From: wam@zamir-zg.comlink.de (Wam Kat)
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Zagreb Diary
22-08-1992

Dobar Dan,

I, and maybe I could even say, we are often totally sick of 
the unendless stream of free-lance journalist passing by (in 
total over 3500 journalists got now their 3000 Dinar 
expensive Croatian Press cards at Hotel Intercontinental. 
Probably a lot more are hanging around in the country without 
any credentials). I do not mean the ones who take their job 
serious, but the ones who are here in the pubs and think that 
journalist is another word for heavy drinker. They are coming 
in the office, sometimes pick up by some half-half with the 
Center related persons and coming in with their main 
question: "how to get into BiH as soon as possible and when 
that is not possible, how to get to Slavonski Brod". 

Today it were 3 young German journalist students (without 
presscards by the way, or at least Croatian presscards), 
which were absolute drunk when they came in (writing this I 
see on television that it is general alarm in Slavonski Brod 
by the way) demanding that we should organise them a hike 
with some other journalist to Brod. They were important and 
needed to go there to report about the war. They of course 
just came back from Mostar where they did the refugee problem 
"Those stupid Croats wouldn't let them in, the idiots" one of 
them said. 

I asked them if they realise that it were real shells in 
Slavonski Brod and that they had a very, very big change to 
be hooked up in the shelling if they went down there. "Of 
course, of course, I was shot at on the road from Mostar back 
to the coast", but I have to go there, I am can tell the 
story to the outside world, I can make the real pictures 
which nobody have seen outside yet". I ask them to go outside 
and wait in the cafe on the other side of the street for me 
until I was finished with about 5 other things and phonecalls 
, which also seemed to be needing me, rather then somebody 
else.

When I came to the cafe 10 minutes later  they just finished 
two more vodkas and I really felt sorry for them. So I found 
myself a BiH soldier, who are always around somewhere in the 
neighbourhood and said to him that he could drink them under 
the table, but should be sure they pay for him. And I left 
the cafe. When I passed by a hour later, the 3 were more or 
less laying in there chairs, listing in full adoration to 
this young, maybe 18 year old soldier, telling them the 
stories we hear a thousand times before. At least one soldier 
had the possibility of getting ride of his nightmares for a 
while.

That is still one of the major problems of the soldiers who 
come back, by now nearly everybody has heard the stories 
already, and the psychologists are also not able to take much 
more. On this moment nearly all of them are on holiday 
anyway, like almost everybody. Anyway it would be good if 
Croatian speaking people with experineces on the medical and 

social field and living abroad would be able to come back to 
their root country for a while and help.

I am glad that I haven't help those three Germans to get to 
Slavonski Brod today, since they ware real eager to taste the 
war and there is a lot of it today in Slavonski Brod just 
over the bridge in the direction of Derventa. According to 
Croatian Television (HTV) the Croatian troops are winning on 
this front and they pushed the Serbian extremists (name used 
in the news), helped by JNA aeroplanes, back till Derventa. 
During that the occupied a T-84 tank and that is remarkable.

Months ago I wrote about this "desert tiger among the tanks", 
as the soldiers call him after the golfwar. It was clear that 
deal between the former republics of Yugoslavia to not use 
the T-84 in the war between the republics was already broken 
a couple of time and now this messages, with television 
pictures proofs that the T-84 is used heavily. 

Also the fights in and around Sarajevo were still heavy, the 
defenders of the town has started a offensive to break the 
lines of attackers of the city (hope that nobody will be 
angry on my that I use words as defenders and attackers).  
 
Toni, the energy specialists of Green Action, phoned me from 
his holiday place and told me that the new minister of Energy 
has his background in the nuclear industry, so the fear we 
had that the government would realise their plans to build 
new nuclear powerplants is getting stronger. Toni and I made 
an appointment that we are going to look for some experience 
(western) antinuclear specialist to work in this winter 
together with Toni in order to organise a public campaign 
about energy plans in the winter. 
 
Besides the journalist the office is anyway totally full with 
foreigners, I think there will be sleeping about 20 there 
tonight, we are running out of space and working places. When 
we tried to find a new payable place we also discover that 
beside UNPROFOR and Relief organisation, embassies from I 
don't know how many countries of the world are also looking 
fopr a house. Prices are going up fast and it will be hard to 
find the place before the 6th of next month when the first of 
the new series of workcamps will start. In seems to be true 
what UNPROFOR said last week, the prices will be high. Most 
foreign organiastions use now Croatian people to find places 
for them, since only knowing that there is a foreign 
organisation behind it the prices are immediately 100% 
higher.

Pax said that I remind him of Rick (Bogart) in the film Casa 
Blanca. I was charmed, but it says more about the 
surroundings of my work than it says about me I think. Even 
Burkie, who is after 3 years working at our EYFA office in 
Sittard already known with a lot of crazy thinks has the 
feeling after being 4 days here that in all those years we 
never have seen it all, but that here you are often in the 
central place of a total madhouse. 

With Love from ZA-mir-GREB,


Wam:-)



  

  
  

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