Nachricht Nummer : 421 Übertragungszeit : 3 min 50 sec Nachricht von : WAM@ZAMIR-ZG.ztn.zer.de (Wam) Antworten an : WAM@ZAMIR-ZG.comlink.de Betrifft : Zagreb Diary on 22 February, 1994 Kopienempfänger : /REG/NEWS/DIARY/WAM, /APC/YUGO/ANTIWAR, /CL/EUROPA/BALKAN, /SOC/CULTURE/BOSNA-HERZGVNA, /SOC/CULTURE/CROATIA, /SOC/CULTURE/YUGOSLAVIA Erstellungsdatum : 25.02.1994 16:57:00 W+1 Zagreb Diary 22 February, 1994 Dobar dan, Yesterday evening during the volunteer meeting we had a big discussion what to do if UNPROFOR give us the order to evacuated from the area, since the commander said that we always have to be ready to be able to move within a hour after the order has come. I said that my personal meaning is that I wouldn't leave the area before the local people are starting to evacuated their children and wives and for the time being I don't see any sign that will happen. When I met the HV liaison officer towards UNPROFOR this afternoon and answer him after he asked me how it was going that "his friends" down in the sector were making some problems, he reacted that if UNPROFOR would asked them they, HV, were willing to help them out, with a big smile on his face. Like me he had more the feeling that this thing was something between UNPROFOR and the Serbian Troops (in press releases now described as Rebel Serbs), which are probably coming from the Tuzla region. Again we heard from the local UNPROFOR commander that we are not allowed to cross the cease-fire line. Fabrice went nearly crazy this morning went they send him back at the checkpoint, he was on his way to Okucani to say good-bye to everybody there, since he is leaving for Pakistan this weekend. He went high up and got permission. We phoned to camp Polem and found out that the order that it was safe and that we could pass again was already given from there, so we are wondering if they send that message by snail to Pakrac. At the Lipik checkpoint everything is back to normal again. In the morning I made a small stroll around the city to see what everybody was doing, in the building which is going to be the youth and community centre (beside culture also for teaching things like computer technology) people from the town were busy installing the electricity. Yesterday the volunteers cleaned up the place and found a dozens of wooden landmines and big piles of JNA education materials, which were use to train school pupils in former Yugoslavian days how they work and how to make them, in those days every person on high school had to have some army training. Around the corner I found a local working brigade who together with our volunteers were busy to clean up the streets, removing the melting snow. A bit later we had the opportunity to listen in to a walky talky in the only local restaurant from one of the UNCIVPOL agents who forgot that more people can understand Dutch and had forgotten to turn his thing down. According to what I could pick up the "Serbs" are still on the bridge and they have destroyed the three UNPROFOR containers, which were standing there, forming the UNPROFOR checkpoint, one of the containers seems to have landed in the Sava. O, yes, UNHCR announced that they are starting to drive convoys to Tuzla, Sarajevo again, since the removal of the Serbian heavy gun from the area around Sarajevo and also they are started today with the airlift into Sarajevo. Another message was that Tuzla airport will be open by March the 7th and that again they will threat to use NATO airpower, as well as in the case of lifting the siege of other BiH cities. The US special envoy, Mr. Redman, who had a visit at President Tudjman's place today said that he was happy to hear to the gap between Croats and Muslims is narrowing and he promised Tudjman that the US will help to protect the besieged Croatian pockets in BiH as well as re-establishing Croatia within the International recognised borders. In the evening Jan and I had a serious talk, the woman which was killed was a teacher on the local secondary school and her son is one of the best friends of the chairman of the Youth Club commission we have established in co-operation with the school. Lots of children on the school do not really know what to do with the situation, they don't know what to say about it and how to react towards their friend. Although Pakrac had a huge psychological hospital before the war there is no psychological help available at the moment. Lots of children said that that they were also afraid that something simular would happen in their families, like this family, their parents have also a lot of (financial) problems and also a lot of weapons at home. We hope to find help from outside soon in order to organise some workshops with pupils and teachers to talk about this problem. For the first time the financial police was in the town they came to proof the books from Care Austria, but since they never ever had been in Pakrac before they were shocked by the destruction and more or less afraid to walk over the street, thinking that they could be shot so close at the cease-fire line. After they left some people explained that part of the heavy financial problems came because of the national and local taxes which people suddenly had to pay in December. After 3 years without paying anything suddenly the bills came for the last 3 years, also taxing the lands and houses people own, but which are laying on or at the other side of the cease-fire line and which they of course can't use. Although every town can choose to make their local taxes between 40 and 100%, the town council of Pakrac, a town with all his problem and bad economy has decided to put the tax on 100% since 50% or more of the population of the town is not and somebody have to pay for it. What will happen with the people who return, from abroad and from "the other side" in the future, they probably will get at arrival in their destroyed house also the tax bill for the last years. Mir from somewhere in Hrvatska, 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 . 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 (postbox 33), 41000 Zagreb. Please notify me if you send or have send any donations. 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