Senad Pećanin

JOURNALISTS FROM SARAJEVO FLY ABOARD UN PLANES

I heard about the permission, which was given to the local journalists to use UN planes maybe a week after the decision was proclaimed in Geneva. I heard about it quite accidentally. I think that at that period the UNCHR kept the decision a secret from the local journalists. I got the transcript of that decision and I brought it to the UNPROFOR headquarters. They verified the nature of the decision. They were very uncivil though, and they did not want to help us get to the Airport. However, there was a chetnik’s checkpoint between the city and the Airport, which was an unbridgeable obstacle for us. At that period I really wanted to get out of the city. First of all, owing to the fact that I wanted to help my family, which went through a lot of troubles because of me in those times, to leave Montenegro. I tried to leave the town in every possible way. I remember, my journey started in the Center of Security Services in Sarajevo, with Boro Kontic and one deceased colleague Zeljko Ruzicic. We were given a very warm reception in the Center of Security Services. They gave us passports. I parted with Boro and Zeljko there. I went to the Fis Cafe, Zeljko went towards the Presidency, but a few minutes later he got killed. I found that out the next day when we were supposed to start our trip. The night before the trip I was not able to sleep at all. I was afraid. All the time during the war I was afraid of falling into chetnik hands. I was terribly afraid of that. I was not afraid of shells, or snipers or bullets. Not because I was particularly brave or anything, I just did not want to fall into their hands. All night long I had this on my mind: ‘God, is it possible that I will do that which I fear the most?’ I decided to go on the trip with a gun inside my coat. It was the third or the fourth of February 1993 as far as I remember. I decided to put the gun in my coat and to leave it with one of our people who worked at the Airport at that time. First thing in the morning I went to get Boro Kontic and I found him in terrible mood. ‘What’s up?’, I asked him. I knew that he was also worried about that checkpoint we were supposed to pass by on the way to the Airport. That was the checkpoint where Hakija Turajlic, the vice-president of the Government, was killed. He told me about Zeljko Ruzicic, I did not know yet that he had been killed. We sat down. I did not tell Boro that I had a gun in my pocket. I took that gun due to a very strange reason. Namely, I took that gun in order to kill myself, to shoot myself in the head, in case the chetniks stopped us at that checkpoint. A friend of Sasa Kontic, Boro’s brother who worked for UNCHR, who had a jeep, drove us. He told us that we could come with him. We asked him whether chetniks usually stopped him. He said, sometimes they do, sometimes not. Because he said sometimes they do, I decided to keep the gun, in case they stopped us. I decided to go, no matter what, but if they stopped us, then I thought that I would not be brave enough to shoot a chetnik first, at least to make amends for my head. My main concern was to kill myself because I did not want to fall into their hands alive. I put on some kind of a hat, because I thought that I would be less noticeable if I wore a hat. I thought I would look like a foreigner. Boro put, or even I put on some glasses, Boro had a hat too. And we took off. I was terrified. I had the feeling that we were on that trip for years. As we were approaching that checkpoint, he slowed down. I put my hand into the pocket to get the gun. At one moment it seemed to me that we were about to stop. But we did not. He only slowed down to cross over those barriers. We passed without stopping and came to the Airport. I was, of course, relieved. Then I told Boro that I had done a foolish thing, but that I had to do it in order to go on the trip. He asked me what I had done. I said that I took a gun. ‘A gun? What are you going to do with it now?’, he asked. Of course, UNPROFOR would not allow any weapons at the Airport. I did not know what to do. At the Airport we met Sasa Kontic, Boro’s brother, who worked there. I told him what I had done, and asked him to take the gun back to the city, since he would be going back from work to the city, whereas we were leaving. We did not know what to do because there were soldiers all over the place. We decided to go to the bathroom so that I would give him the gun. But there was no bathroom at the Airport. Then Sasa said he didn't know what to do, I knew that I would need to go through that checkup, and that my gun would be discovered, as a result I would not be able to go on the trip, and I would be in big trouble. Sasa said: ‘You know what’, I will move away from you now, about 15 meters, then I will start moving towards you, and you start moving towards me. I will open the pocket of my coat and widen it. While we pass one another, try to throw the gun into my pocket.’ As we were passing each other, I threw the gun into his pocket, but felt somebody tapping on my shoulder. I turned around and saw an UNPROFOR soldier. I was frozen. I was sure that he saw what I had done. However, he had not seen me throwing the gun, but he noticed my odd behavior, he saw me twirling round. They did not find that gun, and for the first time I left the city. It was horrible to leave the city in that way after such a long time. However, to leave the city actually meant to get a chance to live. After I came back to Sarajevo, many people, a great number of my friends were not able to believe that I was back, because in those days people only tried to leave the city and not come back.