One of my last patrols in UNPROFOR – Bosnia – 1995, while the belligerent factions were negotiating an enduring Peace Agreement in Dayton, was to go look for a U.S. journalist, which was allegedly missing behind the Serb’s lines. That news reporter wanted to write the Bosnia war story in a different angle – the Serbian perspective; he had requested the proper clearances to the Serb authorities but, for his great disappointment, never got any reply. However, silence was not an option for this courageous (but not so clever) journalists and he decided to go on his own. Shortly after his departure, he was reported missing.
In those times, practically all international journalists residing in Sarajevo were in close contact with each other, sharing information and contacts. They called themselves “The Tribe” and most of them lived the hotel Holiday Inn; or what was left of it. It was a modern building, noticeable by its yellow color, isolated from other builds right in the middle of the Snipers Alley. In 1995 the dwelling was in a very poor condition, due to sniper fire and artillery shelling. The side of the building face the Serb territory had practically no glass windows, in some accommodations there was UNHRC plastic bands substituting the widows. Here and there one could see multiple impacts of different caliber ordinance, with vestiges of fire inside the apartments.
The hotel guests had their rooms on the opposite side, facing the muslin part of Sarajevo. The seller of the hotel was the working space and the recreation area of the “Tribe.
Because they were living close together, all the journalists had a rough idea of what each other was working on. That was how our missing “hero” story came to live. His “Tribal fellows” knowing his ambitious intentions, reported his two days absence without news to the US Embassy in Sarajevo. The Embassy contacted the UN for support and the Regional Senior Military Observer did not take long to make a decision, issuing the following instructions:
– “Our Russian Major and the Portuguese Captain should leave immediately and search for this chucklehead. No not assign any other tasks to these two, because they may be away for some time.”
My Russian comrade – Alexey (fictitious name) – made the necessary contacts and off we went to Lukavica Barracks, in order to meet the Serbian officer responsible for operations around Sarajevo, but no one knew anything about an American journalist. However, we had to look for him and, together with the Serbian officer, we planned a patrol and got the necessary permissions to go to Pale, Srebrenica and Gorazde. The places we thought might have some interesting stories to tell in a different angle. We were not planning to sleep in Serbian territory. The plan was to return to Sarajevo every evening; hence this would be a three days mission.
We left Lukavica towards Pale. Our vehicle radio coverage was very poor so we kept transmitting blind position reports. Last thing we wanted was also to be considered missing. Our first stop was UNPROFOR UNMO Team 7-L – Pale. There were no UNMOs in that Team for some time, only a small group of interpreters that we were paying to keep the liaison with the Serbian leadership. Our interpreters made several contacts and confirm that there was a travel permission request. The Serbs though that was a CIA attempt to peek inside their lines and decided to refuse the request. However, in order not to have problems with the Americans, their option was not to answer the request. Regarding further initiatives of that journalist they knew nothing.
We asked around among the Serbian population and no one had saw the journalist. A Serbian officer said:
– “Yeap. I saw an American passing-by today,” – and spiting on the ground concluded – “but he was going very fast … inside an F-16!”
We travelled 70 km towards Southwest e we reach Gorazde. There were no more mines on the access road to the City. That was an evolution regarding the last week, resulting from the recent Cease Fire Agreement. We´ve asked for the journalism to both Serbs and Bosnians, but again, no one had seen any American around that place. We´ve returned to Sarajevo empty handed.
The following day we travelled early in the morning to Srebrenica, which was about 20 km from the Yugoslav border. It was a long trip and the destination was still a complicated area. That was a patrol to be handled with extreme caution. On the previous day my Russian comrade had made all the translations, but now we needed the help of one of our Team´s interpreters – Milan (fictitious name).
On the higher mountains of Bosnia there was already some snow, demanding precautionary measures regarding the driving of the armored Toyota. Milan asked over and over again to everybody if they had seen an American journalist. But the answer was always negative.
A Serbian patrol was also looking for him, result of our queries on the previous day, but that was not good news because the Serbs had a different story. They were looking for a CIA agent disguised as a journalist, and they wanted to teach him a lesson.
Upon arriving to Srebrenica we drove to the infamous factory facilities that hosted the recent months´ developments. The walls had still the bullet impacts allegedly from a Serbian firing squad during the cleansing actions. We asked and, yet again, no one had seen, or heard about an American journalist. We didn’t stay long because the situation was very tense. The Serbs were not enjoying our presence and the remaining Muslins had strong negative feelings for the UN, because the UN had failed them during that summer events.
We were having a sandwich lunch inside the car, close by the former Netherlands UNPROFOR compound, when we received a radio transmission instructing us to abort the mission and return to Sarajevo.
The journalist had been found alive and well in Budapest. Apparently he had contracted a Serbian interpreter, with a transportation included in the fee. He has tried several interviews but, because no one was collaborating with him, he decided to do a photo reportage of the Balkans and crossed the entire Bosnia territory, Croatia and Hungary.
I still remember my words when we reported back in HQ UNPROFOR – Sarajevo:
– “Goddammit! I´ve had enough. We were desperately looking for this guy while he was having a nice Gin tonic in a Danube boat?! In Budapest?! This is too much; please do not task me for any other stuff related with journalists.”
Our Deputy Commander, a UN veteran from Belgium, replied:
–“Caution Paulo; God is listening and He has a sense of humor; you may have to deal with journalists in the future.”
Three months later, after having redeployed to Portugal – Lisbon – the Air Force issued my new travel orders. I was to become the new Public Affairs and Media Relations Officer at the NATO HQ – CINCIBERLANT.
No one understood why I was laughing when I got those orders.
OPen samento 