From: wam@zamir-zg.comlink.de (Wam Kat)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.yugoslavia
Subject: Zagreb Diary
Date: 12 Aug 92 01:20:00 GMT
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Zagreb Diary
09-08-1992

Dobar Dan,

Klaus Vack, a kind of monument of the German Peace movement 
came today, he is been active within the peace and other 
counter movement in Germany for as long as people can 
remember. And talking with him is a kind of going through my 
own action history in Germany, I was one of those 
"Hollanders" who always came to cook. 

Now he is one of the pushing engines behind the Vis project, 
about which there was a meeting in Split this weekend, but 
since we have put our priorities on refugees and relief work, 
as well as on the Osijek project, nobody of us went. On top 
of it comes that the group is really small at the moment, 
most people are out on the islands for the summer holidays. 

The reports of Vis are clear, the Croatian government likes 
to sell the island to NATO, especially since they find out 
that the whole thing was full of land and other mines. Before 
the JNA left the Island the spend their time carefully 
installing hundreds, maybe thousands of mines. And some of 
the refugees (but also one peace activists from the Island) 
who went into the military barracks were blown up. Most of 
them survived the blow, but are seriously wounded according 
the reports from the islanders. A friend of Tonci lost his 
legs when he walk through the bunkers.

This kind of stories didn't reached us and no of the writing 
press in Croatia, after the big celebrations at the moment 
that the JNA left and HV (Croatian Army) took over, the next 
articles were that on Vis a few thousands refugees could be 
hosted. Then it was quiet, now we know why, most of the 
refugees who were transported to Vis already left the Island 
again since the place was not safe for them.

Klaus and his komitee fur Grundrechte und Demokratie 
(Commitee for (Basic) Human Rights and Democracy) also came 
to Split with a lot of medicines for the hospital there, from 
his story and the people who were with them I found out that 
they were not aware that the situation was that bad.

Like in Zagreb and other places the situation in Split is 
horrible, thousands and thousands of refugees come in from 
BiH and hospitals are running out of their basic 
possibilities to help people. In Split the central hospital 
for example is meant for 600 people, but over 1400 are 
already in. Only seriously wounded people are taken in, those 
who have less serious problems have to wait until the 
situation is a little bit calm down.

They visit some refugees camps in old wooden barracks, meant 
to host 300 construction workers during the week some years 
ago, there are now over 900 refugees, often 16 family members 
have to share only 15 m2. The situation in the tent villages 
around Dalmatia (and also in the rest of Croatia) is even 
worst when the autumn and winter starts. Especially toilets 

are the weak point, like in Gasinci, which has caused already 
dead among children (they are already weak, therefore they 
have no resistance against all type of normally not dangerous 
viruses and possible diarrhoea sicknesses).

When they were in the camp some trucks with 80 refugees from 
Tuzla arrived, Tuzla is situated North-East part of BiH, the 
fights in that area are hard and horrible, the town itself is 
already for month isolated and surrounded. Up to some weeks 
ago the people from Tuzla, who could find a way through the 
fighting lines could escape to Slavonski Brod, but since the 
fightings there are also more intensive and the road are cut, 
they now have to travel south all the way to Split.

The drivers from the red half moon (Islamic Red Cross) were 
worn out (they only can drive at night, without any lights), 
but wanted immediately back to Tuzla in the hope they could 
find more people who made it through the lines. An older man 
(app. 60 years) went away from Tuzla, with his daughter in 
law, her sister and their children, they walked their way 
from Tuzla to Split, but only the old man was strong enough 
to come through, the rest died during their journey.

Tuzla is just one of the many places, which is isolated, 
Cazin in the North-West of BiH was sending out emergency 
notes already months ago, by that time they were already 6 
months without supplies. The UNHCR convoy which brought two 
weeks ago 12.000 refugees from Bihac to Karlovac tried to get 
near to the city but couldn't. The radio amateur who reported 
from there is also quiet for over 5 weeks, the only thing 
what we now is that they are maybe still there.

For us in Zagreb it is somehow easier to live without the 
daily messages, not that we forget, but it makes you so 
helpless, powerless to hear day after day what they need and 
how desperate the situation is and nobody seems to be able to 
do something. When Klaus asked why UNPROFOR don't send food 
parcels down from aeroplanes I didn't knew the answer, I 
wonder if somebody has a good answer to give to the people in 
those areas if they ever come out alive.

I picked Klaus and Sven, who travel with him by plane, the 
rest came by car from Split, up from Zagreb Airport, It more 
and more starts to look like a cheap war-movie. An oversized 
airport with such big propellers to have some fresh air. 
Police walking around, giving you the cold sifferings with 
their eyes, (French) soldiers in the bar (dressed in nice 
fashion army shorts) trying to get some girls, waiting for 
their flights home or a ride to the city, journalists 
checking their equipment and talking loudly about their 
airride to Sarajevo, money changers looking if they can make 
some money, tourists on their way to Split, pilots of the 
Hercules transport planes (which fly on Sarajevo) in their 
flyer overalls, outside jeeps from UNPROFOR, UNHCR and what 
is more around, and just enough public planes coming in to 
call it an airport. This could have been in any African 
country as well, the heat outside goes over the 38 degrees 
Celsius and the runway mirrors it self in the sky. 
 

With Love from ZA-mir-GREB,

Wam:-)



  
  
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