IFOR AFSOUTH TRANSCRIPT Aug 21, 1996

In the interest of speed transcripts of IFOR press briefings are issued in unedited format Transcript of the Press Briefing held on August 21, 1996

Major Boudreau: good morning ladies and gentlemen. Let me start with an update on where we stand with Operation Volcano, and then I have just a couple of other items of note. First, the planned operation to destroy the material at Margetici continues. With the detonation this morning, we have now destroyed about 130 tons and expect to top 200 tons by this time tomorrow. And yesterday, Lt-Gen Sir Michael Walker, the COMARRC, talked to local dignitaries, including the mayor of Sokolac, the local priest, the chief of police and the town's water expert, who paid a visit to the operation's command HQ. The major concern of the Sokolac officials is the potential pollution of the water supply. We have listened to their concerns, but are satisfied that the operation poses no such danger. None the less, we have decided not to use the second site, the one closest to the town. We believe we can accomplish the mission in good time, by the weekend, and with a maximum of safety using a single detonation site. The town officials accepted the commander's offer to take a helicopter ride over the site and the surrounding area to see for themselves the measures being taken to reduce the environmental hazards. We have recorded the existing environmental conditions and will restore the site at the end of the operation. We have also directed our civil affairs staff to investigate additional ways and means of helping to put the schoolhouse/ammunition dump to much better use, once it is emptied of its deadly contents. Now, as a point of note, while we've destroyed a significant amount of ammunition over the course of the past three days, we've also gotten rid of some other confiscated munitions and weapons around the area of operations. In recent weeks, we have destroyed more than 1200 weapons confiscated as a result of non-compliance since the start of the operation, the majority of these belonging to the A-B-I-H. Elsewhere in MND-southeast yesterday, an Italian tanker with 30 cubic metres of diesel fuel overturned on a road East of Jablanica, spilling its load into the lake. MND South East technicians were able to pump out the majority of the spill into another tanker and treated and removed the remaining traces of fuel using the compound known as spillsorb, which absorbs fuel and oil-based fluid, making clean-up easier and more thorough. As well we have updated our minefield contamination map, and I will leave copies of this for you out in the hallway - journalists get first dibs, please. And you will note that notwithstanding the large numbers of red spots indicating mine fields, they still represent an estimated 50% of the known minefields in the country. Finally, as you know, we have put significant amount of resources into upgrading the Gorazde access track, and from time to time construction will limit public access. So, for travellers, I would like to point out that the track between Babin Dol and Ustikolina will be closed to all traffic from 0800 to 1800 Monday through Friday, effective immediately and until further notice. Civilian traffic will only be permitted on saturdays, sundays and after 1800 hours Monday through Friday. This will allow IFOR and A-B-I-H engineers to use explosives to widen the road and remove rocks. I just have one church notice and that is a press facility for tomorrow in Banja Luka MND (SW) area that does not replace the normal conference here. Just if you would like to go to Banja Luka for their daily press theatre, be at the airport at 0845 for departure time of 0900. And we look to have you back here by about 1530, ok. There's a sign up sheet in the foyer, so if you're interested in that please sign up after the conference. Alex. Alex Ivanko : the United Nations continues to be concerned with the situation in the Bihac area. Over the past week eight explosions were reported in that area, we believe that all of them are politically related and directed at supporters of opposition parties. Hand grenades have been thrown at houses. Other explosives have also been used. We also received a letter from a local opposition party accusing nine police officers and eight supporters of the ruling SDA party alleging that they are involved in the intimidation of people specifically in cazin who support the opposition. The United Nations monitors in the are believe that this intimidation may continue up to the elections and we also believe it will have dark consequences with the whole election process because according to the information we have, many of the people that support opposition parties will prefer for security reasons not to exercise their right to vote. If the local authorities in Bihac are interested in having free and fair elections they only have weeks if not days to get their act together, although their commitment are doubtful right now and to try to ensure that the local police guaranteed the safety and security of all voters not only those supporting the SDA. The same I have to admit goes for Teslic and the local authorities there in Republika Srpska. There another factory director who supports an opposition party has been forced out of his job and has been replaced by a loyal SDS support. Also in Teslic illegal check points have been set up and only after the IPTF monitors brought the police over to these check points were they dismantled. We were also informed that 30 special force policemen have been deployed in Teslic. We try to find out who these people report to . We were told no they don't report to the local police chief, they report to Bijeljina police chief. We checked with the Bijeljina police chief. He said: "no, they don't report to me. They report to Dragan Kijac the minister of interior and sometimes even to the President." We expect to get a straight answer from the Republika Srpska authorities, why these special police forces are in town. Last week we reported to you that the ministers of interior of both entities agreed to the UN guidelines which specify how to ensure free and fair elections. Now, either the local police chiefs are ignoring the orders of their commanders or there's some country wide communications break down or whatever, but for some reason these orders are not filtering down to the level of the local police chiefs. To try to straighten this problem out, Peter Fitzgerald, the commissioner of the UN international police will be meeting today with Minister Habib and the local police chiefs on the federation side, to try to impress on them the importance of following these guidelines. Tomorrow he will go to Pale to meat with the local police chiefs in Republika Srpska, as well with the minister of interior of Republika Srpska, Dragan Kijac. We still would like to make a point that these guidelines should be strictly followed. If they are not strictly followed, this may have very dire consequences for the whole election process. And a church notice: tomorrow at 11:00 hrs, as usual, we will have a special guest - Gren Bluit, the Deputy Prosecutor of the Tribunal will be here to brief you on the activities of the Tribunal and on the opening of the offices of the Tribunal in Sarajevo and Belgrade. Thank you. K. Janowski: no points from UNHCR. Q: Brett, what ever happened to these other 16 or 17 or 18 sites where there was some ammunition stopped there that was at risk, number one and number two - is this waiting period that used to prevail for weapons that were confiscated, is that still in effect or is that been dropped, or what is the story? Maj. Boudreau: let me answer the second question first, in fact that 14 day appeal process period is still in effect, that is to say - when we discover weapons or other materials outside authorised sites, we will confiscate it and give the parties a 14 day appeal period after which it is generally destroyed. So yes, that is still in effect. With respect to your first question, those additional 16 sites are still under... The disposition of those sites is still under review. The material is under guard, or under observation. Let me just clarify that; it is under observation, it is not going anywhere, but the disposition of those sites is still under review. Q: could you give some idea of quantity of material that is there? Some people have suggested that it dwarf's the amount of stuff that was found at Margetici taken as a whole? Maj. Boudreau: in fact, in the total amount of ammunition in all of those sides is in the order of, we estimate, in the order of 3.000 tons. So let's say, fairly substantial amount of material spread throughout those 10 or 11 ammunition sites with the additional sites being, as we discussed, training facilities, radio rely facilities etc. Q: well to follow that up; when are we going to expect a decision on what could be done with this 3.000 tons please? Maj. Boudreau: I would expect fairly shortly. I mean, certainly we've had the chance now to investigate those sites, to get a pretty fair account of what is in those sites and once again, we have made some recommendations and we are expecting an answer fairly shortly on that. Q: and blowing up that extra, or that 2700 more tons in addition to the 300 tons from Margetici is a real possibility, would you say? Maj. Boudreau: I would say that all options are under consideration. That certainly is a substantial amount of material. Once again, our options are on the table and we are reviewing those right now. Q: can I just ask if you have any more detail about exactly what kind... Is it still mines and small arms ammo or some rockets or do you have any more information? Maj. Boudreau: I don't have further detail other than - it is ammunition and explosive, so I would expect that the contents would be similar in nature to what was there in Margetici, but I don't have any further detail on that. Q: just to clarify Brett; on average, each one of these sites contained the same amount of ammunition as we found in Margetici? Maj. Boudreau: as I understand, some are larger, some are smaller and over the course of the 10 or 11 ammunition sites in total, there is about 3.000 tons. Q: is that including Margetici? Maj. Boudreau: that includes Margetici. Q: Alex, do you have any indication that orders have actually been issued by the interior ministers after your meeting? I mean you say, communications problems etc. I mean often they just tell you what you want to hear and then that is the end of it. A. Ivanko: that is the concern, as you pointed out. That is why the Commissioner decided to, not only meet with the ministers but also with the local police chiefs to impress on them the importance of following these guidelines. The ministers told us they will issue orders. Now they either fail to issue these orders, which is possible, or there was some bogues communications break down throughout the country, which I think is not very much possible. So, we expect that, at least now, we will deal directly with the local chiefs of police and in the presence of their ministers and hopefully that will get the message across, although, for example in Cazin, the situation is being described to me as very dire. There is a lot of tension there, people that support the opposition parties are affraid of being harassed and are being harassed and intimidated and we have some unconfirmed reports that even they are being intimidated by the local policemen. Q: and what more can you tell us about people who would support the opposition candidates saying that they won't vote if things... Or would not vote? A. Ivanko: it is an assessment that we received through the UN international police channels which says that - bearing in mind the current situation, they receive reports from individuals who say that if the security situation is the same during the elections as it is now, these people will not go to the polling stations because they are afraid of being seen or in any way perceived as being associated with the opposition parties. Q: I just have a question, going back to the freedom of movement; I've gone to Pale a few times over the last few days and each time I go I am stopped by the Bosnian Serb police on the way there and by the Bosnian police on the way back, without exception. I am just wondering is this... It is done as a routine traffic stop. I mean, they just walk out with the lolly pop. Is this legal or is this, would this be categorised as a violation of...? A. Ivanko: if all cars are stopped, yes it is a violation of the guidelines concerning traffic points and I'll check with our people on them. Q: about the Republika Srpska border post they were established in Mrkonjic Grad and briefly on the outskirts of Pale, those are only two that I have heard of? A. Ivanko: I don't think it is a border, but I've seen them on the road. Q: they say - border of Republika Srpska - stop, all cars stop. A. Ivanko: OK. I'll check that. Thank you