Yugo report 2/2

[Chris Burford <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx>]

/* Written  5:33 am  Aug 26, 1995 by OTVORENE-OCI_ST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx in
gn:yugo.antiwar */
/* ---------- "Knin-Gracac-Obrovac-Benkovac-Knin" ---------- */
Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

//////////////////////////////***\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
                      O T V O R E N E  O C I
             Croatian Branch of the Balkan Peace Team
              Male Putine 2/V  41000 Zagreb  Croatia
                 Zagreb: tel/fax: 385-01-156349
                 Split : tel/fax: 385-21-553610
               otvorene-oci_zg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
               otvorene-oci_st@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\***////////////////////////////

[Split, August 26]

To get a broader perspective on the situation in former sector
South after the Croatian army operation "Storm", Otvorene Oci
drove through the area along the following route: Knin -Gracac
- Obrovac - Benkovac - Knin.

Entrance into the area does not seem to be a problem anymore.
Although an abundance of military checkpoints are still
present  (around towns, on crossroads) travel is free.
Soldiers only check documents and in general do not ask
questions about the reason for presence in the area. The roads
are rather empty and the majority of the cars have a Croatian
army license plate or belong to the civil police.

The road from Knin to Gracac has obviously been used by the
fleeing Krajina Serb population. Burnt out and broken down
cars and heaps of personal belongings alongside the road
testify  the exodus. The first village, Padene was completely
burned and the burning of Krajina Serb houses still continues.
Otvorene Oci witnessed a group of Croatian army soldiers
laughing and drinking beer while watching a house burn that
had just been set on fire. The neighbouring house was being
looted by 3 soldiers. Villages situated a few kilometres off
the main road had also been affected, some of the houses were
still burning. Between Zrmanja and Otric three busses had just
dropped off a group of soldiers. One of the soldiers stated
that they were carrying out a `cleaning operation', an action
to comb the area in search of Krajina Serb soldiers. In the
village of Otric itself every house had been set ablaze. Near
the village of Malovan another `cleaning operation ' was being
conducted.

There is no sign of civil life in Gracac, except for the few
signs put up by the new local authorities earmarking buildings
for specific future use (town hall, post office, local
forestry and road works department). The inhabitants have
left, now only soldiers and police walk the streets. Houses
were burnt, but the main damage, broken windows, is caused by
widespread ongoing and systematic looting. In the
neighbourhood visited by Otvorene Oci no house had been spared
by the looters. Just before Gracac a graveyard is situated
where according to a UN source allegedly more people have been
buried than the amount of new graves indicates. Otvorene Oci
was not able to verify this fact.

The area along the road from Gracac to Obrovac is sparsely
populated. Getting closer to Obrovac more proof of systematic
burning was witnessed in the villages Muskovci and Zaton. In
Obrovac itself a different atmosphere prevails in comparison
to Knin and Gracac. Although civil life has not really
returned, military presence was low. There was little
destruction or burnt houses to be seen, although shops in the
main street had been broken into and looted. Looting was
observed in several houses, but was not as widespread as in
the two aforementioned towns. Whereas in Knin or Gracac the
team could walk into any house, many of the houses in Obrovac
were locked, with a piece of paper on the door declaring the
property's new owner. Quite a few people from the village of
Krusevo had put up these signs.

On the road to Benkovac the village of Krusevo had been lost
to the flames. The situation in Benkovac itself is comparable
to that of Obrovac. There are few soldiers to be seen, nor
police. Signs of people returning are visible; a relatively
large amount of civilian cars on the roads, people checking
their property, reconstruction of houses and carrying window
panes accross the streets, a group was patching up a cafe. The
main street shows signs of systematic looting, but at the same
time two shops had already been opened. A vet had already
opened his veterinary.
An old couple, a Croat woman and a Serb man, were sitting
beside their house of which the first floor was completely
burnt out. On Friday morning, August 4, at 03.00 o'clock
Krajina soldiers came to say that they should flee the
country. Whereas the rest of the family did flee they decided
to stay and were taken to Zadar the next day by the Croatian
army. He stated that they had been treated correctly by the
soldiers. They stayed there for 14 days. While the
neighbouring house was being looted, the husband stated that
the civilian police had been confiscating cars the previous 4
days and that people from towns on the Dalmatian coast had
come to Benkovac to loot.

The road from Benkovac to Knin shows many signs of burning and
looting. In almost every village houses had been set on fire,
especcially in Kozlovac, Djeverska, Rudele and Raducic. In
Kistanje and Varivode almost every single house had been
subject to deliberate burning.  ## CrossPoint v3.02 ##


     --- from list marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---

     ------------------