IFOR AFSOUTH TRANSCRIPT June 21, 1996

In the interest of speed transcripts of IFOR press briefings are issued in unedited format Transcript of the Press Briefing Held on 21 June 96 By the IFOR Spokesman, Lt Col Max Marriner, UKA at the Sarajevo Coalition Press Information Center

Lt Col Max Marriner: good morning, welcome back to lovely a day in Sarajevo. I brought along this morning one of our favorite briefers Col. Ed Fitch from the engineer branch at HQ ARRC. He's come along this morning specifically to give you details on a vital project that being the road or track link between Sarajevo and the rather isolated city of Gorazde. And we will come to Col. Ed in just a few moments. As we heard yesterday MND (SE) continue their preparation for support to the EU elections in Mostar. Their joint command center has been formed, chaired by General Lambert the commander of MND (SE) and made up of representatives from the key agencies throughout and within the city. The cell meets daily to review the situation, spot any problems, calculate a solution and to look ahead. I think it is a very much affirming exercise. Beyond the support by the uk overseas development agency in MND (SW) continues with the announced approval of a power distribution project in the anvil worth in excess of a half of million pounds UK. Now in addition, the oda has approved the expenditure of another hundred thousand pounds for water project in the Banja Luka area. Since the beginning of their involvement there, the ODA has identified over 250 projects committed to or spent in excess of 2.1 million pounds and their even-handed approach to spending is based strictly on fundamental humanitarian aid criteria. Now, again yesterday companies represented by different entities entered into joint partnerships or ventures, this is a growing area. For instance the aluminum factory in Mostar entered into an arrangement with the Croatian light metal factory. The arrangement is for the exchange of aluminum in return for technical support, training and investment. Now the desire of businessmen to get along and to get on with the industrial and economic development within the country is encouraging and it shows that ethnic differences can be overcome. We note the number of such reports in recent days and welcome not only the resurgence of business from within BIH, but the influence of investors from outside bringing in money. I'd like just to make up the Parish announcements, first of all next Tuesday the Tuesday theater press conference will be carried out in Bijeljina and as with the Banja Luka trip, this Tuesday which I think was pretty successful we will fly in three black hawks from Sarajevo airport to bijeljina, hold the press call there and return. We'd need to leave Sarajevo airport early morning and we'd be back shortly after lunch. An availability trip is on the board, if you'd like to come along, please put your name on the list. Another facility on Wednesday. This time to Mostar. Commander MND (SE) will take the press call at the hotel "Ero" downtown in Mostar. The plan is that we will fly from here Sarajevo down to Mostar, take a bus into the city, do the press call, then give you an hour or so opportunity to go round the city and see what it's like for you actually on the ground. Some of the questions indicate to me that it would be a good opportunity for you to get out there and see what's actually happening in Mostar. Ok, so again if you would like to join up for that one please put your name on the board. A. Ivanko: in the past few days we have been mentioning the situation of the Serbs in the so called Serb suburbs. The situation continues to be tense there. We now have a report that because of harassment and evictions 22 people have left blazuj, 50 left vogosca and many people plan to leave Ilidza unless the situation changes for the better. We are also receiving extremely worrying reports that the only organization that tries to protect the Serbs in those areas, the Serb Sarajevo democratic initiative is also being harassed. Staff working for the SSDI are getting phone threats, a mine was found in front of the house of one of the SSDI members. Policemen hang around the house of one of the leaders of SSDI, cars belonging to the SSDI are stopped at random and checked for hours. We think this is very worrying and we expect the federation authorities to do their outmost, not only to protect the Serbs who are still living in the Serb suburbs, but also the only organization that tries to protect their rights, the Serb Sarajevo democratic initiative. Also bogdan jovanovic who is one of the leaders of SSDI continues to be in prison, he has not been officially charged for getting the run around again from the federation authorities, they promised to post bale for his release, but this hasn't be done and no official charges were filed against bogdan jovanovic. The UN is also outraged by yesterday's report that in Pale the local committee of the sds has nominated Karadzic as their candidate for President. We think this is a slap in the face of the international community and in our view the only position that radovan Karadzic can be nominated for is an empty cell in The Hague. Thank you. Col Fitch: ladies and gentlemen good morning. The General Framework Agreement for peace of the Dayton accord states that the two lane all weather route will be built from Sarajevo to Gorazde through the corridor. The document does not address who will build the road or who will fund it and our preliminary study revealed the information on this slide. After preliminary design these facts came to light. The road that was described in the Dayton Accord would take an estimated six months to survey and design, construction could start earliest in the Spring of 1997, the source of the funding for such a road is unknown. Actual construction time would be 18 to 24 months and it could cost anywhere from 60 to a 120 million dollars to build this road, depending on what alignment was chosen. The road, total length of a 110 km would get you to Gorazde from Sarajevo, actually you would head West out of Sarajevo through Hadzici, up over Mount Igman, over babin dol through p..., Crossing route 18, just North of Trnovo down through d..., Jabuka and if you haven't heard the names of these towns it's not a surprise they're tiny hamlets lost in the mountains in the corridor. You'd reemerge from the mountains at Ustikolina and from there it's good to laying paved road into Gorazde. So, of the 100 km I mentioned 50 km already are of road quality another 60 km would require extensive work, a number of bridges would have to be replaced or built, it's a major job. So, in the absence of the funding of the resources to do the road, what we've agreed to do with U.S. funding is to construct an access route, access track which could be useful while awaiting the funds and the resources to construct the road. Please note this distinction in terminology, what we're doing is building a track and I'll show you some pictures in a moment, drawings, to give you an idea what that means, we're not building what has been called by some the Holbrooke highway which would be a major job indeed. The track that we will build will take about six weeks to survey, that's almost complete, but is been slowed by the presence of mines, the construction of the track will take three to four months. These images will give you an idea of what we mean by a track. So passing days will be required, next please, there's the goat. Passing days will be required and we have a plan to put those in about every 400 hundred meters. Next please. This track will have a gravel surface not paved. Next please. The road will be rather steep in places. Next please, sharp curves. This next slide shows some of the typical works that have to be done. I mentioned survey, construction of passing places, also drenage, we have to dig drenage ditches put in culverts to guide water away from the track. Replace and upgrade bridges. It's many of the bridges now, just forestry type that would only hold a few tons, we're going to re-design them for a 16 ton capacity. In some places we have to realign the track, it's quite impossible to improve it in the place where it is, we will have to build some new track and in many places up grade existing forestry tracks. Last slide please. Plan to work calls for the French engineer battalion to work on the part from Babin Dol to route 18, Pandicici the Romanian engineer battalion will work from highway 18 going East, Hungarian engineer battalion will be improving or replacing a number of bridges and nice little surprise here in cooperation, we are working in cooperation with the engineers as they arrive and they have their section of road as well, they will be working West from Ustikolina. Construction started on the 17th of June, will be finished by the end of September and we will come in within our budget of 3 million US dollars. I have some handouts of these slides for to perhaps compensate for the fact the print is small and I'm prepared to answer your questions. Lt Col Marriner: OK ladies and gentlemen, let's open up the floor now to your questions. Q: Alex, refresh my memory please. Bogdan Jovanovic, how long has he been in jail and how was he arrested in the first place. A. Ivanko: he was arrested by the federation police quite a few weeks ago. He has been accused of war crimes in the Serb suburbs throughout the war. No formal charges have been made and no evidence have been provided that he is an war criminal. We were told that he will be released on bail last week and it still did not happen and we expect that the federation authorities will get their house in order and either release Jovanovic or formally charge him. Q: Alex on the same point, just the General situation for Serbs there; you briefed us a couple times on this in the last several weeks and said that you were pushing with the Bosnian government to see changes in the harassment level, the watching and the beatings etc. Have you seen any change at all from them or is the Bosnian government just giving you lip service or are they not even doing that? A. Ivanko: they are giving lip service, they are taking note, they are writing down the names of those harassed but the situation is not changing. They have enough police in this country to ensure that law and order is upheld in this so called Serb suburbs. But criminal gangs still rome in those areas and people are still harassed and evicted from their homes. And we estimate that there are approximately 14,000 refugees from eastern Bosnia in those areas and a lot of the complaints are that these refugees harassed the Serbs. Q: what do you suppose is the reason for that, I mean why do they just do not seem to care about doing anything. A. Ivanko: I don't want to make any sweeping political conclusions because of this but it is pretty easy to figure out that since the Bosnian government is not doing much to solve the problem maybe it's not extremely interested in solving the problem. Q: Alex, when IPTF was first deployed to the suburbs, sorry , when the federation police first took over the suburbs, they were supposed to consist of an ethnic mix that was representative of the suburbs based on the 1991 census. Is that still the case, do they still have to have a certain number of Serbs and croats in the police force? A. Ivanko: yes, they are supposed to have a certain number of Serbs and croats. The problem was when the suburbs were changing hands at some points the federation police ran out of Serbs and so we have to sort of look the other way concerning the composition of the federation police. There are not that many Serbs in the federation police. So no, I would say that the federation police in the area is not in line with this 1991 census. Q: at some point I think I heard something about croats from kiseljak also taking part in this police force. A. Ivanko: no, the croats from Kiseljak to my knowledge, are not the part of the federation police in those areas. Q: Alex, you have some time period for those people who left those suburbs for the figures that you gave us? A. Ivanko: this is from what I understand in the past few weeks, I don't have the exact days, 22 people left blazuj and 50 vogosca. It is according to UN Civil Affairs Officers on the ground. Q: Alex, do you have any evidence that the federation police is directly involved in harassment if they stopping the cars of stonic's organization. A. Ivanko: yes we have allegations from the number of Serbs that, yes, the federation policemen are involved in the harassment of Serbs in those areas. We can't confirm these allegation but yes, a number of Serbs have complained that they are aware that federation policemen are involved in the harassment. Q: back to the jovanovic case for a second; did you identify him as an official or a member of initiative or was he a Serb who was coming back to...? A. Ivanko: no, he is a pretty prominent Serb, local leader in the area and he was a prominent official of SSDIs. He still is but can not function very well right now. Q: and he had stayed in...? A. Ivanko: he is one of those who stayed, yes. Q: Alex, have you had reports from IPTF of bus loads of refugees being bused from Tuzla to the suburbs and just let off the buses to look for houses? A. Ivanko: I have not heard reports of buses, I have heard reports of lots of people moving to those areas. I am not sure they are being bused or not. But yes, we do have a reports of lots of refugees from eastern Bosnia. The number I have from the civil affairs office, there is 14.000 from eastern Bosnia alone. Q: Alex, ??? Wrote about the eye witnesses account an official Bosnian government response to those eye witnesses reports on the bus loads coming. It is just for your information and they wrote about it two months ago. I wanted to ask, when you talk about the criminal gangs or road gangs, how many people are in these groups? A. Ivanko: I've spoken with the officials in SSDI and they say like groups about three to five people just go into apartments, break into apartments, steal stuff, abuse people, tell them that if they do not leave their house they are going to be killed and these gangs come from different places. But they are small groups of thugs, that is how I would describe them. Q: Alex, in my experience with IPTF in Ilidza having been out there couple of times, having spoken with IPTF officers and I know some of my Colleagues have had the same experience. We've said, for instance, we go out the same day that you give a report to us like this and we ask the IPTF guys saying - what is going on, and they say - there is nothing going on, we say - we have these reports of gangs harassing the Serbs and they say - well, do not really know anything about it they are just stealing each other's livestock. A. Ivanko: well, stealing livestock, if I am not mistaken, is also a way of harassing a person, is also criminal act. You probably didn't speak with the best informed IPTF officer on the ground. They are pretty different, all of them. The regional commander of the area is concerned with the upsurge in violence in the area and I think that is more than enough. And I think quite a few international organizations have spoken here about their concerns with the situation of the Serb minority. Q: follow up; are these thugs armed or not? A. Ivanko: I have not had reports of any groups being armed with arms. I have heard the report with something like clubs but not with arms. Q: Alex, yesterday Colm Murphy was asking what happened to the voice of multi-ethnicity on the Bosnian side. Do you think given what is happening to the Serbs in the former Serb suburbs that the Bosnian government has given up any even pretense of encouraging multi-ethnicity? A. Ivanko: I would say that the voice of multi-ethnicity is pretty silent in Sarajevo today and except for a few press reports from the local press I have not heard any prominent politician in Bosnia speak against this harassment. We hope that the Bosnian government which has always supported multi-ethnicity in Bosnia will condemn these acts and specifically will do their best to stop this harassment. It is not very hard. Just flood the area with policemen. Q: when we had these problems a several months ago, there was a response, fairly immediate response from the Bosnian government. They did step in and now, according to you they are not doing much at all. I mean, is their commitment to multi-ethnicity even to help and deal with this problems just fading away? A. Ivanko: well, one starts to question their commitment to multi-ethnicity, they do not seem to be doing very much in vogosca, Ilijas and Ilidza. Q: just a quick question because I enjoy your illustration so much; in terms of their road, in fact you said that it could only be started next Spring, probably when NATO is gone, maybe and it cost an awful lot of money and to tie it in with what we've seen in these suburbs here, a lot of people from Gorazde don't feel safe and they are moving they are leaving already. We've seen a consolidation into ethnic states. Is it really an investment that the international community can count on if they are going to build that road? Col. Fitch: I am an engineer. You are asking a highly political question. If the resources are provided, you will find engineers who can build the road. The people and the resources have to decide whether it is worth it or not. Q: there is a perfectly good road to Gorazde and we all have driven it many times, don't you feel a bit silly, is this a fool's errand trying to build this thing, somebody is going to get killed out there building it? I mean, how do you feel about it? Col. Fitch: in terms of building the track to provide access to the inside of the corridor I can personally see considerable utility in getting the decision makers into that piece of country so that they can see the nature of the ground and the nature of the problems of putting the road in and it will help them to decide whether they really need one or not. Ladies and gentlemen thank you very much indeed, see you tomorrow morning.