Serbia reminds of 1999

A Decade after NATO Bombs

Tenth anniversary of NATO bombing campaign against Serbia (and former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) was marked in Belgrade and the whole country. Exactly at 12 o'clock, air raid sirens have been turned on and the sound that became so familiar to Serbian people in 1999, has called people to stand for a minute of silence and remember all the victims


By MARKO ANDREJIĆ
from Belgrade, SERBIA


The Government of Serbia had a special session on March 24, dedicated to the memory of the victims during NATO bombing of FR Yugoslavia in 1999. Special commemorative programs were held in all primary and secondary schools and commemorative gathering of citizens were held on 12.00 hours on the whole territory of Serbia. Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic has underlined that the air strikes had not solved the problems in Kosovo, nor had they established the rule of law or peace in the province. At the same time - according to news agencies, Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci hailed the anniversary of the bombing as "a great historic day". Nato's intervention "opened a new chapter in Kosovo's history... the chapter of freedom and the building of meaningful democracy", he said.

- I was in a school on the day when everything started. We have just believed to those people who claimed the bombing is not possible to happen at the end of 20th century. Our duties were over and we went home about 7 pm. It was all as usual - mother was preparing dinner, father took a nap and a brother was playing his computer games. At the moment, we have been shocked to understand that air raid sirens have sounded! I was completely unprepared, iced and I couldn't believe, I couldn't understand and accept the fact that someone is flying above us with aim to make some damage and kill someone. I was imagining bombing like in World War II, living in basements, hunger... Days and days after that I was avoiding to go outside, I was listening around, slept badly and had nightmares... Every day was lasting forever, we didn't attend school, watched news from minute to minute, with horrible reports and bad forecasts... - explains Ivana Mijuskovic (27), high-school student at the moment of NATO campaign, today employed in one US bank in Belgrade. - And after some time, we all started to live relatively normal, even me who did the most panic in the first days. People didn't go to workplaces but we spend lots of time with friends, started to ignore air raids with famous sentence: "It is on our destiny to decide". Some of my friends were celebrating their 18th birthdays during air danger alarm was active...

During the 78 day of air campaign, NATO planes have killed 1,002 soldiers of Yugoslav Army and Serbian policemen, and about 2,000 civilians, with 88 children among them. More than 6,000 people was wounded, while dozens of people are still marked as missing, according to the official statistics.

NATO campaign has arrived after unsuccessful negotiations on the crisis in Kosovo, in Rambouillet and Paris - in February and March 1999. Serbian Parliament has decided not to accept foreign troops on its territory. After that decision, on 24 March 1999, at 7:45 pm NATO forces started air strikes. Attacks on FR Yugoslavia were ordered by Secretary General of NATO Javier Solana, and the Serbian (Yugoslav) government declared the state of war on the same night.

- On the day when bombing has started I was home alone, studying. First I saw on TV that some bombs have fallen down in Kosovo and I thought that campaign will be only in south province. Then my cousin has phoned to me and told me that bombing has started and I should go downstairs or to the basement. Then I realized it is serious. First few days I didn't know what to expect and how that is going to look like. I was watching CNN all the time. After that I started to act freely and to go around the city normally. Fortunately, we had no any bomb near the city of Loznica, so people started to gather on the streets... - says Marina Jakovljevic (28), journalist in a Serbian daily newspapers.

This was the first time in history that NATO has launched air strikes without approval of UN Security Council and against the country that was not a real threat to any state, member of alliance. Explanation was that is an effort to push Slobodan Milosevic stop terror against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, although paramilitary Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was already internationally officialy listed as a terroristic group.

It is interesting that some of the buildings, hit during NATO attacks, can still be seen in Belgrade. It is an attraction for tourists but authorities still can't decide if they should reconstruct them (too high price), keep them as a kind of monuments, or sell the ground for some new investments (one of ideas was to build a new exclusive hotel).


(Published: 10.04.2009.)