Disclaimer: This site has been first put up 15 years ago. Since then I would probably do a couple things differently, but because I've noticed this site had been linked from news outlets, PhD theses and peer rewieved papers and because I really hate the concept of "digital dark age" I've decided to put it back up. There's no chance it can produce any harm now.
| Identifier: | 95ZAGREB3939 |
|---|---|
| Wikileaks: | View 95ZAGREB3939 at Wikileaks.org |
| Origin: | Embassy Zagreb |
| Created: | 1995-10-10 10:26:00 |
| Classification: | CONFIDENTIAL |
| Tags: | War Crimes |
| Redacted: | This cable was not redacted by Wikileaks. |
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ZAGREB 003939
SIPDIS
BRUSSELS ALSO FOR USEU
USVIENNA ALSO FOR USDEL CSCE
CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
PAGE 02 ZAGREB 03939 01 OF 03 101030Z
E.O. 12356: 10/1/00
TAGS: War Crimes
SUBJECT: A/S SHATTUCK AND AMB. GALBRAITH SEE GRAVE SITE
NEAR KLJUC, DISCOVER A POSSIBLE BORDER PROBLEM
REF: STATE 231615
-------
SUMMARY
-------
1. (U) VISITING DRL A/S SHATTUCK, AMBASSADOR GALBRAITH,
DRL/BA DIRECTOR COFFEY, AND EMBASSY PAO, POLOFF AND DART
TRAVELED TO WESTERN BOSNIA SEPTEMBER 29. THEY TALKED WITH
OFFICIALS AT THE UNPROFOR BIHAC CANTON HQ NEAR CAZIN, MET
THE NEW MUSLIM MAYOR OF BOSANSKI PETROVAC, VISITED THE
SITE OF AN ALLEGED MASS GRAVE NEAR KLJUC, AND FOUND A
POTENTIAL BORDER PROBLEM AT KULEN VAKUF. END SUMMARY.
--------------------------------------------- -
V CORPS STRETCHED THIN BUT SERBS NOT RESISTING
--------------------------------------------- -
2. (C) DANISH SECTOR COMMANDER COLONEL E.B. DAM,
AUSTRALIAN POLITICAL AND HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS COORDINATOR
(PHAC) RUSS BALLANTYNE, AND THE BANGBAT UNMO LEADER
BRIEFED ON RECENT DEVELOPMENTS. DAM SAID THE BOSNIAN
FIFTH CORPS HAD ADVANCED ALMOST 200 KILOMETERS IN SIX
DAYS, AND NOW HAD TO COVER A CONFRONTATION LINE OF 103 KM
AND PATROL THE TERRITORY WITH ONLY 20,000 TROOPS. BOSNIAN
TROOPS WERE ALSO STATIONED ON THE CROATIAN-BOSNIAN BORDER.
CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
PAGE 03 ZAGREB 03939 01 OF 03 101030Z
THE VII CORPS HAD SECONDED ONE BRIGADE TO V CORPS
COMMANDER DUDAKOVIC, GIVING HIM 10 BRIGADES. DAM BELIEVED
DUDAKOVIC WOULD TAKE MRKONIC GRAD AND TRY TO TURN THE
EXPERT LIGHT INFANTRY CORPS ON PRIJEDOR UNLESS POLITICAL
PRESSURE FROM SARAJEVO AND NEW YORK STOPPED HIM. ONE
ARKAN BRIGADE HAD ARRIVED IN PRIJEDOR 10 DAYS EARLIER, DAM
SAID. THE RECENT V CORPS SUCCESSES, DESPITE INCREDIBLE
ODDS (THE SERB HAD OVER 60,000 TROOPS IN THE BANJA LUKA
AREA), AND THE LACK OF A COUNTER-OFFENSIVE BY THE BSA HAD
CONVINCED DAM THAT THE SERBS HAD PURPOSELY EVACUATED THE
AREA. THE SERBS EXPECTED TO GIVE UP MUCH OF THIS
TERRITORY IN POLITICAL NEGOTIATIONS ANYWAY, HE COMMENTED.
------------------
REFUGEES, REFUGEES
------------------
3. (U) THE UN ESTIMATED THAT 11,000 DISPLACED PERSONS
(DPS) WOULD REACH THE CANTON FROM OTHER PARTS OF BOSNIA,
MOSTLY BANJA LUKA. THE GOBH CLAIMED THE NORTHERN BIHAC
CANTON COULD NOT ACCOMMODATE THEM, AND WANTED TO PLACE
THEM IN THE NEWLY LIBERATED AREAS. 400-500 MUSLIM
REFUGEES FROM THE BANJA LUKA REGION HAD ALREADY RESETTLED
IN THE NORTH. UNHCR AND CANTON AUTHORITIES DID NOT WANT
TO SETTLE THESE REFUGEES IN THE EMPTY HOMES OF THE ABDIC
REFUGEES AND WERE SEARCHING FOR HOUSING. THE GOBH HAD
PUBLICLY WELCOMED BACK MOST OF THE ABDIC REFUGEES, BUT
REFUSED TO DECLARE ANOTHER AMNESTY. BALLANTYNE SAID THE
SARAJEVO AUTHORITIES HAD DECLARED THE 1994 AMNESTY STILL
VALID. THE BOSNIANS, CROATS, AND TURKS WERE DISCUSSING
ESTABLISHING A TRILATERAL POLICE FORCE IN THE AREA TO
CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
PAGE 04 ZAGREB 03939 01 OF 03 101030Z
GUARANTEE THE SAFETY OF THOSE WHO RETURNED. BALLANTYNE
ESTIMATED THAT 10-15 PERCENT OF THESE REFUGEES WOULD NOT
BE ALLOWED BACK INTO BOSNIA BECAUSE THEY WERE ACCUSED OF
COMMITTING WAR CRIMES.
4. (U) BALLANTYNE ESTIMATED THE CURRENT POPULATION OF
KLJUC AT 1100. 620 MUSLIMS HAD SURVIVED THREE AND A HALF
YEARS OF SERBIAN OCCUPATION AND HAD REMAINED IN THE TOWN.
AFTER UNPROFOR HAD PROTESTED THE RESETTLEMENT OF 207 DPS
IN KLJUC, AT THE CONFRONTATION LINE, THE GOVERNMENT
STOPPED THE PLANNED RESETTLEMENT OF ANOTHER 3000. CROATIA
REFUSED TO TAKE THESE PEOPLE, AND HAD RECENTLY STOPPED
ALLOWING THE DPS TRANSIT THROUGH CROATIA AT DVOR, TO THE
BIHAC CANTON. THE GOC REFUGEE REPATRIATION ORDER, UN
OFFICIALS SAID, MIGHT SEND MANY MUSLIMS BACK TO THIS
TERRITORY BEFORE THE AREA IS SECURE.
-----------
ON THE ROAD
-----------
5. (U) THE DELEGATION TRAVELED BY ROAD THROUGH BIHAC TO
BOSANSKI PETROVAC. THE NEW MUSLIM MAYOR OF THE TOWN SAID
CONFIDENTIAL
NNNNPTQ1703
CONFIDENTIAL PTQ1703
PAGE 01 ZAGREB 03939 02 OF 03 101031Z
ACTION EUR-01
INFO LOG-00 AID-00 AMAD-01 CIAE-00 SMEC-00 OASY-00 ANHR-01
SRPP-00 EB-01 OIGO-01 H-01 TEDE-00 INR-00 IO-00
L-01 ADS-00 M-00 NSAE-00 OIC-02 OMB-01 PA-01
PM-00 PRS-01 P-00 SCT-00 SP-00 SSO-00 SS-00
STR-01 TRSE-00 T-00 USIE-00 PMB-00 PRM-10 PRME-01
DRL-09 G-00 /033W
------------------F4A911 101031Z /38
O 101026Z OCT 95
FM AMEMBASSY ZAGREB
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7546
INFO USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
USMISSION GENEVA
USLO SKOPJE
AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO
AMEMBASSY LJUBLJANA
AMEMBASSY BELGRADE
DIA WASHDC
JOINT STAFF WASHDC//J-5PMA/J21//
SECDEF WASHDC//ISA/ISP//
NSC WASHDC
NATO EU COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 02 OF 03 ZAGREB 003939
SIPDIS
BRUSSELS ALSO FOR USEU
USVIENNA ALSO FOR USDEL CSCE
CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
PAGE 02 ZAGREB 03939 02 OF 03 101031Z
E.O. 12356: 10/1/00
TAGS: PHUM PREF PBTS BK HR
SUBJECT: A/S SHATTUCK AND AMB. GALBRAITH SEE GRAVE SITE
NEAR KLJUC, DISCOVER A POSSIBLE BORDER PROBLEM
THE CURRENT POPULATION WAS ABOUT 1500. BEFORE THE WAR,
PETROVAC WAS THE ELEVENTH LARGEST TOWN IN BOSNIA, WITH A
POPULATION OF 15,000. 3200 MUSLIMS HAD LIVED HERE, HE
SAID, AND ONLY A FEW CROATS. THE TOWN WAS DEEP IN ABH-
HELD TERRITORY AND WAS SAFE FROM SHELLING, HE REASSURED
US, ADDING THAT THE GOVERNMENT HAD ALREADY BEGUN TO MOVE
DPS INTO THE AREA, ALTHOUGH ELECTRICITY AND WATER SUPPLY
PROBLEMS EXISTED.
6. (U) THE TOWN WAS INTACT, AND HAD EXPERIENCED LITTLE
DAMAGE DURING THE FIGHTING. UNTENDED LIVESTOCK RAN
EVERYWHERE -- REMINISCENT OF AN OLD WESTERN FILM, AN
UNSADDLED HORSE BOLTED IN FEAR DOWN THE STREET, ALMOST RAN
INTO THE AMBASSADOR, TURNED THE CORNER AND DISAPPEARED.
SEVERAL PEOPLE WERE MILLING AROUND, SOLDIERS IN UNIFORM
AND REFUGEES CONFUSED ABOUT THEIR FATE. ONLY A FEW
VEHICLES WERE IN EVIDENCE. AT ONE APARTMENT BLOCK,
REFUGEES FROM PRNJAVOR AND BOSANSKI NOVI RECOUNTED THEIR
GRIM PAST. TWO EXPENSIVE GERMAN CARS WERE PARKED IN A
SHED NEARBY, REPORTEDLY BELONGING TO VISITORS WHO CAME
FROM MUNICH TO SEE THEIR ELDERLY PARENTS.
7. (U) THE VILLAGES SURROUNDING PETROVAC, HOWEVER, WERE
RUINED. A SPARSELY POPULATED AREA EVEN IN NORMAL TIMES,
THE BIHAC-PETROVAC-KLJUC ROAD WAS DESERTED. CLOTHING AND
BLANKETS LITTERED THE ROAD, MARKING THE PATH THE SERBS HAD
CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
PAGE 03 ZAGREB 03939 02 OF 03 101031Z
USED TO FLEE. MOST LARGE BUILDINGS AND RESTAURANTS HAD
BEEN RECENTLY BURNED. THERE WERE BROKEN-DOWN CARS AND
THREE BURNED-OUT TANKS. IN A FIELD PAST PETROVAC, AN OLD
JNA PLANE FROM WWII THAT HAD BEEN A MONUMENT TO AN
IMPORTANT VISITOR AT THE NEARBY AIRFIELD WAS RIDDLED WITH
BULLET FIRE. NEAR KLJUC, A MOSQUE HAD BEEN RAZED TO THE
GROUND, WITH ONLY ITS DOME INTACT TO REMIND PASSERS-BY OF
WHERE IT HAD ONCE STOOD. THE UN TOLD US THE ABH HAD
CLEARED THE MAIN TERRITORY OF SERB SOLDIERS, BUT SNIPERS
STILL HID IN THE WOODS IN THE HILLS NORTH OF THE ROAD.
THEY WERE SUPPORTED BY POCKETS OF SERB CIVILIANS WHO HAD
BEEN UNABLE TO LEAVE BEFORE THE BOSNIAN ARMY SWEPT PAST
THEM.
----------------
KLJUC GRAVE SITE
----------------
8. (U) NEAR KLJUC, THE SHATTUCK/GALBRAITH PARTY TURNED
NORTH ONTO A GRAVEL ROAD NEAR CRVENLJA ZEMLJA. THE V
CORPS LIAISON OFFICER TO THE UN LED US TO THE NOW-INFAMOUS
SITE OF AN ALLEGED MASS GRAVE. THE ESCORT SOLDIERS
STRICTLY FORBADE THE DELEGATION AND REPORTERS FROM TAKING
ANY PICTURES. 200 METERS DOWN A MUDDY HILLSIDE, THE
AMBASSADOR AND A/S REACHED A DITCH WITH A HUMAN SKELETON.
THE SKULL AND RIB CAGE HAD BEEN EXCAVATED AND OLD,
TATTERED BITS OF CLOTHING WERE VISIBLE AROUND IT. THE
LIAISON OFFICER SAID OTHER BODIES HAD BEEN DISCOVERED IN
THIS DITCH AND IN A CAVE LOCATED TWENTY METERS TO THE
LEFT. AUTHORITIES HAD STOPPED THE EXCAVATION IMMEDIATELY
AFTER IT BECAME APPARENT WHAT LAY UNDERNEATH. AN EXPERT
CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
PAGE 04 ZAGREB 03939 02 OF 03 101031Z
FROM THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL (ICTY) HAD
INVESTIGATED THE SITE EARLIER THAT MORNING, AND TWO OTHER
SIMILAR LOCATIONS NEARBY.
--------------------------------------------- ---
KULEN VAKUF -- A LITTLE BORDER ADJUSTMENT AHEAD?
--------------------------------------------- ---
9. (U) FOR THE RETURN TRIP TO ZAGREB, THE PARTY HAD
PLANNED TO CROSS THE BRIDGE OVER THE UNA RIVER AT KULEN
VAKUF AND THEN CROSS INTO CROATIA. FOUR KILOMETERS
OUTSIDE THE TOWN, OUR UNMO GUIDE POINTED OUT WHERE HE HAD
FOUND 15 BODIES (CIVILIAN AND MILITARY, MALE AND FEMALE)
IN THE UNDERBRUSH NEAR THE ROAD THE PREVIOUS DAY. TWO
WERE DECAPITATED. THE DANISH UNMO SAID SOME CORPSES
APPEARED TO BE TWO WEEKS OLD, WHILE OTHERS APPEARED TO BE
MORE RECENT VICTIMS. THE CORPSES HAD BEEN REMOVED, BUT
ONLY RECENTLY; THE AREA STILL STANK OF DEATH.
10. (U) KULEN VAKUF WAS A HIGH MUSLIM MAJORITY TOWN IN A
PICTURESQUE RIVER VALLEY. THE BORDER BETWEEN BOSNIA AND
CROATIA IN THIS AREA IS DEFINED MOSTLY BY THE UNA RIVER.
HOWEVER, IT JUTS OUT INTO CROATIA, AROUND THE TOWN OF
CONFIDENTIAL
NNNNPTQ1704
CONFIDENTIAL PTQ1704
PAGE 01 ZAGREB 03939 03 OF 03 101031Z
ACTION EUR-01
INFO LOG-00 AID-00 AMAD-01 CIAE-00 SMEC-00 OASY-00 ANHR-01
SRPP-00 EB-01 OIGO-01 H-01 TEDE-00 INR-00 IO-00
L-01 ADS-00 M-00 NSAE-00 OIC-02 OMB-01 PA-01
PM-00 PRS-01 P-00 SCT-00 SP-00 SSO-00 SS-00
STR-01 TRSE-00 T-00 USIE-00 PMB-00 PRM-10 PRME-01
DRL-09 G-00 /033W
------------------F4A915 101031Z /38
O 101026Z OCT 95
FM AMEMBASSY ZAGREB
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7547
INFO USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
USMISSION GENEVA
USLO SKOPJE
AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO
AMEMBASSY LJUBLJANA
AMEMBASSY BELGRADE
DIA WASHDC
JOINT STAFF WASHDC//J-5PMA/J21//
SECDEF WASHDC//ISA/ISP//
NSC WASHDC
NATO EU COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 03 OF 03 ZAGREB 003939
SIPDIS
BRUSSELS ALSO FOR USEU
USVIENNA ALSO FOR USDEL CSCE
CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
PAGE 02 ZAGREB 03939 03 OF 03 101031Z
E.O. 12356: 10/1/00
TAGS: PHUM PREF PBTS BK HR
SUBJECT: A/S SHATTUCK AND AMB. GALBRAITH SEE GRAVE SITE
NEAR KLJUC, DISCOVER A POSSIBLE BORDER PROBLEM
KULEN VAKUF AND THE MOUNTAIN BEYOND, ALTHOUGH THE RIVER
ITSELF FLOWS THROUGH THE TOWN. THE BRIDGE HAD BEEN
SHELLED NEAR THE MUSLIM SIDE AND WAS IMPASSABLE FOR THE
PARTY'S VEHICLES. THE CROATIAN ARMY (HV) HAD CROSSED INTO
BOSNIA AND HAD OCCUPIED THE TOWN. THE CROATIAN FLAG FLEW
AT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BRIDGE, ABOVE A MAZE OF RAZOR
WIRE AND SANDBAGS WHICH DISCOURAGED WOULD-BE VISITORS FROM
CROSSING.
11. (U) THE AMBASSADOR AND A/S WALKED TO THE OTHER SIDE,
TO GREET THE IRRITATED HV SOLDIERS. EVIDENCE OF WAR
DAMAGE WAS EVERYWHERE, ALTHOUGH THE RAILROAD BRIDGE
APPEARED WHOLE. CROATIA PLANS TO OPEN THIS RAIL LINE
CONNECTING ZAGREB AND SPLIT IN A FEW WEEKS. THE MUSLIM
MAYOR APPROACHED THE AMBASSADOR AND APPEALED FOR HELP TO
ALLOW THE ORIGINAL RESIDENTS TO RETURN. MOST OF THEM WERE
EAGER TO RETURN, HE CLAIMED, BUT THE CROATS WERE REFUSING
ENTRY TO ALL BOSNIANS. THE HV SOLDIERS WERE CLEARLY
RELIEVED WHEN THE U.S. PARTY CROSSED BACK TO THE ABH-HELD
SIDE OF TOWN. COMMENT: THE OCCUPATION OF KULEN VAKUF MAY
SOON BECOME ANOTHER BLEMISH ON FEDERATION RELATIONS IF THE
HV DOES NOT PULL BACK TO THE INTERNATIONALLY-RECOGNIZED
BORDER.
12. SARAJEVO MINIMIZE CONSIDERED.
CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
PAGE 03 ZAGREB 03939 03 OF 03 101031Z
GALBRAITH
CONFIDENTIAL
NNNN
Latest source of this page is cablebrowser-2, released 2011-10-04