Nachricht Nummer : 589
Übertragungszeit : 4 min 39 sec
Nachricht von    : WAM@ZAMIR-ZG.ztn.apc.org (Wam)
Antworten an     : WAM@ZAMIR-ZG.ztn.apc.org (Wam)
Betrifft         : Zagreb Diary 8 May 1995
Erstellungsdatum : 08.05.1995 10:39:00 S+2

Zagreb 8th May, 1995

Dobar dan,

The last days I got many request to start to write my diary again, a
couple of months ago I decided to stopped, partly for personal reason,
since I wasn't able to keep up, partly since I and other were receiving
electronic dead threat after our postings, and that was not really
stimulating. So being back. It is of course a remarkable day today, 50
years after the capitulation of the NAZI's, Tudjman is at the time in
London celebrating, he is also an ex-partisan general after all. But for
us in Zagreb I think it is much more a week after the start of the
"liberation" from sector west.

Walking around the town lives is however almost back to normal. Some
small posters on shop windows with information about cluster bombs, makes
you remember of the real ones which has been falling down last week. The
placing were they fall however are almost repaired again, some small
impact craters show that it really happened but that is almost it. The
police checking at the railway and bus station and some other public
places has stopped already days ago. The buses and trains to Karlovac
and further are driving as normal. Although some outskirts of the
country, Zupanja (far East), Sisak (only 40 Km down of Zagreb) are
stilled shelled ones and a while we don't hear anything about.

Talks with friends some times really were surprising the last days.
People jumped on the bandwagon of success, suddenly the Croats were a
winning team. Figures about the strength of Croatia army (how trustable
they are is up to you) who where published for the first time shows that
the material outnumbering of the Serbian armies is something of the
past. And the same seems to have happened suddenly in BiH, the
BiHarmija, but also HVO has surprisingly grown under the international
arms embargo.

The (inter)national chorus of people who are singing that although they
would never choice for such "peaceful" ways of re-intregration is, but
now it has happen it is shown how professional Croatian police and army
troops are is growing. That some small human right violations have taken
place are just some very small black spots on the banner of success. Those
troops are not trained human right activists, and are we all not
some times losing our tension at certain moments. They are humans after
all.  But see Akashi, spokesperson from UNCRO, ECMM, International Red
Cross state that everything is done ok, so why should we not believe
them. And like always in a war very soon almost believable arguments
can be find quickly to proof that the action was legitime.

A big black hole are to not really officially confirmed reports of
hundred of deads in Novi Varos, and near Jasenovac, eyewitnesses say
that the Sava was red of blood and in Novi Varos they had to drive over
the (dead) bodies of others afraid to stop and being shot themselves.
The reports from UNCRO and AP (associated press) are talking about
reliable witnesses who have seen it all. But that is all so far we can
collect about it.

Surprising is that it seems that the Serbian media is also not making a
real big thing about, I have seen a declaration of the Orthodox Church,
but didn't hear much from other sources. Also Croatian television is NOT
showing us carefully selected parts of Beograd, Knin and Banja Luka
television, as they normally do in similar situations. It is if
everything is aimed of cooling down everything and not to create big
public outbursts of nationalism and hate. In Zagreb you wouldn't see
suddenly signs of victory on the streets appearing, or more people in
uniforms or more Croatian flags for that matter. Beside from the fact
that Croatia radio and television has started last week suddenly by
taking the moderate war songs from 1991 and 1992 out of the drawers, in
which they were put in the last 2 years and the newspapers use the
biggest characters to announce that Okucani was Liberated it seems not
really to have a big impact on the people.

In Zagreb the biggest impact were the few shells which came down, the
biggest attack on Zagreb since WW2 (in 1991/92 Zagreb went almost
undamaged and un-attacked through the fightings), so for some days
people didn't dare to sit for a few days on the terraces in the spring sun,
but rather inside. And at 12 o'clock when the as tradition, the canon is
fired on the mountain all are happily looking at their watches knowing
that life is normal.

No reports about the activities of HVO in the Bihac pocket, very near to
Knin. Although it is a general known secret that people from Zagreb are
also fighting their as "volunteers" in HVO. But reports of the
preparation of the new tourist session. The whether has proofed us in
the last days, the spring is almost over and the Dalmatian coast is
making themselves up for the big flows of foreigners, from which
everybody still seems to believe that they will come.

Things are surrealistic. The last major Croatian military action at
Maslanica bridge was obvious taking place to make the election victory
of HDZ certain. But that action also had shown how close such action
have to take place before elections before they make an impact. Besides
some rumors a few weeks ago about possible election in the early summer
however not a word about it at the moment. If that was the case it would
explain things a bit, since to win possible elections Tudjman needed a
success. The economical situation is not really working out as was
planned and hoped and a big change, aid from abroad, is also not likely
to happen soon. So a military success was the only left over alternative.
But for the time being no talks about any election and time is passing
by, and so the effect of the action.

All in all we seem to life in a total news vacuum. Since the reports of
nice police guys spreading out chocolate and cigarettes in Japaga and
Seovica can't really been called news. Neither can you call interviews
with POW (Prisoners of War) in sport halls around sector west calling real
news. With the camera's of the whole world in the sport halls and monitors
from almost every international organisation keeping the finger closely
on what is happening, neither you can expect that those people are
mistreated, neither that if that would have been the case they will
tell that in front of Croatian camera's.

The news we get from people of UNOV, CARE Austria and Pakrac Project who
stayed in the area or went back in the last days are also limited, they
seems to be not allowed to really freely move through the area and so
what they can see is almost the same thing as what has been shown to the
rest of the world. And that shown clearly and nicely how well the
Croatian authorities are threaten the people in the area.

All this make you thing, have I become paranoid. Maybe all the positive
message that everything goes without major violations of human rights
are true. Why am I not just so honest to admit that, like
representatives from official bodies as UN and EC have done in the last
days. And why if there are so many stories about looting and killing and
obvious enough refugees in Northern Bosnia to be willing to tell about
it don't we get a huge flow of those reports via the Serbian media. If
this stories are not more than propaganda, why are they not used that
way as they normally have been used.

Of course I would like to believe that suddenly we have noticed here a
major break through in the wars so far. For ones a major police and
military action has been taken place without significant breaking of
Geneva conventions. Time will hopefully tell us what really happened.

The news reports in Croatia on television today are probably as
everywhere else in the world, reports from military parades and other big
remembering events of the 50th anniversary of end of WW2. Besides of
course a long report about the hospital in Pakrac, at last the
reconstruction is being shown. Like everywhere else in the world Pakrac
has become centre of the World. And for the first time the town since
the fights in 1991 and early 1992 is been shown.

Love from Zagreb,

                        Wam

greetings as always to Pjort, Rik and Tyche, your dead is in an almost
normal city.
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