Description
Object description
An investigation of the UNHCR's problems in delivering aid to the Bihać pocket takes UNTV to Velika Kladuša.
Content description
Since the December ceasefire agreement there has been an uneasy peace in most of Bosnia but fighting continues in the Bihać pocket and UNPROFOR must continue to safeguard the rights of civilians there. Shots of the landscape around Velika Kladuša and of UN soldiers (BANBAT?) helping civilians by the roadside. Interview with Karen Abuzayd, the head of UNHCR in Bosnia. She says that the major problem continues to be the access of goods and personnel into restricted areas. At present Bihać is focal point for UNHCR efforts.
Abdić supporters fled Velika Kladusa as refugees when the town was first taken by the Bosnian Government Fifth Corps but they subsequently left the UN refugee camp to retake the town with the help of RSK forces. However, living conditions in the town are little better than they were in the camps. They still rely on aid from international organisations.
For UNHCR, the priority is Bihać, in southern part of the pocket, where, as Karen Abuzayd reports, health groups have said that the situation is desperate. There is an urgent need for food. Authorities in Knin say that aid must go through Velika Kladuša but most aid deliveries are blocked there by Abdić's authorities. Shot of empty UN warehouse. The Mayor of Velika Kladuša, Rifet Dolić, is insisting that the town receives a higher percentage of the aid that passes through than previously agreed upon. He says that they want "correct co-operation" because there is urgent need for more food in Velika Kladuša. Karen Abuzayd counters this argument. She says that UNHCR have a good idea of the number of people in Velika Kladuša and distribute aid proportionate to that population. She says that twenty percent of the total aid is sufficient to feed the population of the town and the rest is urgently needed elsewhere in the pocket.
The ICRC continues to monitor human rights in Velika Kladusa. Representatives have visited the military prison and plan to visit the civilian prison to ensure that the prisoners are being treated in line with international human rights agreements Mayor Dolić insists that the 900 people arrested when Abdić retook the town were processed in the correct manner and only those awaiting trial or sentenced remain in prison.
As the stalemate over aid deliveries continues, the suffering goes on. Shots of children in a health clinic. Final V/O: the very young continue to suffer in this war, and, if aid does not get through, this scene will become all too common.
Physical description
Beta-SP