Nachricht Nummer : 564 Übertragungszeit : 5 min 44 sec Nachricht von : WAM@ZAMIR-ZG.ztn.zer.de (Wam) Antworten an : wam@zamir-zg.ztn.zer.de Betrifft : Diary Zagreb 3 December 1994 Kopienempfänger : /REG/NEWS/DIARY/WAM, /SOC/CULTURE/YUGOSLAVIA, /SOC/CULTURE/CROATIA, /SOC/CULTURE/BOSNA-HERZGVNA, /CL/EUROPA/BALKAN, /APC/YUGO/ANTIWAR Erstellungsdatum : 03.12.1994 19:17:00 W+1 Zagreb Diary, 3 December, 1994 Dobar Dan, After missing a few groups I have done the political briefing today again for the new volunteers who are arriving to work for the next three weeks in Pakrac. I don't know but after having it been doing it so often some how I am not able anymore to make it a bloody serious story, how much respect you may have for violence and war after being surrounding by it and thinking, living, writing and talking about it somehow it starts to become all a big joke for you. A serious joke, a joke which kills every day people, but still. In that way I am not different than most people I know, after a while stories about the war and the fighting always come to moment of big laughs. Who is fighting against who, a serious question. I look at some Croatian friends and answer honestly, everybody against everybody and vice versa. My friends start to smile. Yes, Serbs against Muslims, Serbs against Croats, Serbs against Italians, Croats against Muslims, Muslim against Croats, Muslim and Croats against Serbs, Serbs with Muslims against Muslims, Serbs against Serbs, Croats against Croats, Muslims against Muslims, all against UNPROFOR, or UNPROFOR and NATO against all of them and every possible combinations with you can imagine. And if you come back in a couple of months from e have invented a few more, don't worry. I look at the same face, a laugh and a mind as mine whose attention dreams away for a while and tries to remember what latest news from Bihac was. When will Bihac fall ? Last week, three years ago, on this moment that we are talking, next Saturday, maybe during your stay. Who knows, if the intention of this invasion was to take Bihac, than Bihac had fallen so to say already a week or more ago. Just like Sarajevo, if those armies around it would really want to take the town they would have done it. Makes yourself no illusions anymore, no UN can change that reality, we have learned so. Who knows maybe this is just a reaction to show how strong they still are, after that debacle at Kupres. Maybe they are waiting till Abdic men move in from the North and take "their" country back, in the main time they keep the 5th corps busy at South of Bihac and break so way open for Abdic to come back in power. Who knows...... Don't worry it is one of our favourite games, to figure out what will happen next, which brilliant strategically move which party will do next and why. And possible how another party will react on that move. Gambling with Bihac, means f.e. that when not Abdic takes over power, but BSA gets the whole area under their control. What will Croatia do, Valentic said more or less that in such case Croatia had their own solution, so maybe that means that Croatian Army will join the games, that would probebly mean full war in Croatia again. And yes we are talking about a distance of about 100 Km or less, so at this moment we are within reach so to say and tomorrow you will be at the front-line. Be my guest... so to say.... We know about as much as you just freshly coming from West Europe about how the situation in Bihac is, our information comes through the same channels. I can't give you any security that nothing will happen in Bihac, or in Kupres for that matter. Nor can I give you the security that when something happens you will be totally safe, working together with the UN so to say. Nearly 500 UN peace keepers are now some where "blocked" in BiH, and that small local UN id card is not protecting you against bullets or grenades, neither a key to get out when it really gets rough. On the other hand snow will fall soon and that will cool down the fighting. Than another winter of logistic problems how to feed everybody stands in front of us. An again another safe zone stands on the list of priorities. If Rose will gamble with threats of the BSA leaders and call NATO for help, we will see. What will after the amount of Dutch people who suddenly die in BiH raises sky high, is something we can guess only. The camera's are now standing in Bihac, you are going to Pakrac 100 Kilometre in the other direction from Zagreb. For three weeks you will notice that back home it was easier to know what was going on around here. Don't ask me for the solution, my answer is clear if the world wanted this wars would have stopped before they even had started, and now it is only a question how much money the world is really willing to put in to stop the problem. Two weeks after you have left the next UNPROFOR mandate in Croatia and the UNPA's runs out. Okay it takes NATO 165 days to get UNPROFOR out of BiH, but surely here in Croatia and the UNPA that will go a bit faster, but don't worry. It is Christmas soon and you will see just before Christmas something will happen or rather nothing will happen and sudden the UNPROFOR mandate has an extra 6 months and the whole operation is delayed till next summer. How do you think would the Argentinean UNPROFOR feel themselves who are on guard on the "Serbian" part of the front- line in Pakrac. Tudjman is big friends with their president and all kind of promises are made in the joint fight against fascism and racism and their direct surrounding is suddenly a lot less nice to them. How neutral can you be as UNPROFOR soldier, you know. I am Dutch my country joint that NATO action. You may feel yourself isolated in Pakrac, without the normal news, but you will notice how World news has it's local effects. At this moment in Pakrac the war is a bit alive again, that grenade at the tree near the police station will have it's psychological influence. You don't have to spend a lot of grenade or bullets to let the other know that you still are there. 3 grenades yesterday on Sarajevo have more effect than the some times 2000 or 3000 per day. Or who knew about Pakrac, where the same amount per day came down for some weeks (something more as 3 years ago). The maps are open. The World community has shown that they are willing to withdraw their earlier recognition of BiH, following the new peace plans it seems to be possible that BiH's original borders are a lot more flexible than 2 1/2 years ago. Yes and when you accept flexible border in BiH, why not also in Croatia. There are still a few area's which surely are not agree upon whose historical ground it may be. We can jump into another discussion from I don't know how many days or years about every centimetre and which historical symbol it has to whom. Depends on the circle but even if we try to be as neutral as we want we never ever will find out who is right and who is wrong that way. People have to learn to respect each other, they told me over and over again, respect yes, there are thousand and one things people should do to live in peace with it's neighbour, lot's of people here will do those things, maybe some not enough, maybe some not at all. For sure if tenthousand people came to Pakrac we can walk peace fully together over the front-line, tenthousands would be a hell of an injection in the local economy, thanks to the tourist people would forget all about their fights, I am sure, how stupid that may sounds. But as soon as you move away and the economy goes down again, I am not really sure what will happen. Don't start to think that we are all idiots now, or that I am an idiot (I am probably, no problem). It is not a joke, it is bloody real. It is all a lot more complicated than you may think. The reasons, the actions and reactions may be so far away from your reality, they are however true, for everybody who believes in them. And if their where no reasons to be found in the past, over 3 years of war have given the reasons. No, I am desperate, I still believe that the weapons will be silenced one day, but it will be a long way from there, a way we still not know how to go..... But I am sure we will find a way over the minefield. But don't let us become poetic, it is just hard work, cleaning bricks, living together in cold house, playing with children, sitting in the bar, talking with people, cleaning some more bricks, cleaning the kitchen who nobody did in 5 days, discussing, again cleaning bricks in the snow, discussing some more, sitting in another bar, talking, having fun, trying to find out what is going on, making jokes about the situation, etc. etc. Mir za somewhere in or around Hrvatska, Wam PS There has been a period during which I have been thinking to write under my diary entries, "Each figure or place is pure imagination, each similarity with existing people and place is a pure coincident." Just to make clear that I am not Reuters or so, with 25 people in the field to check my information. Just to prevent myself when I am making mistakes or mis interpretations. And don't worry wen I make a mistake, or the same day or within a week somewhere somebody or more somebody's have informed me of my blooper. Like this time, a girl from Macedonia who lives in the Netherlands and reads my diary there. At the 26th Nov. I wrote that I was surprised that Serbia and Macedonia didn't allowed UNHRC (Human right Commission) to open an office in their countries. Ofcourse Macedonia should have been Montenegro, excuses for that. PS The last months it get clear that Croatia is confronting itself with a problem which was already known since the first day of the war, but which was up to now a bit of a topic not many really like to talk about. Namely the role in this society of the war invalids. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.ztn.zer.de. 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. ## CrossPoint v3.02 ##