UNDER THE BLUE FLAG [Main Title]

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  • Title: UNDER THE BLUE FLAG [Main Title]
  • Film Number: UNT 209
  • Other titles: UNITED NATIONS TELEVISION (UNTV) ZAGREB COLLECTION, YUGOSLAVIA [Allocated Series Title]
  • Summary: The Prevlaka peninsula on the Croatian & Montenegrin border has enormous strategic significance. Keeping the peace there has been a rare UN success story.
  • Description: Shots of Dubrovnik’s impressive buildings and the war damage that the city suffered in 1991. Shot of a UN jeep on the coast road outside the city and of the bay of the Croatian coast. Dubrovnik holds a strategic position on the main route which runs to the Prevlaka peninsula, which in turn, controls the entrance to the Bay of Kotor and the border between Montenegro and Croatia. Interview with Major Mads Madsen, United Nations Military Observer (UNMO), Dubrovnik. He explains the strategic importance of the city. The JNA fleet is mainly in Kotor Bay and so it is crucial to control the narrow entrance of the Prevlaka Straits. After nine months of heavy fighting, this region around Dubrovnik was given to the UN after the withdrawal of the Yugoslav Army (JNA). As part of the Geneva Agreement of the 20th of October 1992, the UN was given this peninsula to oversee and both sides agreed that the zone would be demilitarised. UNMOs patrol a five kilometre wide area on each side of the border. Shots of the UN monitoring base and a UNMO on patrol. A UN car drives past a ruined tower on the coast. Major Mads Madsen explains that they patrol unarmed and that their main job is to observe and report their findings to others. He explains that they are patrolling regularly on both sides of the border. The UNMOs are posted to Observation Posts and talk to people to gather local information. Footage from the inside of a UN patrol car as it winds its way along the coast. The UNMOs have weekly meetings with the local authorities on both sides of the line. Footage from one of these weekly meetings. Major Mads Madsen explains that they intervene to establish an immediate dialogue between the two sides and says that they have been successful in this role as mediators, aided by the fact that, in his opinion, neither side wishes to provoke the other into open conflict over the border. Interview with one of the men who has taken part in the weekly meetings, Radoje Radunović. He is the Chief of the Security Centre in Herceg-Novi. He says that since the UNMOs have arrived on Prevlaka ‘a lot has been done to achieve peace on this territory and in this region’. This has been done with the cooperation of the Croatian and Montenegrin police. Interview with Miljenko Lucin, Deputy Chief of Police in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County. He says that in the beginning there were some minor incidents but since both sides agreed that they wished to see peace in this region the situation has come under control. Shots of damaged houses and the repair work now being carried out by people who are slowly returning home after fleeing the previous year. Interview with Bayisa Wak-Woya, of UNHCR in Dubrovnik, who says that the main concern for these refugees is security. These houses are only five kilometres from the front line and so it is hard to persuade people to return and reinvest in their homes. UNHCR has supplied goats, sheep and chicken to farmers as a pull factor, to encourage people to return to their village. Shots of a man feeding sheep in a walled enclosure. Bayisa Wak-Woya says that they also give them tractors and other mechanised farming equipment so that they are encouraged to return to agricultural work in the area. Shots of a man ploughing a field on a tractor. Shot of former resident Mato Violić breaking up pieces of concrete with an axe. He has not come back permanently but works on repairing his house every day. He describes people’s initial dismay on returning to the area to find their houses in ruins. He says that support from the UN and UNHCR has helped people overcome these doubts. Shots of a bus that UNHCR runs to transport people to and from the area everyday for free. The Old Town of Dubrovnik is clear to see through the window as the bus travels along the coast road. Mato Violić also explains that UNHCR have accommodated people for the time being nearby so that they are able to reconstruct their homes more easily. Marija Muhoberac feeds her pigs and chickens. She too is hoping to return home as soon as possible. As she sorts through onions she says that UNHCR has given her family five chickens, some sheep and some tools for farming so that their return would be less painful and to enable them to start working again. Panning shots across Dubrovnik’s Old Town and shots of its buildings under scaffolding and washing hanging across its narrow, paved side streets. It is hoped that the peace will hold here and that this UNESCO World Heritage site will be saved from further damage. In recent weeks the area around Dubrovnik has been shelled, probably by the Bosnian Serb Army. People on both sides are hoping for a permanent solution. Major Mads Madsen says that they are just filling in until a solution is reached. He says that the solution will have to be a political one that demarcates a permanent border and agrees on how the two sides share control of the Prevlaka peninsula. Closing shots of the Croatian coast.
  • Alternative Title: UNITED NATIONS TELEVISION (UNTV) ZAGREB COLLECTION, YUGOSLAVIA [Allocated Series Title]
  • Colour: English (Tape Code A)
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: UNT 209
  • Sound: Croatian (Tape Code C)
  • Access Conditions:
  • Featured Period: 1990-2000
  • Production Date: 1994-08
  • Production Country: UN
  • Production Details: Pharey, Mike (Production individual) Warner, Simon (Production individual) Ash, Jenny (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords: Croatia & Dubrovnik (geography) Croatia & Prevlaka (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: English (Tape Code A) Sound format: Croatian (Tape Code C) Soundtrack language: Serbian (Tape D)
  • Technical Details: Format: Beta-SP Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Running time: 7 mins 21 secs
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    UNT 209

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    UNT 209 X (UNDER THE BLUE FLAG (UNEDITED RUSHES) [Allocated Title]) UNT 494 (UN IN CROATIA AND BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA [Main Title])
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