Balkan Peace Team

While the powers sees former-Yugoslavia at peace, the Balkan Peace Teams in both Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia have been witnessing the tensions. Otvorene Oci ("Open Eyes" - the team in Croatia) still has an office in Split and has moved the other office from Zagreb to Karlovac. The Karlovac office has reported three explosions aimed against Serbs: on 24 February (this only made page 4 of the local newspaper!), and two others on 28 February and 2 March after a demonstration against Serbs returning from FRY to Vojnic. Anti-Serb graffiti are now appearing around Northern Croatia in anticipation of former Serb residents being returned there after April, when Eastern Slavonia is incorporated into Croatia.

The team in FRY is based in Belgrade. Augmented by WRI treasurer Dorie Wilsnack for three months, the FRY team produced two long public reports on the 90 days of demonstrations to uphold the elections in FRY. On 4 March, volunteer Sandra van den Bosse and WRI coordinator Howard Clark were in Prishtin', the capital of Kosovo, when a bomb went off by the (official, Serbian) University, injuring four people.

Annual reports on the work of the teams, and occasional public reports by the teams, are available from the BPT International office in Minden.
The BPT International Office has now moved: the new address is Ringstr. 9a, 32427 Minden,Germany (tel +49 571 20776; fax +49 571 23019; email balkan-peace-team@bionic.zerberus.de).

The second BPT FRY report on the democracy protests lists a variety of nonviolent actions. Early in the protests Women in Black distributed Gene Sharp's famous list of 197 nonviolent methods and encouraged students and others to think of creative forms of action as well as ways of ensuring that the demonstrations didn't turn to violence in the face of police provocation. Women in Black had an infectious impact. They were the first group to bring along "noisemakers", beginning by putting a few beans in cans and turning them into rattles. During the course of the demonstrations, Women in Black suspended their vigils, but they are now resuming them on a monthly basis.
Please note the change in Women in Black's phone/fax number: +381 11 32 47 877.