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Serbia mourns victims of NATO bombing 10 years ago

Published: 24/03/2009 05:00

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Serbia on Tuesday mourned thousands of victims of NATO bombing as the country marked the 10th anniversary of the start of the 78-day NATO bombing campaign against its predecessor the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY).

Serbian Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac presents a wreath to the martyrs monument in the 1999 NATO’s bombing in Yugoslavia, in Belgrade, capital of Serbia, March 24, 2009. Serbia marked on Tuesday the 10th anniversary of the NATO’s bombing campaign against it. (Xinhua)

At midday, air raid sirens sounded throughout the western Balkan country in a mark of remembrance for the victims. All the activities in offices, schools, institutions and public places were stopped and the people paid tribute to all the victims of the NATO air raids launched on March 24, 1999, by observing a minute of silence.

Addressing a special government session dedicated to the victims of NATO air attack, Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic described the attack on FRY as one of the most tragic episodes in the second half of the 20th century and as an illegal act that is opposing the international law.

“The NATO bombing did neither solve problems nor provide peace, stability and the rule of law in Kosovo-Metohija,” he said, adding that Serbia would never recognize the unilaterally declared Kosovo independence and would fight for its interests in the United Nations.

Ivica Dacic, Serbia’s first deputy prime minister and interior minister, said that the bombing was a crime against the Serbian people.

He said that in the same way as the air strikes had been launched against Serbia, some countries had recognized Kosovo’s independence in contravention of the principles of international law.

The Serbian government decided in the special session that a memorial would be built in Belgrade dedicated to all victims of the air strikes.

Some 3,500 people were killed during the air strikes, and a total of 12,500 people were injured.

After the end of the bombing campaign on June 10, 1999, an international protectorate was introduced in Kosovo, whose ethnic Albanian-dominated provisional institutions unilaterally declared independence in February last year.

The Serbian government organized a series of commemorative gatherings to mark the Remembrance Day for victims of the 1999 NATO bombing.

Serbian Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac paid respect and laid a wreath on the memorial dedicated to the fallen members of the Serbian Air Force and Air Defense.

The memorial, situated in the Serbian Air Force Command in Belgrade, was also attended by the Serbian Army Chief of General Staff Lt.Gen. Miloje Miletic and Air Force Commander Lt.Gen. Dragan Katanic.

Rasim Ljajic, Serbia’s minister of labor and social policy, attended a commemorative gathering at the memorial in a Belgrade park dedicated to 89 children who lost their lives in the NATO bombing.

Serbian Minister of Culture Nebojsa Bradic laid wreaths and paid tribute to Serbian Radio Television (RTS) employees killed attheir place of work during the NATO campaign.

Two hours after midnight on April 23, 1999, bombs hit the RTS building in central Belgrade, killing 16 employees and inflicting grave injuries on four others.

Commemorative gatherings were also held throughout Serbia in places where the air strikes claimed lives.

In northern Kosovo’s ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, sirens went off just before noon Tuesday to mark 10 years as of the NATO air strikes on FRY, and thousands of ethnic Serbs gathered on the bridge across the Ibar River to join the March for Peace and headed for Zvecan.

The gathering symbolically started at 12:44 p.m. local time (1144 GMT), to remind of UN Security Council Resolution 1244, which stipulates Kosovo as part of FRY.

To avoid possible conflicts between Serbs and Albanians, a large number of units of the Kosovo Police Service, the EU mission’s police and NATO-led Kosovo international peacekeeping force were deployed in Mitrovica to keep an eye on the event.

Radovan Nicic, president of the Association of the Serb Municipalities in Kosovo, told a Kosovo radio station that the position of the Serbs did not change after the bombing campaign stopped and that the Serb nation, under such difficult conditions, needs unity above all.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet

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