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| Europe |
| U.N. Closes Last Croatian Field Offices |
| 2004-01-08 |
| The United Nations refugee agency has closed its last three field offices in Croatia, a move it said symbolizes a "sea change" in the tiny republic once ravaged by fighting in the breakup of Yugoslavia. Hey! Careful with that feather! You almost knocked me over. The three field offices, which helped repatriate one-time refugees, were closed at the end of the year, the U.N. High Guess the local cafes weren’t offering broadband. Croatian Serbs took up arms in 1991 to rebel against the country’s independence from the former Yugoslavia and seized a third of the country, killing thousands of Croats. In 1995, Croatia recaptured those areas in two blitz offensives, and many Croats took revenge, killing hundreds of Serbs and forcing at least 150,000 of them to flee the country. "After such a dramatic decade, a sea change is the only way to describe the refugee agency’s closure," the UNHCR statement said. Maybe the Croats decided they have a normal country now and don’t want you to louse it up. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 Cyber Sarge - I don't doubt many were actively encouraged to leave, but I recall news reports at the time showing long columns fleeing before the advancing Croats, which precludes them being forced to flee (except by their own side). My point was that journalists take a press release, add unsubstantiated spin and can't even get basic facts right. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2004-1-8 2:26:30 PM |
| #3 Phil_b, I think the 150k figure is correct and may be low. When the Croats launched operation ‘STORM’ they wanted to deny the Serbs bases from which to attack them. That had NO humanitarian motive involved with respect to the Bosian Muslims, this was a land grab. They areas that they ‘liberated’ were mostly populated by Serbs and they are the ones that fled into Serbia and eventually resettled to Kosovo. These were people that lived in Slovonia and along the Dalmatian Coast (prime locations in the Balkans). Note: the UN high commission on refugees did nothing more than make the ‘ethnic cleansing’ more efficient and less bloody. So we basically have the same problem that we started with in the Balkans. Can this peace hold? Only time will tell. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2004-1-8 12:40:19 PM |
| #2 I have to admit that it's refreshing to occasionally see a U.N. office closure that isn't related to running away from danger... |
| Posted by: snellenr 2004-1-8 11:18:17 AM |
| #1 Its debateable how many of the 150k who fled were forced to do so. Bur AP's got have its spin, otherwise whats the point of having it. They would just reprint press releases. And I really wish they would get an atlas. Maps are really useful things. They find out that Croatia is not 'tiny' but a decent sized place by European standards, considerably bigger than Belgium and the Netherlands for example. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2004-1-8 2:43:13 AM |