BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: CROAT SOLDIERS CONTINUE THEIR WALKOUT FROM BARRACKS IN SUPPORT OF SEPARATIST CAMPAIGN BY NATIONALIST CROAT LEADERS
Record ID:
647658
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: CROAT SOLDIERS CONTINUE THEIR WALKOUT FROM BARRACKS IN SUPPORT OF SEPARATIST CAMPAIGN BY NATIONALIST CROAT LEADERS
- Title: BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: CROAT SOLDIERS CONTINUE THEIR WALKOUT FROM BARRACKS IN SUPPORT OF SEPARATIST CAMPAIGN BY NATIONALIST CROAT LEADERS
- Date: 28th March 2001
- Summary: (U5) BUSOVACA, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA (MARCH 28, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE/MV OF MILITARY BARRACKS (2 SHOTS) 0.10 2. SV: CROAT SOLDIERS IN FRONT OF THE BARRACKS 0.15 3. SV'S/MV: CROAT SOLDIERS HANDING OVER WAR FLAG TO THE CIVIL ORGANISATION OF THE FORMER SOLDIERS (4 SHOTS) 0.40 4. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (CROAT) COLONEL STIPO BOJO, WEARING CIVILIAN CLOTHING, SAYING "The complete brigade has been dismantled. The only people here are the guards." 0.59 5. PAN DOWN/SCU: SEALED BARRACKS DOOR (2 SHOTS) 1.07 6. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (CROAT) COMMANDER OF THE BRIGADE MARINKO LJOLJO, WEARING CIVILIAN CLOTHING, SAYING "We deny that there was any intention to move the armaments from the barracks. We are prepared to cooperate with SFOR troops. There have been no incidents so far and there will be no incidents." 1.23 7. PULL OUT: SFOR VEHICLES AND SOLDIERS IN FRONT OF THE BARRACKS (SFOR IS ONLY PRESENT TO OBSERVE THE SITUATION) 1.32 8. MV: CROATIAN SOLDIER WITH RIFLE GUARDING THE BARRACKS 1.36 9. SLV: MORE CROAT SOLDIERS 1.43 10. MV: CAR LEAVING BARRACKS/ GUARD SALUTING AT GATE 1.48 (U5) SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA (MARCH 28, 2001) (REUTERS) 11. WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE HALL 1.52 12. SV: (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) U.N. WAR CROMES PROSECUTOR CARLA DEL PONTE SAYING "I am not prepared to accept political excuses any more for lack of cooperation. It is only when the work of the Tribunal has been satisfactorily completed that there will be realistic chance for lasting peace in the region." 2.16 13. WIDE OF THE HALL 2.20 14. SV: (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) U.N. WAR CRIMES PROSECUTOR CARLA DEL PONTE SAYING "I continue to insist like I have in the past on the immediate arrest of all Tribunal fugitives, including Milosevic and their transfer to the Hague." 2.37 15. SV: CAMERA OPERATOR 2.41 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 12th April 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BUSOVACA AND SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
- Country: Bosnia
- Reuters ID: LVA9UA658WW9SD8EZ9J5LM4POWK2
- Story Text: Croat soldiers have continued their walkout from
barracks in Bosnia, apparently abandoning Bosnia's joint
Croat-Muslim defence force in support of a separatist campaign
by nationalist Croat leaders.
U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte, who is on a
three-day visit to Bosnia, has said she is no longer prepared
to accept political excuses for a lack of cooperation in
handing over suspects.
The Bosnian government sacked three Croat brigade
commanders on Wednesday (March 28) following a mass
walkout of Croat soldiers from their barracks in support of
illegal self-rule.
A Reuters crew in Busovaca said that soldiers had left
their posts in Busovaca, 20 kilometres from Vitez. On Tuesday
(March 27) at least 1,900 soldiers walked off the barracks in
Vitez. The brigade in Busovaca is the same as the one at
Vitez.
SFOR troops arrived at the barracks in Busovaca on
Wednesday to find the barracks sealed and only a few Croat
soldiers guarding the barracks. SFOR was there in a
observation capacity only.
Colonel Stip Bojo, dressed in civilian clothes, told
Reuters that the complete brigade had been dismantled.
"The only people here are the guards," he said.
The exodus followed an order by a self-styled Croat
National Congress for the Croat contingent of the joint
Muslim-Croat forces to be disbanded following what it said was
a threat by the NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) to use
violence.
The peacekeepers warned Bosnian Croat army officers last
week that they would not be allowed to form a parallel force
as they had announced but issued no threat of force.
There was no word on how many soldiers had withdrawn.
Bosnia was divided into two highly-autonomous units, a
Muslim-Croat federation and a Serb republic, by the agreement
that ended three and a half years of war in 1995.
But the minority Croats, who fought the Muslims briefly
but bitterly in 1993-4 before joining forces against the
Serbs, continued to run parallel structures within the
federation, first covertly and then, as of this month, openly.
The separatist campaign began on March 3 with a
declaration of self-rule by Croats angry that their
nationalist Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party was excluded
from a new coalition government formed after elections in
November.
HDZ officials, who are the driving force behind the
Congress, say the new coalition government, led by a
multi-ethnic party, is illegitimate and refuses to recognise
its recent dismissal of Croat nationalists for disobeying
orders.
SFOR insists the separatist campaign is a political issue.
It has said it is monitoring barracks and weapons stores to
prevent untoward military movements but has noticed none so
far.
In a separate development, Chief Prosecutor of the Hague
tribunal Carla del Ponte, who is on a three day visit in
Bosnia, said the international community's patience was
running and urged the authorities to hand over the war crimes
suspects.
"I am not prepared to accept political excuses any more for
lack of cooperation. It is only when the work of the Tribunal
has been satisfactorily completed that there will be realistic
chance for lasting peace in the region," del Ponte told a
sarajevo news conference.
"I continue to insiste like I have in the past on the
immediate arrest of all Tribunal fugitives, including
Milosevic and their transfer to the Hague," she said
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