Nachricht Nummer : 565 Übertragungszeit : 6 min 20 sec Nachricht von : WAM@ZAMIR-ZG.ztn.zer.de (Wam) Antworten an : wam@zamir-zg.ztn.zer.de Betrifft : Zagreb Diary 4 December 1994 Kopienempfänger : /REG/NEWS/DIARY/WAM, /SOC/CULTURE/YUGOSLAVIA, /SOC/CULTURE/CROATIA, /SOC/CULTURE/BOSNA-HERZGVNA, /CL/EUROPA/BALKAN, /APC/YUGO/ANTIWAR Erstellungsdatum : 04.12.1994 20:11:00 W+1 Zagreb Diary, 4 December, 1994 Dobar Dan, Yesterday evening when I was still writing my diary entry, which was indeed a bit different than normal, suddenly the windows started to tremble and a large explosion echoed back from the mountains in the North. It was a lot louder than all those small explosion you hear almost whole day the last weeks, people practising for the 31st. And even in Croatia they don't have test explosion at the gun powder factory at Saturday evening. But still the sirens didn't react, so no alarm. This morning it became clear that an oil tank on the airport (about 8 kilometres away) has exploded (poor small Boris and Andreas who live near to there). How is unclear yet, the ministry of defence and security couldn't answer that question yet, according the news. For a while I thought that one of the boxes of "Future shock two" had been exploded, or if they organised their on the Fair grounds an outside show with special sound and light effects. This last night again one public rave night was organised, which brought thousands of youngsters together to enjoy techno music, a big thing here in Croatia. Not really my thing I have to admit. This out of sized house parties with music which slowly eats the last working part of my brain away and all those people spaced out on chemical drugs, not real, I have been working in Youth centres, I think I had my share. Any way, nevertheless a big thing here and wildly sponsored by the media, Croatian television pushed it like hell. ARKzin had sponsored a leaflet for this event about dangers of the different kind of drugs and I think spreading that around would have been for me the only reason to go into the cold night (at least 10 degrees below zero at the moment (Celsius)). Lucky for me enough others from ARKzin like Techno, so I stayed at home and thought that they had a really wild party when I heard the explosion. Not a really wild party, but a bit of an official thing was the opening from Benneton of the last 12 or something years in the former museum for the victims of Fascism (I really don't know how the museum calls nowadays, the square is renamed in square of the Big Croats, but the museum.... I will asked around I know somebody who run the place before the war :-)). Everything very official and formal, but very funny to walk or drive around the building now, and believe it is a very well used round about, some tens of thousands are passing by every day, Two giant posters with condoms in all colours of the rainbow are laughing at you. And that in a country in which the Catholic church is maybe getting a little faster than a few years ago a still growing influence on the public life. Some how funny together with those AIDS spots on television, he also could have used that poster of that wounded or killed Croatian Soldier. Late in the evening I got a phonecall of a journalist who wanted to have my opinion on the statement that in the last 3 years of the war all sides, even the "Serbs" had run out of ammunition and that all side have their own suppliers already semi "official", since the embargo is still there. The USA and Germany are supplying the "Croats", USA and Arabic Countries the "Muslims" and France, UK and Russia the "Serbs". I don't know, everybody here told me always that the "Serbs" had enough ammunition to continue the war as they were doing for another 5 years. I don't know I am not really an expert in things like how much ammunition was there and how much has been used by now. Try SPRI in Helsinki, they know everything about weapon trade on the world, was my reaction. Really, every time that somebody uses the argument that somebody some where makes a hell lot of money by selling weapons and that in their sake the war should go on a bit longer, I get that hopeless feeling that it maybe is true. And still I have the feeling that the real amount of money what is spend in this area at this moment for buying weapons abroad is peanuts if you compare with the amount of money what West European countries like the Netherlands use to spend. I can't proof it, I really don't know, I have that feeling. For a long time I have been told that the "Serbs" only slowly where spoiling their former JNA stocks, but that they wouldn't run out in years, they only thing what I really can see is that Croatian Army is getting wonderwell organised and even the airforce get equipped. And much further than landmines and army trucks I don't know anything about heavy Croatian army production and MIG's and those thing don't grow on trees, neither have their been spectacular mentioned of sudden line crossing from a whole fleet of former JNA MIG's, so those things have to come from somewhere. One thing we can agree upon that whole weapon embargo shit is only political the trade is already on going, but if it is really a big trade, I wonder. Klaus Vack from Komitee for Grundrechte und Demokratie phoned this evening and told among a lot of other things that the Komitee had organised that two children from Sarajevo (with their mothers) could be brought to Germany to be threaten in a German hospital, both children are heavily wounded and the German doctors, specialists are doing the job for free. The hospital costs ofcourse has to be paid. That remind me on a quote which Jojo send me some days ago by Anthony Lewis in International Herald Tribune (26-27-11): On Tuesday, two days before Thanksgiving, I had a telephonecall from a young man who asked how he could reach a Sarajevo children's doctor I had mentioned in a column. I want to help, he said. Who was he? I asked. A 20-year old student at the University of California in Berkeley, Shervin Pishevar. And why was he interested in what was happening in Bosnia? "I know about the feeling of children in war," he said. "I was a 6-year old in Iran when the Iran-Iraq War started in 1980 and bombs began falling. I will never forget my fear." Shervin Pishevar studies plant genetics and cell biology. He also works as a volunteer in the emergency room of a children's hospital. He wants to reach the doctor in Sarajevo and offer to come and help in the children's clinic. So far quotes, original in New York Times." Hope that the quote have reached Sarajevo, I send it over there by Email. I really would like to know how this search of Lewis will continue and if Pishevar will arrive in Sarajevo. I know that most reactions out of Sarajevo, especially after those media spectacles in the UK to bring one girl out of Sarajevo always was a bit sceptical. Doctors always claimed that enough technical schooled staff was still in Sarajevo and they only needed the equipment and the material. And ofcourse that the best cure would be to stop the war as a whole. Since the pressure is a bit gone of rather was gone for a bit and more and more International organisations went down their I lost a bit my overview. Getting in contact is not so hard as it us to be anymore, I have been receiving telephone calls from people there a couple of times in the last weeks, foreigners, which weren't even surprised when I asked them if they really were calling from Sarajevo, yes was there answer we only had to deal ones. So Lewis probably have already finished his search himself. Another news from Klaus was that it is again a lot more problematic to collect money and goods for this area. The reflaming of the war in the Bihac pocket and Kupres haven't done the free market system of the humanitarian aid much good. People can only take so much confusion you know, if it get too complicated they zap to another war or another town. But Christmas is coming up and that is always the good session. So who knows. In the main time he has help to established a Sarajevo NeXus run by locals only. NeXus in Croatia is a spring off of Suncokret what we started in the spring of '92, NeXus started official in the winter of that year and specialist itself in the co-ordination of grassroots relief, the organised a lot of small size humanitarian aid, run a perfect sorted pharmacy, based donations only and run since the beginning regular on towns s Tuzla. All done by international volunteers and local activists. NeXus in Croatia is still active and run beside this a small Peace Hostel in Zagreb. So it has now a little brother or sister in Sarajevo. Slowly the idea of networking (not only electronic) between small groups is getting a bit more known. Boutros Boutros Galhi's trip to Sarajevo last Wednesday seems to be afterwards described as a total failure, half of the people e wanted to meet he didn't meet and the other half had enormous criticism on his organisations activities or as been said rather non activities. Izetbegovic, fine to know that he is still alive, we don't heard so much from him the last time, other faces have taken over the face of BiH towards the outside world, told him among other things that BiH is still an International recognised country within strict recognised borders, and that any Peace plan not respecting that fact is unacceptable. The people from Sarajevo came in big numbers to see Boutros Boutros Galhi's driving from the Airport to the Parliament building, they risk the snipers to see him, but not like in the case when the Pope came to Zagreb, but to shout at him and show him that they really weren't happy with his visit and his work. I wonder how he really felt after that trip, news reports said that he hinted withdrawal of UNPROFOR from BiH after returning, but didn't said anything specific about it. Electronic Flags !!!!!! and an electronic virtual party, ZTN (Za Mir TransNational Network) has become full member of APC (Association of Progressive Communication) for this area together with Histria from Slovenia. I think for all of us here at the ZTN systems, at least those at the support groups, this message although expected came as a little surprise, a December present, so to say. In the last 2 1/2 year we have build up enough credit to join the big global family of APC, something we are, how strange that may sounds, probably all a bit proud. Last but not least Tudjman came home today from Argentina. Mir za somewhere in or around Hrvatska, Wam PS The Croatian Vjesnik published today a story that they read in the Italian Panorama that that newspaper has a tape of a phonecall of a French Air commander and BSA command on 17 Oct. 1993 explaining the BSA commander when NATO air operation, which took place on Sarajevo just after that phone call. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ##