(30 May 1995) English/Nat
Some British troops captured at Gorazde appeared on Bosnian Serb television last night. The programme said all captured U.N. peacekeepers were prisoners of war, not hostages.
The British soldiers from the Royal Welsh Fusiliers were in a hospital in Sokolac, close to the Serb stronghold of Pale. They were shown to be in high spirits and were allowed to send messages to their families in Britain.
These British troops from the Royal Welsh Fusiliers were captured in Gorazde - they are to be used as human shields along with 370 U.N. peacekeepers taken hostage by Bosnian Serbs after NATO air strikes on one of their positions.
They were shown on Bosnian Serb television from their hospital beds apparently in good health and high spirits. They were injured when their Saracen armoured vehicle slid into a ravine after Serbs ordered them to leave their observation post and drive to Gorazde.
SOUNDBITE:
"just this feeling of being in mid-air and then hitting the side of the vehicle and all parts being thrown at you with so much force, it's unbelievable, and it just felt like it was never going to end this slamming on your head - when I head butted there it was like a steel cage I didn't black out but the pain was unbelievable. Then my legs got crushed".
SUPER CAPTION:Stephen McCabe - Royal Welsh Fusiliers
Then the soldiers took it in turns to send a brief message home to their loved ones.
SOUNDBITE:
"I'll be home soon, alright, look after yourselves, I'll be OK - see you".
SUPER CAPTION: Laurence Parry
SOUNDBITE:
"Hi mum - OK? Don't worry I'll be alright".
SUPER CAPTION:Jonathan Richardson.
SOUNDBITE:
"Hi mum I'm alright - not too bad. Broke my leg, nothing wrong".
SUPER CAPTION: Ian Smith.
SOUNDBITE:
"Alright everyone in Holyhead? Sorted - can't wait get home".
SUPER CAPTION:Martin Williams.
SOUNDBITE:
"Hello to all the family I'll be home in a couple of weeks' time so get the food ready".
SUPER CAPTION:David Jones.
A Bosnian Serb army statement said that all U.N. soldiers and military observers were being treated as prisoners of war and were not hostages. The statement accused the U.N. troops of "openly siding with our enemy" the Bosnian government.
Earlier in the year, the soldiers of 'Canbat 2' at Camp Visoko in central Bosnia were confined to their barracks by Bosnian soldiers fearful that their only buffer to the Serbs was about to withdraw.
Now it is the turn of their peacekeeping colleagues on the Serbian side of the front line.
53 of them are under house arrest, adding to the ever-growing number of U-N soldiers being used as bargaining chips by the Bosnian Serbs in a high stakes game of Balkan Roulette.
Like the other captive peacekeepers, the Bosnian Serbs are almost certainly holding them in an attempt to prevent NATO air strikes, though their cage may be a gilded one.
SOUNDBITE:
There are 53 of them on the other side, on the Serb side. Basically most of them are still in their OP's performing their duties, the only difference is that there is a restriction of movement. They are not allowed to get out of the OP, so basically they are just performing their normal operations from inside the OP. Amongst those 53 there are 8 of them who have been relocated to the centre of the town of Ilijas. They are being kept there. They're in very good living conditions, they are being well taken care of, they have everything they need, morale is really good.
SUPER-CAPTION: CAPTAIN PAT MAILLOUX, 2ND IN COMMAND, CANBAT 2
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