CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VIII (1) ContemporaryEurasia81 | Page 108

THE UN “SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION PROGRAMME” IN UNPA SECTOR WEST …
Problems in establishing the UNPA Sector West
Although a peace-treaty had been signed by the Croatian authorities,
the representatives of the local Croat administrative units (Pakrac, Grubisno,
Polje, Daruvar, Novska, and Nova Gradiska) were either not informed or
incorrectly informed by the Croatian government units in Zagreb regarding
the mandate of UNPROFOR and the contents of the Cyrus Vance Plan. The
local Croat authorities therefore viewed the deployment of UNPROFOR as
an occupational rather than a peace-securing effort, serving the purpose of
securing the Serbs and returning the “Serb aggressors” to their villages in
Croatia. Local media, radio stations and newspapers contributed
continuously to spread such disinformation among the Croat population.
Insufficient financial means and administrative support from the UN
centre in Zagreb and the late arrival of qualified personnel delayed the
implementation of the UN mandate. The lack of qualified interpreters was a
particularly thorny problem.
Interpreters were recruited through a private language firm in Zagreb
whose owner had contacts to members of the government. She later became
a governmental minister herself. Through this contact, it is suspected that the
Croat government was extremely well informed about everything happening
in the UN Sector, including negotiations.
At the end of March 1992, the first approximately 40 UNCIVPOL
observers arrived in the Sector West without any instructions regarding their
tasks or functions. The lack of experienced UNCIVPOL leaders during the
first six weeks contributed to the overall confusion.
Precious time was lost in negotiating the exact borders of the UNPA
Sector West. The Croat negotiators believed that Croat laws and institutions
would be replaced by corresponding UN laws and institutions within the UN
Sector, therefore they tried to keep the Sector’s size at a minimum.
UNCIVPOL assumed the responsibility for monitoring the local
police, which as a rule consisted of former soldiers without any civilian
police training. However, about one third of the UNCIVPOL observers were
also unprepared for their tasks, manifested by insufficient English and/or the
inability to drive motor vehicles. Additionally, most of the observers did not
have any prior UN experience.
UNPROFOR finally took control of the Sector in July 1992.
The UN Civil Affairs UNPA Sector West opened sub-bureaus within
the Sector, frequently together with UNCIVPOL, in order to enable the
population to contact UNPROFOR. Periodic meetings with the respective
local authorities with the purpose of explaining UNPROFOR’s mandate
were held on both sides.
Initially, representatives of the Croat administration as well as the
local police in Pakrac showed clear signs of disapproving of UNPROFOR
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