The hot month of June 1995 arrived to the Balkans on a Thursday, while I was on night shift at Belgrade radar site, surveying the Bosnia No Fly Zone. Just when I was leaving the radar room, on the next morning, I noticed something strange was happening. All the Serbian controllers were very excited, butContinuar lendo ““Behind enemy lines” – the true story (how it happened)”
Arquivos da tag:Bosnia
Birds violating the Bosnian No Fly Zone (1995)
On night of 24 February 1995, I was on duty at the UNPROFOR radar console assigned by the Yugoslav authorities at Belgrade’s International Airport Area Control Centre (ACC). At about 02H00 in the morning, four large targets pumped-up flying over Bosnia, with a separation between radar contacts of about 10 Km (some 20 minutes betweenContinuar lendo “Birds violating the Bosnian No Fly Zone (1995)”
Balkans – people with more History than they can hold.
Once, a Yugoslav intellectual told me that, the people in the Balkans would always be fighting each other, because they had more History they could hold. –“You’re Portuguese; you will never understand the Bosnian problematic, because you’re the cultural result of “one single tribe in one same territory”. Here, people are from different tribes inContinuar lendo “Balkans – people with more History than they can hold.”
Portugal – uma única tribo num só território
Alguém me disse um dia, que os povos dos Balcãs haveriam de estar sempre em conflito, porque tinham mais História do que podiam aguentar. – “Vocês, os Portugueses, nunca irão entender isto; … sois o resultado cultural de “uma única tribo num só território”. Aqui as coisas são diferentes, existem várias tribos dentro do mesmoContinuar lendo “Portugal – uma única tribo num só território”
War Tourism – Bosnia 1995
In August 1995, during the Bosnian conflict, I witnessed something I had never seen before – War Tourism. It all started with a simple Military Observers’ (UNMO) patrol, in Mont Igman (Sarajevo), while driving on a dirt road I hadn’t travel through before. Inside the UNMO vehicle traveled three UNMO (a Portuguese, a Dutch andContinuar lendo “War Tourism – Bosnia 1995”
Linhas Aéreas do Talvez (Maybe Airlines) – A componente aérea da ONU
Numa certa madrugada gelada de 1995, após chegar ao Aeroporto de Pleso, em Zagreb – Croácia – a fim de embarcar no meu voo inaugural para Sarajevo, deparei-me com uma fila de capacetes azuis junto à cancela que dava acesso directo para a placa dos aviões. Juntei-me ao grupo dos camaradas da UNPROFOR e verifiqueiContinuar lendo “Linhas Aéreas do Talvez (Maybe Airlines) – A componente aérea da ONU”
News media War Correspondents in Bosnia – “If it bleeds, it leads”
By the end of November 1995, when people were already starting to walk around in Sarajevo’s streets, due to the recent Cease Fire Agreement, I noticed a marble plaque on a wall, at Marshal Tito’s Avenue, that said: –“Truth was the first casualty on the fratricide war of Bosnia”. It was said that the plaqueContinuar lendo “News media War Correspondents in Bosnia – “If it bleeds, it leads””
Missão ONU na ex-Jugoslávia FORPRONU/UNPROFOR
No início dos anos 90 do Séc. XX, a ex-Jugoslávia implodiu num conflito fratricida. Uma guerra onde cerca de um quarto de milhão de pessoas morreram ou foram consideradas desaparecidas. Estimava-se que mais de um milhão de pessoas teriam perdido as suas casas, tendo a maioria das infra-estruturas do país ficado destruídas. No total, aContinuar lendo “Missão ONU na ex-Jugoslávia FORPRONU/UNPROFOR”
How is the war like in your country?
Bosnia 1995 – On the 18th of August, it rained copiously the entire day and there was mud everywhere. With such inclement weather, one would expect the warring factions to slow down their activity; but it was exactly the opposite. One of the occurrences that marked the day was a sniper fire over one ofContinuar lendo “How is the war like in your country?”
Football small talk; a good way to start confrontation line negotiations (Bosnia 95)
Back in UNPROFOR 1995, the warring factions’ protocol dictated, before talking business one had to discuss fait-divers … and drink lots of Rakjia (local brandy). Meetings with Serbs were something worth remembering. They normally tried to speak English, as a gesture of politeness, but if we (UN Military Observers – UNMO) would not bring anContinuar lendo “Football small talk; a good way to start confrontation line negotiations (Bosnia 95)”
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