Peace mission's first step: Rebuilding basic facilities

December 8, 1995
Web posted at: 11:50 a.m. EST

From Correspondent Richard Blystone

TUZLA AIR BASE, Bosnia-Herzegovina (CNN) -- Inside a battle-scarred, debris-filled airbase at Tuzla, NATO enabling forces along with Bosnian civilians take the first steps to restoring essential facilities in a joint endeavor to bring peace to the Balkans.

The first task before them is to clear wires and coils off the airstrip, which only last year served as a temporary home to 7,000 refugees. The troops will then set up satellite links and re-install lights on the runaway, all in a bid to make the airbase functional, if not state of the art.

The enabling forces took high-powered lights for airport runaways with them, but they now reckon that they will need much stronger illumination if planes are to land and take off in the dark and brutal Balkan winter.

Enablers said they may be able to modernize Tuzla, but they can't make the airport bigger. They predict that two dozen planes might be able to land each day at Tuzla, providing they unload quickly and go elsewhere for refueling.

Americans will be responsible for Tuzla once the peace treaty is signed in Paris. About a dozen U.S. soldier are on the ground here. They, along with Bosnian civilians, have begun repainting the airport in the only colors available -- blue, white, and brown.

And, as the international muster draws troops from around the world toward Bosnia-Herzegovina, troops at the British center of Gornji Vakuf are already getting a taste of what could be their number one adversary: the Balkan winter.

Peace mission's first step: Rebuilding basic facilities

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