From: wam@zamir-zg.comlink.de (Wam Kat)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.yugoslavia
Subject: Zagreb Diary
Date: 15 Aug 92 13:18:00 GMT
Organization: ComLink-Network Germany - For Peace Zagreb

Zagreb Diary
14-08-1992

Dobar Dan,

I have got some messages today from the states stating they 
had seen Susan on television telling about here contacts with 
me, great, E-mail is starting to work. But it is HER work 
with this kidney patients, I am only a transmitter of 
information, a networker so the say, nothing special.

It was a nice day today, I watch an of the most emotional 
moment on television, HTV. first of all the moment that 300 
Women and children, "Who ran away from hell" as they stated 
on television, arrived in Split from Sarajevo. They made 
there way through the mountain road and it took them 3 days, 
but they our out and safe in Split now.

The other report was if possible more emotional, coloured 
with a lot of tears of happiness, in a small village in UNPA 
(united Nations Protected Areas) land an exchange of POW's 
(Prisoners of War) took place. 765 Croatians were exchanged 
for 418 Serbians. The extra emotional thing was that this 
Croatians POW's were hold in prison from the time Serbian 
forces took over control over Vukovar. In fact most of them 
were not real soldiers but defenders of Vukovar. For me it 
was emotional since I and especially Nina spend hours talking 
with the women from Vukovar whose friend and/or husband now 
returned. 

The pictures were beautiful, people without any shame and 
totally out of their mind from happiness, one girl fly here 
friend around the neck and he felt, they kept on kissing and 
hugging each other laying on the ground. For over 7 months 
this women didn't know if their friends and relative were 
alive, up to 1 week ago not one signal was coming out any 
institution which could give them the hope that they were 
still alive. Thanks, I think, to the world pressure, suddenly 
this exchange was possible. I feel sorry for the women who 
had to find out their loved one was not among this group. 
Ones again they came back empty handed, only with the hope 
they have got out of the rumours that some people have seen 
them alive. Or with the women who heard that their loved one 
is killed, at least they know it now, but that is not much 
comfort.

An other thing what worries me at this moment is the high 
level game Serbian authorities in Northern Bosnia are playing 
with UNHCR. I wonder if you can put the life of 20.000 people 
a stack for a principle. You probably have heard this story 
on your media, if not, let me explain it briefly. UNHCR 
received a list of 20.000 names of mostly Muslim people who 
like to go from a by Serbians (mark the word Serbians and NOT 
Serbia) controlled region in BiH to Croatia, the Serbian 
authorities said that this people are refugees and that their 
lives are endangered when they stay in that region. UNHCR 
refused to do this operation since they see this as them 
doing the ethnic-cleansing for the Serbians and ping-ponged 
the responsibility back to the Serbian authorities. 


And of course this principle of not being co-responsible for 
ethnical cleaning is a good principle, but as said the 
situation in Northern Bosnia is real, people are getting 
killed, houses looted and burned, as far as we can follow it 
and see it on television. And the reports from UNHCR monitors 
also stated that they found clear signs of violence against 
people on the bases of ethnical differences, they know that 
they play a very high game. But maybe the world rejects 
different and the pressure will be enough that these 20.000 
lives and futures will be safe. It is a difficult decision 
anyway to take.

You also sometimes hear this stories of people which seems to 
live for luck. A war reporter from the states who fly in from 
Budapest into Beograd, bought a car there to go to northern 
Bosnia, "To do the camps" as he said, went from there to 
Sarajevo, managed somehow to get in without any problem, only 
lost his car there, arrived yesterday in Split. He drove in 3 
days from Sarajevo to there in a car he bought in Sarajevo 
(without taking of the numberplates) and had no problem what 
so ever. "It is hard job" he stated "But somebody has to do 
it". Other people would have been killed just like that.

A colleague of him, who organised his trip a lot more 
sensitive (David Kaplan, ABC newsproducer) was a lot less 
lucky, after being half an hour in Sarajevo he was hit by a 
snipper and lost so much blood that he dead. He went to 
Sarajevo together with Panic (Prime Minister of new 
Yugoslavia) and his dead was the biggest shadows on this 
visit, which anyway was a huge failure. After Panic had 
already a lot of problem getting into his aeroplane as I 
described yesterday, Izetbegovic didn't want to see he and 
coming back in Beograd the guy Panic look like small kid, 
telling weird stories about snippers who get 500 Dmarks for 
killing journalists, who just found out that there is a real 
war going on and his power is a lot less than he thought. It 
is a pity for him to find it out the hard way, but he is only 
a puppet on a string and when he starts to do things like he 
did yesterday he had to found out that not many people takes 
him serious. We have that nice saying in Dutch, shoemaker 
keeps to your profession and this is a case book example.  

Outside I hear them calling "Krumpir, Krumpir" (selling 
potatoes) it means the sun is up again, the night is over and 
it would be time that I sleep a little, since the coming days 
journalists will come one after another and in between some 
delegations of politicians and on the Center everybody is on 
holidays.

As last lines a total surprise for you, the prices went up 
today, some with more than 25%.
 
With Love from ZA-mir-GREB,

Wam:-)

P.s. for those who wonder why a trip from Spilt to Sarajevo 
cost 1000 Dm the answer is simple, on every roadblock you can 

buy yourself a passing, since you have to pass a few of them 
the price can go skyhigh and the guide wants to make some 
money as well. That's why the price is so high 

  
Newsgroups: soc.culture.yugoslavia