is really necessary since most of the paint of the cars start to get of after a period and the green army colours start to show again. We pass by Lipik, seen from the train line it look even worst, I am surprised that we found any not destroyed house at all. Than we see the new wooden houses which Cape Anamur, the German emergency doctors, has build here for the people who has to go back to Pakrac and wait until their houses are repaired. Since it is peace in Pakrac, it is the rumour, it has Ben told to me a couple of times, that the Croatian government push people back to live there. If they are not going they loose their displaced people status. I don't know if it is true, since I couldn't get official conformation on that one, but during an earlier visit of Pakrac some women told me that they use to live in Zagreb the last year and now were pushed back to live here. We arrive at the other station of Pakrac, next to what use to be the bus station. We walk into the town and I can se from Jojo faces that he not really expected such a mess, I also see him wondering how you can present something like that on radio. Never mind I tell him, you even can't show it on television or on photo's, this type of feelings are only felt when you see it, for the rest if you never ever been there it is just another pile of stones. At Scorpia we met Davor, the local photo reporter, he more calm and quiet than normal, so I ask him what has happened. "This morning, just about an hour ago", he starts, "They brought back the body of a friend of mine. It was a guy which came two years ago from Zagreb to help us and stayed after the war was over." About a month ago this guy was busy to take electricity wires and copper out of the houses near the front-line and some patrols from the "other side" saw him, he was warring his army trousers, since he had nothing else. "We didn't heard from him for a month, we hoped he still was alive, but today his body came, he has been tortured" It is still for a while, I look at Jojo, yes, my dear, this is the war zone, I try to say with my eyes. Five minutes later Davor is back himself again, somehow in this country you can't be busy feeling the pain all the time, the life goes on and most of the pain wouldn't come out before the war is over, you just say it ones and that's it. Davor tells about the picture above the take and explain that he with he long hair never ever thought that he would have been part of the police force, when the war was over her they asked him to stay on, but than he had to cut his hair, no way. He also explains that from the 20 people on the picture there is only one a real Croat, the rest is like himself, mixed (half Croat-half Serb), or Italian, or Hungarian, or Slovak, or a combination of that. During the real fights, when they, (probably forces from Bosnia or JNA, but not local people), started to shell the city from the south it was a hell, between 1500 and 2000 shells a day and that for more than 5 days, every body had to sit in the basements and wait, hope that the houses would be strong enough. Not like the first 4 days of the war, just after most of the Serbian people left this part of the town, on one day they all went, nobody knew why and how they knew it. Those 4 days were nothing, just street fighting with small arms. No the real destruction came with the big guns. I asked him about the children who were killed by an APC, but he don't know anything about it, there was some sniper fire though at the checkpoint, but that happened the evening before I came with those Americans, that's why the Croatian police at the checkpoint was warring Bullet free jackets. But for the rest he didn't know anything. So I ask somebody from CIVPOL (Civil police from UNPROFOR) and he answer that indeed some days ago two children were killed by an APC on the Serbian side. But that the sniper activities didn't had anything to do with it, according to their information. I wonder were Tommy is, we had an appointment around this time to visit the major "on the other side", but he didn't show up. So we join a women from CARE, who is also looking for him. About half a hour later we stand in a field on "the other side" in the evening sun behind one of the farms. We join a meeting of the women of the Serbian side of Pakrac, who get's a briefing from the major, the whole thing remind me on the old days. It will take a while before women here will be in charge of the women activities. The speech of the major was hopeful for the future, he expressed clearly to his people that he is open for dialogue and co-operation with Croatia, we shall see. 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 ##