IFOR AFSOUTH TRANSCRIPT Nov 6, 1996

In the interest of speed transcripts of IFOR press briefings are issued in unedited format Transcript of the Press Briefing held on 6 November 1996

Maj. Boudreau: good morning ladies and gentlemen. Another full day of activity for IFOR troops throughout the area of operations yesterday, including aerial and ground patrols and compliance inspections. A couple of items of note from that. First, troops from MND South-West confiscated a mix of small arms, anti-tank weapons and training aids from VRS soldiers near Vrbanja, who were conducting training without the necessary authorization from IFOR. Around 1630 yesterday, a helicopter crew saw four to six buildings on fire several kilometres North of kljuc, and saw a vehicle with five passengers heading away from the scene at a high rate of speed. The helicopter followed the vehicle for several kilometres to Donje Prhovo, in the federation, where the passengers jumped out of the car and entered a house. Canadian soldiers were dispatched to the house, and found it was a police station, and the individuals identified themselves as BIH police officers. We have contacted the IPTF so they can investigate the circumstances, and monitor the local police response to this apparent crime of arson. In other activities... a Lynx helicopter from MND Southwest carried out an emergency casevac of a critically ill three-day-old baby from Sarajevo to Lubljana in Slovenia. The current condition of the infant is not known, though the child is still alive. And lastly, the Italian Railway Engineer Unit, the men who essentially rebuilt the rail line between Zvornik and Tuzla, and helped repair the Tuzla-Maglaj route, left from Zvornik today to return to Bologna. They have left behind a four-person project team to supervise the upgrading of the East-West line between Doboj to Volinja. You will recall that is the 3.2 million DM contract with the Republika Srpska railway authority. They have also left behind a legacy of true multinational effort under IFOR's banner. A number of countries contributed to the work on the railway, and it was through their magnificent combined effort that the citizens of Bosnia can once again see those mighty wheels rolling down the line, and hear that lonesome whistle blow. (laughs) I knew I couldn't say it with a straight face. Just a reminder of tomorrow's ceremony at the Sarajevo airport marking the formal transfer of authority from Admiral Lopez to General Crouch. seating is limited and by reservation, so if you want to attend the ceremony, you must register with Major Tom Moyer in the hall, in the foyer here, after the press conference. Once again, because the seating is limited, and because of security reasons, you must register if you intend on going to that. You must be at the airport by noon, for a one o'clock ceremony. We'll announce a detailed itinerary tomorrow, but there will be a news conference with the SecGen, SACEUR, and General Crouch, around 3 o'clock. OK. So please, get there at the airport for noon, or by noon, for 1 o'clock with a news conference afterwards. As well, there will be mine training, here at the CPIC, today at 1300 and 1500, if I understood that. So please look to take advantage of that if you haven't had mine awareness training before. And given that today and tomorrow IFOR is involved with the transfer of authority ceremony, would ask that questions at the end of the news conferences, both today and tomorrow, be kept fairly precise. We'll have to limit the time for that because the staff here are, are involved in providing support to that ceremony. that's all I have. A. Ivanko: just one point in regard to the houses on that were seen burning Northeast of Kluj... IPTF has sent a patrol to that area this morning. Also, IPTF officers have went to the police station to try to find out why a police vehicle was in the area when those houses were burning. The houses were burning in what was described to me in, in a former abandoned Serb village. That's all I have, thank you. K. Janowski: I have been asked the executive officer of the Property Claims Commission, of Refugee Centers (inaudible) to people to read a press release... on November 11th 1996, the Dayton Commission for Real Property Claims of Displaced Persons and Refugees will begin to process claims of temporary residence in three newly-established offices in Sarajevo, Lukavica, and Mostar. For the present, any temporary residents residing in Sarajevo, Lukavica, Capinja, Stolac, or Newun (?) can now make an application to obtain their property back.

Anyone who has lost possession of their real property can come to the commission. if you are not now living in your property, or cannot go to your property, or if someone else is living in your property, then you can make a claim. The commission deals with all kinds of real property and all types of property rights, including ownership, lawful possession and occupancy rights. However, the commission can only help you with land and buildings, not with moveable property. The commission cannot help to rebuild houses or give compensation for war damage. To make a claim you must come directly to a commission office. The commission will not accept any information by mail or telephone. You can make your claim by yourself, or through a lawyer, or other authorized persons, provided that you give them power of attorney. But we want to stress that a lawyer is not required. All applicants with or without a lawyer will be treated the same. At the moment, the commission has offices in three locations. In the coming months, the commission will be establishing more offices within Bosnia and Herzegovina. Please be patient as we are now just getting started. And all people who have lost their property will have a chance to make an application to the commission in due course... now I'll give you the addresses of the three offices in Sarajevo, it's Stolacka #20... in Mostar it's Antasalavica #44... and in Lukavica, it's Toplicka Cesta 428... thanks very much. Maj. Boudreau: ... and I'd just like to introduce Daniel (interruption) K. Janowski: there are copies of this available out in the... Maj. Boudreau: ... and to my left, Mr. Daniel Prewit. He's the head of delegation for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies... with a statement. D. Prewit: thank you. As I, he said, I am the head of delegation for the federation... I want to make announcement of the new program that we're launching today throughout the federation territory. The intent of the program is to help the most vulnerable people survive through the Winter. We are, we believe that we are talking about survival. Here in the field, people with lives are really threatened by the combination of cold and the limited conditions that we know we can expect through this coming Winter, and we have come to the conclusion this one more pressing humanitarian conditions... or problems that will be faced in Bosnia-Herzegovina... this Winter. Clearly, they are the elderly, the invalids, and a lot of other people who are not, who do not have a particular voice... and we feel that it's the time that the international community... and we're going to try to do our part... to take this position, this concern, very seriously. And today, we're trying, we're going to be launching a campaign, an information campaign that we entitled, "Help Can't Wait." The Winter's not going to wait, and we feel that it's important that we... try to mobilize the international and humanitarian organizations, but specifically, the very people which is the greatest resources this country has... which are the very people living in the communities throughout the country. To that point, we have worked with Red Cross of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the federation area, to publish... a number of brochures, posters, tv and radio spots, with that one simple message... "Visit your neighbor this Winter"... it seems like a simple concept, and good ones usually are...with the simple message that if neighbors visiting neighbors, helping neighbors, with the assistance of the Red Cross, to do such things like chopping wood, fetching water, helping with cooking, or other small seemingly unimportant tasks, will... could very easily make... and we know it has in the past, in other areas we've worked in...make the difference between survival and literally not surviving through this coming Winter. This is a traditional Red Cross task, to have the capab... or the solidarity and humanity amongst people and we're trying to continue that tradition. This is not to say I will, we want to make the point that the ICRC will continue its winterization programs. I think most of you are familiar with those. But, I don't want to make a long statement. I am prepared to take any questions, but I would like to remind everybody here that we do have a press conference in our offices... Later today at 2 o'clock, and we will have a more detailed briefing at that time, and materials. Thank you. Maj. Boudreau: any questions? I'd like to limit the questions, once again, to about 10-12 minutes... Karen first. Q: this place Northeast of Kluc, where these houses were burning... what, how, what's the distance from Kluc? Any idea? Maj. Boudreau: 5 kilometers, I think. Q: right, OK... and under whose control are these, this area? A. Ivanko: as far as I know, it's under federation side of the IEBL. Maj. Boudreau: yes. Q: OK A. Ivanko: but it's an abandoned area. Q: couple of questions... first, for Brett and Alex... could you specify, I mean, approximately how many houses were involved, and just for the record, you cannot still confirm that those persons apparently, bh policemen, were actually involved in the arson? Maj. Boudreau: no, we have at this point... it was a helicopter reconnaissance that spotted several houses burning from the air... we don't have an exact fix on the, the number of... we would say less than 10... and once again the helicopter said it followed a vehicle to a home, several kilometers from the scene. We dispatched a patrol and they determined that it was police station with police officers, and we've asked the IPTF to go in and investigate those circumstances surrounding their being in the area. Q: just for the record, do you still cannot confirm perpetrators? Maj. Boudreau: oh, absolutely not, I mean, not at this point, no. Q: just a quick one for Red Cross... you said this project that you are launching starts today... it is only for the federal territory. Is there any specific reason why it is not organized for the territory of Republika Srpska, as well? D. Prewit: we are working with the Red Cross of, in that entity and we expect to also have a... a similar, if not identical, campaign started in the very near future. But, we're not prepared to... state that we will doing that,that starting today... very soon, we hope. Q: Kris and Alex... talking again about those 96 houses in Prijedor area... have, what list was it that UNHCR gave to whom exactly in Prijedor? And second question, does this list match the list of the burnt houses, or blown-up houses? K. Janowski: this is... what we are trying to do... we are trying to organize a visit of displaced people now living in Sanski Most to Prijedor area. A normal procedure, in organizing a visit is, we give a list of people intending to visit their homes to the authorities of their entity, of the receiving entity. And in this case, we gave a list to the mayor of Prijedor. It was a list of people, not houses. This list was then apparently used... by the... authorities in Prijedor, or by whoever blew up the houses, as a demolition list, rather than a visit list. Despite that, the DP leaders in Prijedor, the displaced people representative in Prijedor, insists on us continuing to help them organize those visits. So, we're probably... we'll probably do it again, since in the end, it's not our call. It's the call of the DP leaders who come and say, "OK, the houses have been blown up, but we still want to go and have a look." So, certainly what happened was very discouraging, and the most discouraging thing is that the... what' supposed to be an action to bring people together, was essentially used as... to cement ethnic cleansing and essentially destroy the property of people who might be returning. Q: who support that question (?? Inaudible due to accent) Q: do I understand that it was one copy of the list given by UNHCR only to mayor? K. Janowski: yes, we were giving it to the mayor, yea. Q: but no one else? K. Janowski: no, I mean... but, if you give it to the mayor, the police also has it. I mean... it's (interruption - inaudible) in meetings like this, there could have been a security official present... it could have been a police chief present. So you have to assume, that the list went both to the mayor and the police chief who is... supposed to ensure security. In this particular case, obviously, it wasn't the case. It didn't happen. He ensured that the houses blown up (sic). Q: for Kris... what's happening now with visits... I thought organized by UNHCR... in the Doboj area? K. Janowski: ... we haven't had any visits in quite some time. I mean, I would have to try and specifically check out whether we have any visits planned, but I... over the past few weeks I have never... I haven't heard of a successful visit actually being carried out. So, all this planning... it's always being planning (sic)... since we started doing those visiting, back in March, our success rate was minuscule really... probably one in ten... of being successful. Maj. Boudreau: anybody else? Thank you very much.