TA eepl NY & The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 5, 2001 - A5 A special report by Sarah A. Zimmerman ALTHOUGH THOU- SANDS of Canadian sold- iers have served as peace- keepers in Bosnia over the past decade, it’s been a relatively unknown story for the general public.” This week and next, Sarah A. Zimmerman hopes to change that... Between Nov,:-2 and Nov. 16, Zimmerman and nia as guests of the De- partment of National De- Terrace Standard reporter . other reporters {oured: Bos-.” fence. She jained troops on patrol, stayed in Canadian peacekeeping camps and met Bosnian citizens. Most of the Canadian contingent--now in Bosnia is from. -Quebec,. giving . Zimmerman a chance ‘to. hone. her ‘French language : skills. The Terrace Standard gratefully acknowledges the ‘assistance of Hawkair and Diane Francis of Uni- globe Courtesy Travel. AN ARMOURED personnel carrier called a Coyoi 6 transports paace- keepers from camp for regular Patrol duty. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO, ab ‘By’ SARAH A. ihe SERGEANT Christopher Robin walks toward the skeleton of a brick house damaged during the Bosnian conflict. It has no roof, the second-storey windows have no glass to keep out the cold wind, the rooms are bare and there’s no running water or electricity. To the average Canadian it’s not fit for habitation. But, for Slavko and Minja Grmusa, the crumbling abade is home. Sergeant Robin approaches the cou- ple with hand outstretched and a smile, Slavko takes his hand and greets him with a warm “Dobra Dan”. Hello. Speaking through an interpreter, » Robin asks the aging couple how they are doing. The smile disappears from the frail woman’s face. She’s worried. “They are afraid they’re not going to have enough firewood for the winter,” explains Robin. “the ‘Croatian border between ‘the town of Velika Kladusa in the north to To- mislavgrad in the south, keeps the Ca- nadian security force presence visible. Patrols also allow soldiers to keep their ears to the ground about the poli- tical climate and touch base with lo- cals about their needs as winter sets in. More than 1,500 Canadian peace- keepers are in Bosnia working with the NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR). The Canadian contingent’s first SFOR tour was Dec, 1996. Troops ro- tate every six months and the soldiers now in Bosnia are on what they call Roto 9 ~ the ninth group posted there since 96. The Canadians’ primary effort in Bosnia is carried out by the Third Bat- talion, Royal Canadian 22nd Regiment Battle Group from Valcartier, Quebec. The mission's goal - to maintain a e peace Standard reporter visits troops in Bosnia ‘LOCAL reporter, Sarah A. Zimmerman prepares for _@ helicopter ride over Velika Kladusa, Bosnia. History of conflict in the Balkans 1980 Yugoslavia consists of the republics of Bosnia- Herzegovena, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro and two provinces, Vojvodina and Kosovo. mi 1945-1980 Marshal Tito is leader of Yugoslavia. The region enjoys over 30 years of political stability, Tito promotes socialist unily among ethnic groups in Yugos- lavia attempting to eliminate nationalist sentiments, @ 1980 Tito dies. Leaders of various republics face mounting discontent from. workers, the economy is un- stable and Yugoslavians unhappy. Nationalism emerges leading 10 a call for grealer regional independence. @ 1989 Slobodan Milosevic, president of the Serbian re- public, inspires violent Serbian demonstrations, driving the leaders of Vojvodina and Kosovo out of office. Thus begins Milosevic’s goal to build a Greater Serbia, @ Summer 1991 Croatia and Slovenia declare indepen- dence from Serbian-dominated central government in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Fighting breaks out in Bosnia, W April 1992 14,000 peacekeepers from the United Na- tions’ Protection Force (UNPROFOR) are deployed in an effort to bring peace to the region. Fighting continues, BM April 1993 Bosnia-Herzegovena proclaims indepen- dence. Bosnia’s ethnic population consists of 40 per cent tf arsed ya igi rt Padre”: HIS NAME is Jean-Guy. Morin and the soldiers at camp Maple Leaf in Zgon, Bosnia affectionately call him Super Padre. Watching Morin inter- act with the troops, it’s ob- vious he is well liked. Men and women stop him in the halls to chat, pop into the chapel to visit and they often look to him for a pood joke or two. “My role is important to keeping up morale,” ex- plains the Roman Catholic priest from Riviere de Loup in Quebec. Morin can be seen in the gym, visiting soldiers Muslims, 30 per cent Serbs and 18 per cent Croatians. This leads to ethnic conflict within the country. Bosnian Serbs rebel. Armed conflict ensues. Bosnian Serb militia’s attack on Bosnian Muslims is backed by Serbian military and president Slobodan Milosevic. i June 1993 A coalition of Muslims and Croats attempt to counter Serb initiatives but the coalition falls apart when the two groups begin infighting. Ethnic conflict emerges between the three factions throughout the cen- tral and southern regions of Bosnia. @ Dec. 14, 1995 General Framework Agreement for Peace is signed in Dayton, Ohio. Known as the Dayton Accord, Bosnia-Herzegovena, Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia agree lo respect the sovereignty of one another and settle the dispute by peaceful means. Parties agree to cooperate with all entities including the UN Security Council, in implementing the peace settlement and investigating and prosecuting war crimes and other humanilarian violations. An estimated 200,000 people died during the conflict and over 20,000 are still missing. W 2001 Slobodan Milosevic is detained at The Hague awailing trial before the UN’s International Criminai Tri- bunal for the former Yugoslavia for alleged crimes against humanity, violations of the laws or customs of “kééps the faith rtered sel eps FATHER Jean- Guy Morin is affectionately referred to by some soldiers as Super Padre. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO. on nightly patrols and The plight of the Grmusas is one shared by many Bosnian refugees now tetuming to their homes and trying to pick up the pieces of their lives. It’s all in a day’s' work for many peacekeepers like Sgt. Robin charged with patrolling the Canadian contin- gent’s 9,100 square kilometre area of operation, Patrolling the area that runs along secure, Stable environment for local people, Troops monitor factions resistant to the peace accord. They inspect mili- tary training sites and confiscate and destroy unauthorized weapons, Other duties include providing sup- port to humanitarian organzations working to help rebuild hard hit areas in Bosnia. when it’s time to relax in the mess hall he chooses lo spend time with the ju- nior ranks. “The junior ranks make up 95 per cent of the mili- tary here,” Morin explains. “It’s them that need my help and presence the most.” Not only a spiritual guide, Morin also takes on the role of confidante, The biggest issues fa- cing soldicrs in Bosnia are those of being away from their families, he explains. He tells the story of a young soldier in tears after speaking to his three-year- old son on the telephone. His son told him he was a mean dad for being gone. . “A soldier cax tell the padre thal he cried after that, but they may not tell that to anyone else,” Marin says. i’s a role he’s honoured to play. The- most impor- tant thing for him is listen ing, talking and develop- ing trust with the soldiers. The priest is proud of the work the peacekeepers are doing in Bosnia. “Sometimes Canadians have a mixed up percep- tion of what the military is doing here. They aren't just here for themselves. They are here for Canada and because they really believe they can help.” A FORENSICS anthropologist pieces together a skull found in a mass grave at the Ljubiia open pit mine near Prijedor, Bosnia. More than 370 bodies were exhumed. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO. By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN SIX YEARS after the war that rocked Basnia ended, the horrors of the conflict there conti- nue to play out. From October to November, the UN’s Cri- minal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia sent a forensics anthropoiogy team to Bosnia to un- dertake the grisly task of performing autopsies on hundreds of bodies exhumed from a mass grave. The grave is located near the town of Prije- dor in the Canadian peacekeeping contingent’ 8 zone of operation. José Baraybar, the tribunal’s chief forensics anthropologist, said it’s one of the largest mass graves of its kind found in that area to date. More than 370 bodies were extracted from the site, but the process of. identifying therm is painstaking. That’s because ‘the grave is la- belled a secondary mass grave. The victims were first buried at one loca- tion, their bodies later dug up and transported to this second site at the Ljubija open pit mine. The victims are presumed to be Muslims killed by Serb forces in 1992. “They have collected the remains and they have thrown them into an open pil imine,” ex- plained Baraybar. “They then biasted a wall of. : the mine. Therefore, you Might” imagine that. the remains have got into a lot.of pieces,” he said. The remains were transported io a makeshifl morgue in the town of Sanski Most where Bar- aybar's team of international in- vestigators began the grucsome task of piecing together the bo- dies and compil- ing forensic data. {l’s not a job for the weak of heart or stomach. The first task is akin to a jig- ae saw puzzle ~ tty- José Baraybar ing to determine which body parts belong together. The collection of bones and limbs were se- parated into individual body bags, each bear- ing a numerical code for identification. On the floor of the morguc lay row upon row - of white plastic body bags. Some thin ‘and. _hearly.empty, while others bear the semblance of human bodies entombed in a plastic shroud, _ Tam: Grange, a tetited’ Boulder, Colorado homicide : detective, is. part of the forensics team. He said dealing with the bodies of the i] . “people died,” Bodies exhumed from mass grave dead day in and day out takes its toll. “When you get used to it, it’s time to quit,” Grange said, Some of the bodies are still intact enough to be identified. Other bodies, those damaged by the tre- mendous blast used to cover up the grave, may never be identified or all their parts recovered. Initial autopsies were complete Noy. 8. Just five days later Baraybar’s team selected which ‘bodies are most likely to be identified. Further investigation into thase cases will include DNA testing and cross referencing of known deformities or injuries of people who went missing from the region at the time of the executions. Haraybar said roughly 3,200 people went missing from the Prijedor area at that time. “The number of people found in this grave is only 10 per cent of [those missing], so you can imagine.that the chance of one of those ‘people being found in this grave is maybe 10 to one,” he said. The tribunal’s prosecution office will likely use the data compiled from the autopsies in future cases against suspected war criminals, Baraybar said. “We are very interested in how these he explained. “You have to stow an intention (o destroy these people and intention of destruction: of. ' evidence afterwards. ”