[Yugoslavia Memory of a disaster] 1991, friendly diplomats in the Yugoslav trenches
Eighty observers and their 'assistants', diplomats or professional soldiers for the most part, are operational in Yugoslavia today. But it is still just as difficult to know their exact role, and therefore… their effectiveness! Both in The Hague, the Dutch presidency, and in Paris at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we intend to preserve this opacity. Officially, the task of the 'monitors' is to “locally observe the establishment of the ceasefire and to examine whether Slovenia and Croatia have stopped the implementation of the declaration of independence”. But in Zagreb, at the headquarters of the 'controllers', it's waiting, in an uncomfortable situation. Treated as “ice cream sellers” by some, of having “a bias” by others, they intend to keep a “cool head” in the middle of the Yugoslav din.
As Georges Marie Chenu, the French staff manager and career diplomat, explains, “our mission is not to relate the events or to give an assessment of the victims. We only transmit the verified facts to the (European) presidency and to the signatories of the various documents, as an investigating judge can do”. Every day, according to information collected in the media, by the various parties involved or their own channels, the 'controllers' draw up their work plan. After the morning briefing, they leave for the various 'check' points. There are sometimes slippages, as recently for the city of Zadar (Adriatic coast); it was only three days after the start of the first fighting, and under insistent Italian pressure, that the 'controllers' went there.
What then can an undernumbered body of observers be worth - only 80 out of 300 announced have arrived - and silent in the Yugoslav furnace and din? Because this armed conflict is doubled and fueled by a “war” of press releases between Serb and Croat media, increasing confusion and tension every day. No wonder then that the idea of a military interposition force is gradually gaining ground. Lord Carrington's last mission to Yugoslavia on Monday seems to sound the death knell for observers. Or the observation of an impossible mission...
(article published in "La Truffe" French daily newspaper, September 17, 1991 © Ngv)
