11-17 August

Friday

>A convoy of civilian refugees and soldiers who surrendered in Kordun arrived in Sid after being lynched in Sisak. According to UN spokesman Chris Gunnes, a woman died as a result of the lynching in Sisak, while several people were wounded. American ambassador Galbraith was criticized by Croatian media for boarding a refugee tractor in Sisak.

At the border crossing on River Drina the misery of the refugees is increased by the suspense about what directions they will receive from their gloomy hosts. B-92, a small local Belgrade radio station continues with its heroic accomplishment in organizing volunteers to take water to the border, deliver milk to the children, also medicine, shoes and underwear. Nervous breakdowns, heart attacks, dehydration, rash are common among the refugees.

Official Belgrade reacts with deep silence, while the search for a culprit slowly begins. At the moment Radovan Karadzic is Belgrade media's favourite candidate, while later Martic is likely to take the lead. Karadzic announced that he will prevent "any fifth or sixth column which are detrimental to any state and or army".

The UN Security Council warned Croatia that it must abide by international standards regarding human rights, and that it must halt all military operations. EU peace envoy Carl Bildt said that the Croatian offensive in Krajina caused the most serious refugee crisis of the war in former Yugoslavia. Zagreb authorities declared Biltd a persona non grata.

 

Saturday

Aleksa Jokic, president of the Headquarters within the Serbian Government which is dealing with the refugee crisis claimed that all Krajina and Bosnian Serb Army conscripts will be allowed to enter Yugoslavia while "their governments' requests will be dealt with at a later date" and that "families will not be split at the border".

Radovan Karadzic judged most ideas in the new American proposal to be acceptable. Momcilo Krajisnik warned the international community that "every plan based on an undivided Bosnia-Herzegovina or Croatia will suffer a defeat in the end".

The majority of members of the Lower house of the Russian Parliament voted in favour of a proposal for Russia to lift, unilaterally, the trade embargo against Yugoslavia. The act of Parliament does not put Yeltsin under any obligation.

The United States "expressed their concern" about reports that Belgrade intends to settle the refugees in Kosovo. The Albanian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Safet Zulali said that "colonization of the Krajina Serbs in Kosovo could have unforseeable consequences for the Balkan peninsula".

 

Sunday

Before talks with the US President's National Security Adviser Anthony Lake in Soci, Kozirev said: "I can not see where the disagreement lies!"

The Croatian deputy Foreign Minister Simunovic, appologised to the refugees for the attack on their convoy in Sisak.

The leader of Serbs in Herzegovina Vucurevic told Montena-fax news agency: "We are waiting for a single shell to fall on Trebinje. If it does - there will be no Dubrovnik left". The conversation with one of the agency's journalists, which was conducted over the phone, ended when shelling began.

Croatian authorities announced the opening of the railway from Split to Knin which has been closed since 1991.

 

Monday

Fighting around Trebinje.

Women protested after Yugoslav authorities decided not to allow men capable of military service to enter Yugoslavia. Aleksa Jokic said that "the border neither was or is closed, and the Serbian Government issued a directive according to which all citizens of Krajina will be allowed entry, irrespective of whether they are conscripts or not".

In response to the US Government's statement voicing concern about the sending of refugees to Kosovo, the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) issued a statement saying that "in the time of a great humanitarian crisis it would be far more appropriate for the US to send humanitarian aid like other Western countries, than to politicize the tragedy of hundreds of thousands of people."

 

Tuesday

Fighting around Trebinje. The Chief of Staff of Croatian Army, General Cervenko visited Dubrovnik, while the Croatian Ambassador at the UN, Mario Nobilo, in his letter to the Chairman of the Security Council threatened with military action against the Serbs.

Russia rejected as unacceptable the creation of a new military force in Former Yugoslavia which, according to the new American peace proposal, would replace UNPROFOR if all political initiatives to end the conflict fail.

 

Wednesday

Yasushi Akashi said that Croatia is concentrating its troops in the Dubrovnik region, and is preparing for a battle with the Bosnian Serbs. Reuters reported that a Croatian brigade, 3,000-4,000 troops strong, arrived near Dubrovnik, and is now only 15 kilometers away from the Bosnian Serbs.

Boris Yeltsin spoke to the German Chancellor Helmut Kohl over the phone.

Mate Granic accepted the new American peace proposal. Jozef Kumuves, spokesmen for the Hungarian Border Service announced that Hungary reinforced its border with Eastern Slavonia with two additional units.

The government of Krajina held a session in Bijeljina which was attended by Martic and Babic. The session coincided with the fifth anniversary of the day when the roads in Krajina were blocked with timber for the first time.

The directors of the Serbian Radio -Television issued a directive to all correspondents telling them to report only news about humanitarian aid, and not to broadcast any testimonies or statements made by the refugees.

 

Thursday

The most recent American proposal was shown to president Milosevic. There were reports about heavy fighting around Drvar and between Trebinje and Dubrovnik. Drvar was said to be surrounded, but the news had not been confirmed. Croatian soldiers systematically looted and burned Serbian houses in Benkovac, Kistanje and other villages before the eyes of UN officials. Around 500 children in a camp of Abdic's refugees contracted dysentery. The Croatian Helsinki Committee reported that 99 percent of Serbs from Krajina are in exile.

The Association of Serbs in Croatia accused Croatian authorities of encouraging the exile of Serbs.

The daily "Slobodna Dalmacija" accused the Association of Serbs of fighting a secret war in Croatia.

The Bosnian Government refused to talk to Carl Bildt, whom they declared to be a "dead negotiator".

The poorest refugees entered Yugoslavia in horse carts. The most recent figure is 147,300. Radio B-92 continues with its humanitarian operation.