IFOR AFSOUTH TRANSCRIPT Nov 19, 1996

In the interest of speed transcripts of IFOR press briefings are issued in unedited format Transcript of the Press Briefing held on 19 November 1996

Colum Murphy: good morning. A few points. Firstly as is now becoming clear a new NATO force, as you know, will likely replace IFOR when IFOR's mandate expires 20 December. That decision, not yet complete, is neverless on its way, as you know, toward ratification. Secondly, we continue to confront important problems such as the question of refugee return. This central dilemma of the peace process, as just one example, remains an imperative -- though not one susceptible of the facile solution. Whatever the difficulties, it remains the case, as it always will, that we are committed to democratization and the principles of a pluralist society. But one year on from Dayton we are aware that a great deal of work lies ahead of us. In that regard a church notice -- the High Representative Mr. Carl Bildt will give a press conference here, tomorrow at 1100 a.m. Mr Bildt will give, better that I, an account of the Paris Conference and an overview of the situation -- past, present and -- most challenging -- future. And the London Conference lies ahead of us. In the meantime we are concerned that a government be formed, that a council of ministers be agreed. Urgent problems await their attention. Our very considerable efforts must be matched by efforts of the parties themselves to form a full and functioning government. A copy of these remarks is available after the press conference. Finally this is Simon's last day and words fail me. Traditional rhetoric breaks down. A very, absolutely decent person and we will all be sad to see him go. So will you all give Simon a hand. A. Ivanko: a few remarks. First the Police Commissioner, Peter Fitzgerald, asked me on his behalf to thank the COMARRC, Lieutenant General Sir Michael Walker and his staff for all the great support they gave to UNIPTF throughout their mission. Without that support many of the things we were able to do wouldn't have been possible. So thanks ARRC. And also thanks to the ARRC press team, and to Simon Haselock here, who probably has the dubious honor of being the longest serving military spokesman in Bosnia-Herzegovina. I’m not sure he wants to put this on his resumé, but we will inform the Guiness Book of World Records, and to then it's his 42nd birthday. So lets give him a hand on that. We have finally received an answer from Dragan Kijac with regard to the Prijedor four. According to Minister Kijac as of the first of November, the Prijedor four or no other person against who criminal charges who have been brought are employed by the ministry of interior. In his letter to Kijac, Commissioner Fitzgerald requested that the Prijedor four should be arrested as soon as they are indicted by ICTY. Minister Kijac has refused to do so, alleging that no information has been provided to him with regard to any wrong doing on the part of the Prijedor four. Seeing that there's a serious communications break down in Republika Srpska, and probably Minister Kijac should start talking more often to his colleagues because the Tribunal has forwarded all relevant information, with regard to all people residing in Republika Srpska, indicted by the Tribunal and that information should be available in Republika Srpska to Minister Kijac. And a classic one from Belino. Yesterday we were informed by the RS police that on the 17th of November, a husband and a wife had an argument. In classic Bosnian style, the argument went a little too far, and the wife tried to flee the house. The husband followed her with a bazooka. He then tried to fire the bazooka at his wife, missed and hit his house, causing damage. This person has been arrested and will be charged with illegal possession of a firearm and breach of peace. That's all I have. Simon. Major Simon Haselock: good morning everybody. Just a little housekeeping information for you this morning. As you are clearly already aware, the ARRC will be pulling up sticks tomorrow, and returning to Germany, where immediately we'll go into intensive training for our next deployment, wherever that might be and I think a long leave is favorite for everybody at the moment. Meanwhile, there'll continue to be a familiar face at the table here belonging to Major Brett Boudreau, the Pride of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and he will still be representing IFOR in the daily exchanges of wit and wisdom until Canada calls him home, and I think he will be the person to tell you when that will be.

There will be a short media opportunity tomorrow morning at the ARRC main headquarters in Ilidza, when the ARRC commander, Lt. Gen. Sir Michael Walker, will officially depart the theater. You are all welcome to come to that, of course. It is scheduled for 9:30 in the morning, so if you're going to come please be there at least 20 minutes prior, to allow for travel within the ARRC compound, which as you imagine is now pretty congested. There will be a few remarks by Gen. Walker and by Gen. Crouch, COMIFOR, and perhaps some time for a few questions afterwards, but it remains to be seen. For a fuller readout of Gen. Walker's views as he leaves Bosnia we recommend you grab a copy of the transcript from the press interview which was given yesterday to the wires and to some local press in Ilidza yesterday. Most of the topical issues were touched upon, along with a few open-ended questions looking back on the year and that is available with all the press releases at the back. Throughout the transcript you should be able to identify the six main themes which we think have underwritten our time here. First of all is multinationality -- all 35 contributing nations sent their best and most highly motivated troops and commanders, which we believe has gone some way into combining into a strong force which was committed to peace. We presume that will continue to be the case when people contribute to the new follow-on force. Evenhandedness -- IFOR has gone out of it's way to what we believe treated all factions fairly, with the same sets of rules and guidance applying equally to all. Thirdly, civil military co-operation -- with military expertise, resources and team work, we helped, to some measure, the civilian agencies meet some of their goals, specifically and particularly, the electoral process. Fourth, credibility -- which we think we use that word because we think it's come from what we try to do and that is to tell the world honestly what we did, and as such trust that we have tried to tell you as candidly as we can what is going on. Fifth, is the robust mandate which we had -- which gave us the right rules and tools for the job here. And it remains to be seen how that emerges for the new force. And finally, and most importantly, the soldier , himself on the ground - and for us, this has been key to the peace. It came right down to the courage and integrity of the individual soldiers facing the dangers and challenges, that he's had to on a daily basis. And this is particularly the case in the early stages. Now onto some more news. A notice to airmen and mariners -- known in the trade as a NOTAM -- was issued at 1400 hours yesterday, the 18th of November, placing a temporary restriction on 600 meters on the South East end on the primary runway at Sarajevo airport. The NOTAM was issued by the Bosnian civil aviation authority, after consultation with IFOR at a special meeting of the airport steering committee yesterday. This followed a technical engineering assessment, by both IFOR engineers and a Bosnian ministry of defense official. The restriction is because the loadbearing capacity on the runway has been degraded by the gradual collapse over a protracted period of time of a tunnel which was constructed through the conflict. IFOR is aware of the existence of two tunnels, one is a newer and a deeper tunnel, and is well constructed and well maintained and remains safe. The other is a older, smaller and shallower tunnel which has begun to collapse. There's an excess of 2,000 meters of usable runway left, which allows the airfield to remain open for military and most types of civilian aircraft, that currently use the airfield. It's only the last 600 meters, as I said, or so that's been closed. The deputy commander of IFOR, Lieutenant General Waymel, met with the Bosnian Prime Minister Mr. Marativic this morning and informed him of the NOTAM. Mr Marativic said he was very much aware of the problem but didn't realize it was so demanding. Mr. Marativic promised to get back to IFOR in the next two or three days with an answer of how he intends to go about getting it repaired. On to activity in the more active (inaudible) in the AOR, General Ninkovic returned to work yesterday and was informed of the continuing ban on VRS air force activities, which resulted from his nonattendance at the MND SW JMC the other day. Late yesterday evening, I think most of you are all aware already, MND North reported approximately 10 or so explosions in the area of the village of Hajvazi which is located outside the zone of separation in RS territory near Doboj. Initial reports indicate that three houses have been damaged, however the investigation is still currently ongoing as to exactly what occurred. Now finally, briefly onto the next installment of good news statistics which I promised you yesterday. There is a press release at the back, another one, this goes into the statistics in a little bit more detail, but just as another snap shot following on from yesterday's ripping yarn. Firstly and most importantly the corps has overseen the separation and cantonment of the former warring factional armies into approximately 800 cantonment sites. This has changed the posture of the armies from warfighting to peace time operationa and it has led to the absence of war although the parties still have to create the political structures and atmosphere for a lasting peace. Now onto the more astounding records of our troops in the field and the trucks. The BELUGA transport group, for instance, have racked up now more than 5-million kilometers in supporting corps operations. That counts everything from hauling the ballot papers during the elections to salt, why salt I don't know, but apparently they had the number of convoys carrying salt on its own. Powdered milk , toys for tots, etc -- the whole nine yards. And a special award goes to the man who maintained those statistics. Sixty-two major bridges have been repaired along with dozens of smaller bridges. Associated with this is the repair and maintenance of over 2,500 kilometers of road and 460 kilometers of railway track. Finally there have been 101 utility repair projects; another 58 are underway and 103 more are planned. I could go on. But I’m sure you're all delighted I’m not going to. For as we like to say, and you won't be allowed to forget this, that the IFOR mission continues from Bihac to Bratunac, from the Sava to the sea, we have been on guard, and IFOR will stay on guard, to the end of the mission. Soon we will be back in our happy homestead patting our hound dogs, having flown home over the silent armies of the night and the cound of that lonesome whistle and the rumble of the big iron wheels echoing over the misty mountains of Bosnia. Thank you very much. Quotations for the last day: thought for the day, according to the Associated Press, is by the French author George Duhamel in which he says. “It's always brave to say what everyone thinks.” But for me and from the Bard: “If we do meet again, why, we shall smile.” If not, why then, this parting was made well. Thank you very much. C. Murphy: Kris Kris Janowski: I have no earth shattering announcement. I would likely to thank Simon and the entire ARRC press team for excellence cooperation. We've had some ups and downs but we've remained friends to the very end, which I think is great. I have my personal list of about 10 IFOR, UNPROFOR, spokespeople I have work with over the past three years, Simon is certainly at the top of the list. Thanks again. C. Murphy: questions? Jan. Q: Happy birthday, Simon. Maj Haselock: go for it. Q: I’m sorry because I... Maj Haselock: no you're not. Q: I didn't know it was your last day, so please don't take it personally. Is it still IFOR's official position that you didn't have any knowledge of the presence of four indicted war criminals in Prijedor area, prior to end of October when it was revealed by the Boston Globe. Maj Haselock: yes. Q: can you then explain why is it that on your own poster, dated August 9th this year Mladen Radic has a notation employed by SJB, which as many of us know here, is old Yugoslav acronym for (inaudible) meaning police? Maj Haselock: well I think we discussed this little (inaudible) already. The point is we have had no contact with them and no knowledge they were employed by the police. Opposition remains the same as that, I mean we are not the authority to decide where policemen work and so opposition remains the same as always been. I think we've discussed this. I’ve already pointed out to you some weeks ago. Q: no I asked specifically whether you had knowledge about their presence at the police station. You said no until the end of October and here you have your own document from beginning of August, in writing, saying something different. Maj Haselock: opposition, I mean I can't change opposition on the basis of your question. That has been our official position and will continue to be so. Q: does it mean that, Alex, that your famous IPTF police station letter did not get lost? A. Ivanko: it got lost in Banja Luka as far as I know. Q: do you have explanation why this notion appears on the poster? A. Ivanko: no I don't. I didn't pay attention to the poster in August as much as you did. We were aware, at least in Banja Luka, as of July, that there were people in Prijedor that are indicted that may have been policemen. The problem we had, and I think the Commissioner talked to you about it , was that for some reason the document never made it to our headquarters. After that the Commissioner had all the regional commanders in his office, and specifically told them that if anything relevant to ICTY matters, should be reported immediately to the headquarters in Sarajevo. Q: does it mean that besides Radovan Stankovic, about whom you acknowledged, IPTF has knowledge since August, in August, has working policemen (inaudible) police stations. You have reports also that also Radomir Kovac and Dragan Zelenovic, also both indicted war criminals are working at the same place. A. Ivanko: I heard these reports. We can't confirm them. We have to take Minister Kijac at his word, and he says nobody who has been indicted is working as a policman in his letter to Peter Fitzgerald, so for the time being we'll take him at his word. Q: and the last one do you still deny that at the end of October, two IPTF cars accompanied by four IFOR vehicles, took pictures and took videos at locations of work and living of at least two indicted war criminals in Bosanki Samac? Maj Haselock: as far as IFOR is concerned we'd already answered this question. I have no knowledge of that taking place and we checked with MND-North. A. Ivanko: I’ve requested ... There was a request from the Commissioner's office to the Oradjia District Commander, who is in charge of Bosanki Samac, with regard to your request and he denies any knowledge of any IPTF officer, at any time photographing any premises belonging to somebody indicted by the tribunal. I can only repeat what I was informed of by the office of the Commissioner. Q: I just must repeat that UMRY has four independent witnesses to this. A. Ivanko: well this is Bosnia I wouldn't trust him with 24 independent witnesses to anything in this country, so it depends on who the witnesses are. I specifically checked twice on this issue, and twice I was told, unless authorized by the Commissioner, no IPTF monitor is involved in any such activity and as far as I understand, the Commissioner has not authorized anybody to go taking pictures of premises that may or may not belong to a person indicted by the Tribunal. Q: and the last very easy one. Simon could you spell the name of the village the explosions took place. Maj Haselock: I certainly can. Where is it? H-a-j--v-a-z-i. C. Murphy: Karen. Q: Alex, excuse me, when you say you're going to take Kijac at his word, does that mean that in Prijedor the IPTF won't be checking out to see if these guys are still working as police officers? A. Ivanko: what IPTF has been instructed to do is to try to get duty rosters of... From all the police stations where we may suspect there are people employed that have been indicted by ICTY. We will continue to do so as far as I know in the area around Fortunad and Prijedor. The local police chiefs have not provided us with these lists. So we will continue pressing for these lists, once we cross check all the policemen working in that area, with the ICTY list, we can't be 100 percent sure that nobody indicted by the Tribunal is not employed by the minister of interior. Q: and is that the only way you can check? If you got a duty roster. Are there no other ways you can perhaps investigate if these people are still working as police officers there? A. Ivanko: well there are two possibilities. You either check the list of people employed at that police station or you go talk to the chief of police and ask him, is he aware of any people under his command who might be indicted. We did that and we were told by the minister of interior, as wel l as by the local police chiefs, that they are not aware of any people indicted working in their police stations. So the second way we can check that is check the list of everybody employed by that police station. We have not been able to do so as far as I know. Q: Colum, beyond the two, I assume it would just be Carl Bildt and the Foreign Minister of Germany, is anybody else that's interested in the NATO mandate, has anybody else gone public supporting your initiative for a change in the NATO mandate that would include searching and hunting for war criminals? A. Ivanko: well the tribunal has been pressing for a change of the NATO mandate for some time and has gone public specifically saying that if there is a new mandate, issued by the NAC it should include a more robust mandate with regard to indicted war criminals. So it's not only Carl Bildt and France, it's also the Tribunal itself. Q: France -- I didn't know about France. A. Ivanko: oh Germany sorry. Germany. C. Murphy: is the question addressed to me? I think that's the answer. The Hague Tribunal is obviously in the lead in this matter in that sense and they have been extremely outspoken. As anybody else among our colleagues, I think a great deal of talk on this subject, and calling for a stronger mandate, has mostly come from NGO's which underlines the strength and importance of NGO's, and of course from the press. Otherwise I have nothing further to add. We have always taken the lead on that. We feel that indicted war criminals should go to The Hague and that's it. A. Ivanko: my CGOs made a statement with regard to that. C. Murphy: anybody else? If not thank you very much.