LOCAL PRESS

Brnabic: I expect nothing from people setting cookies on fire (Tanjug/B92)

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic says she doesn’t expect Kosovo courts to deal with war crimes cases they have taken over from EULEX in a serious manner. Speaking in Belgrade on Monday, Brnabic said that political leaders in Pristina are preventing Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija from achieving their basic human rights. “I expect nothing good to come out of that decision. People who don’t allow basic human rights, freedom of the media, who are setting cookies on fire on an ethnic basis – I really can’t believe nor expect that they will deal with the crimes of the terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in the most serious ways – the crimes committed not only against Serbs and other non-Albanians, but also against Albanians,” she said.

She added that freedom of the media has been completely taken away from Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, because they have not had the right to receive newspapers in Serbian from Serbia proper since 21 November.

Vucic: No solution in sight for continued dialogue with Pristina (TV Prva/B92)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told TV Prva on Tuesday that he would like Serbia to lobby more around the world for resolving the issue of Kosovo. So far, this has not been done, he added. Vucic earlier in the day in Belgrade received representatives of the German Bundestag, Peter Beyer and Christian Schmidt. Apart from bilateral relations, economic cooperation, the problems in the dialogue with Pristina was also discussed. Vucic told TV Prva after the meeting that he is always ready to listen to proposals coming from smart people – but that he at the moment does not see a solution that would allow continued dialogue with Pristina. Asked to comment on EULEX’s decision to transfer war crimes cases to the Kosovo judiciary, Vucic replied briefly: “There is nothing to add there. (They’re) judges in their own case. That’s all we could expect and nothing more,” he said. Commenting on reports that the Serbian government had hired a US lobbying firm related to the Kosovo issue – which have been refuted – Vucic said that there was no contract on lobbying. “I spoke about this with the Serbian government, the question was whether we would launch an arbitration procedure because of (Pristina’s) taxes, but these were only conversations, there is no agreement,” he said. Asked whether he would like Serbia to, “like Kosovo,” invest as much money in lobbying on issues of vital importance, Vucic said he would like Serbia to invest more money when it comes to ​​lobbying around the world.

Government sources deny Serbia hired US lobbying firm (Tanjug/B92)

Reports that the Serbian government has hired US company Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP to lobby on its behalf in Washington are incorrect. The agency said it learned from sources close to the Serbian government that negotiations are still in progress with this law firm headquartered in New York. The talks concern the firm possibly representing Serbia in arbitration proceedings in Strasbourg, related to Pristina’s violation of the regional free trade CEFTA agreement, according to Tanjug. Tanjug’s sources in the Serbian government, however, stressed that the talks have nothing to do with Americans, nor with lobbying, but exclusively with the issue of taxes and the CEFTA violation. No contract has been signed, options are merely being considered, said the source.

Difficult path to justice without Serb judges in Kosovo (RTS)

The Kosovo courts have taken over the war crimes cases from EULEX, so they will be dealing with crimes, apart from those committed by the KLA against the Serbs, also with crimes against the Albanians for which Serbs are suspected. The Chairperson of the Serbian parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun has told RTS that at issue are 11 cases that EULEX is handing over to the Kosovo judiciary, the competent prosecution and courts. All of the 11 cases refer to Serbian citizens, including general Bozidar Delic, Ljubisa Dikovic and Momir Stojanovic. Lawyer Nebojsa Vlajic, who defended Oliver Ivanovic, has stated that the trials against the Serbs are very painful and tough, since, as he says, you need to prove the innocence of people before people who don’t want to hear that, before those who do not wish to objectively examine evidence, and before those who you believe in advance cannot pass a just decision. “If there even existed hope that there had been acquitting verdicts while the EULEX judiciary worked in Kosovo, there is now less and less such hope,” Vlajic told the RTS morning news. According to him, such cases will be exclusively tried by local judges without any influence and participation of EULEX, i.e. foreign judges. “They say they retained an observer role, but I can freely say that this is an unimportant role that has no impact on judges,” said Vlajic. What is even more important, says Vlajic, the law on courts has been changed in Kosovo, so that only the Basic Court in Pristina has jurisdiction for war crimes verdicts. He says Kosovo has seven courts in seven towns, however, war crimes will be not be tried in any town except in Pristina. “Trials will not be possible even in Kosovska Mitrovica, where the majority of judges are Serbs. This practically means that the Serbs will not be among the judges, but even if they are, this will be a very negligible number,” said Vlajic. The fact that EULEX has not charged anyone from the KLA for some of the monstrous crimes, for example, the murder of harvesters in Staro Gracko, the murder of Serb children in Bistrica or the explosion of the Nis Ekspres bus, also speak of the just trials in Kosovo and Metohija.

REGIONAL PRESS

Wigemark: Commissioner Hahn’s message is clear- authorities at all levels should be formed as soon as possible (Hayat)

Addressing reporters in Sarajevo on Monday, Head of the EU Delegation (EUD) to Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) Lars-Gunnar Wigemark once again warned of the need for formation of authorities in B&H as soon as possible. He reminded that EU Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn conveyed a clear message on the occasion of his visit to Sarajevo last week, according to which the EU expects formation of authorities at all levels in B&H. Wigemark also warned of expiration of the “reasonable deadline” of six months, which is usually the time needed for formation of new authorities after the elections in B&H. “However, there still seems to be a lot of maneuvering and hesitating. All we can say as the EU is – get on with it,” he added.

HDZ B&H leader Covic: Everything is ready for formation of B&H CoM (FTV)

The Presidency of the Croat’s Peoples Assembly (HNS) held a session in Mostar on Monday. During the session, Bozo Ljubic was re-elected a President of the HNS Main Board. The HNS Presidency passed several conclusions, including the one according to which the HNS Presidency will ask for B&H borders to be closed in order to prevent uncontrolled entries to B&H. Covic stated that HNS will ask B&H institutions to close B&H borders in order to get the exact data on the number of entries to B&H, noting that the society in which safety will be secured to all citizens of B&H in this aspect must become reality in B&H. Amongst other topics, HNS members discussed formation of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and state authorities in B&H. HNS President and HDZ B&H leader Dragan Covic once again expressed his optimism that formation of a new convocation of the B&H Council of Ministers (B&H CoM) will be concluded within the month of April. Covic confirmed that he and SNSD and SDA leaders, Milorad Dodik and Bakir Izetbegovic respectively, now have to organize a meeting at which distribution of ministries within the B&H CoM will be discussed. “Last time, as I recall, Mister Izetbegovic asked for an SDA team to be present during our talks on the mentioned subject. I am waiting for a meeting to be scheduled within the next few days, so that we could avoid creating some other issues,” Covic stated. When it comes to the Federation of B&H government formation, Covic is not that optimistic that this process will be concluded soon. He added that HDZ B&H is holding talks with all partners so that a good program plan for the next four years would be created. He believes that that the plan must primarily focus on amendments to the Election Law of B&H. Covic said that DF’s participation in the authorities will not be HDZ B&H’s problem, but SDA’s. “I will not interfere in their negotiations and I will not give advice about who should be appointed at what position,” concluded Covic. When asked to comment the recently rendered verdict in the case against former RS President Radovan Karadzic, Covic only briefly said that every person that committed crimes must be punished and court rulings in such cases must not be commented, but respected.

Dodik says SNSD ready to take over responsibility for protection of RS’ national interests in Sarajevo (ATV)

SNSD leader Milorad Dodik stated on Monday that SNSD is ready to take over responsibility for protection of national interests of Republika Srpska (RS) in Sarajevo, adding that he believed that other parties are also ready to share this responsibility with SNSD. Commenting on SDS’ decision to reject SNSD’s offer for participation in the authority at the B&H level, Dodik reminded that the party did not offer ministerial posts to SDS, but an opportunity for joint participation of Serb representatives in Sarajevo. He stressed that certain members of SDS saw SNSD’s offer as a chance for posts and they were not satisfied with the offer. “SNSD offered SDS a policy of joint participation of political parties from the RS in Sarajevo, and this was supposed to be discussed by SDS’ bodies. I see that certain members of SDS understood that SNSD offered them ministerial posts in Sarajevo and reactions show that they were not satisfied with the number of offered posts,” Dodik stated. SNSD Vice President Zeljka Cvijanovic commented on Monday on SDS’ official statement according to which this party does not want to join the coalition with SDA and HDZ B&H. She stressed that SNSD will not form any coalition at the level of joint institutions in B&H but there are policies that need to be harmonized, since it would be wrong not to harmonize them. Cvijanovic also said that SDS’ stance is unprincipled because SDS is already a part of the authorities with SDA and HDZ B&H.

Member of SDS Main Board Nedeljko Glamocak said that Cvijanovic is not right and that her statement encourages quarrels. Glamocak argued that SDS Main Board’s decision proved that SDS maintains its principles when it comes to interests of the RS regardless of the internal situation in SDS. SDS Vice President Dragan Cuzulan said that Cvijanovic swapped thesis when she said that SDS is unprincipled and added that the situation is the opposite to what she said. Cuzulan also reminded that SNSD changed its political course from far left to far right and it went from being “favorite of the international community to being so called great patriots”.

Sources say many SDS members think SDS will get new leader and then discuss formation of state-level authorities with SNSD again (EuroBlic)

EuroBlic daily learned from sources from SDS that Sunday’s conclusions of SDS Main Board were adopted unanimously as the party’s press statement noted but not everyone in SDS accept the rejection of SNSD’s call to cooperation. Namely, sources noted that many SDS members believe SDS will soon get a new leader instead of Vukota Govedarica but, until then, they do not want to cause new rifts within the party. The source added that he believes B&H Council of Ministers (CoM) will not be formed in the meantime anyway, due to obstructions coming from SDA. SDS Vice President Dragan Cuzulan said that he thinks the Main Board did not leave space for a discussion on this matter again and added that the formation of B&H CoM is a matter for SNSD, HDZ B&H and SDA. The daily noted that Govedarica still has not publicly stated whether he intends to run for SDS leader again but several SDS officials claimed that he told them he no longer sees himself at this position and that he would be willing to give it up if a new leader will secure unity of the party. The daily learned that many members of SDS Main Board from Istocno Sarajevo said they are ready to harmonize a joint platform with SNSD on key issues, including changes to the Law on Elections of B&H or adoption of law on examination of origins of property, but nobody dared to say that SDS should accept any of ministerial seats.

Cvijanovic: Decision of B&H CC by which RS Day cannot be marked on 9 January is part of political persecution against RS aimed to destroy RS identity (ATV)

RS President Zeljka Cvijanovic has invited leaders of all political parties in the RS to a meeting scheduled for Tuesday on the occasion of the recent decision of the B&H Constitutional Court (CC) disputing 9 January as the RS Day. Cvijanovic stated on Monday that B&H CC’s decisions are political motivated and the recent B&H CC’s decision represents continuation of a persecution of the RS that has lasted for years. She said that it is pointless to even discuss such topics when there are much more important topics that concern the RS citizens, but the main reason is the fact that some people do not want to accept the fact that the RS was born long before the past war in B&H and Dayton. “The intention is to impose a theory that the RS was created during the war and based on genocide, as well as a theory that someone has to put an end to this story and say that the RS cannot exist any longer, which is similar to threats of Bosniak politicians. A good thing in these pointless and dangerous things we are faced with is that this definitely homogenizes the RS society,” Cvijanovic asserted. She announced that political parties in the RS will confirm unity at the meeting, at which certain conclusions on how to overcome this problem will be passed. Commenting on the upcoming meeting, ‘Ujedinjena Srpska’ leader Nenad Stevandic told ATV that political differences between the RS opposition and authorities will not come to the surface at the meeting, expressing expectation that all political parties will demonstrate unity. He assessed that there are two options for the RS to respond to pressures; the first option is to ignore the decision of B&H CC and to consider it absurdity, and the second option is to find a technical solution through amendments to the law in order to continue to observe 9 January as the RS Day. According to PDP, the RS parties are expected to present a joint and clear stance on the RS Day at the meeting on Tuesday and PDP will support all conclusions that are in the interest of the RS and its citizens. PDP called on other political parties in B&H to stop creating unnecessary tensions. Representative in the RS parliament Davor Sesic said that the RS parliament should again consider the possibility of disputing the celebration of 1 March as B&H Independence Day because Serbs do not recognize this holiday and added that this will certainly be discussed at the next session of SDS caucus in the RS parliament. Former judge of B&H Constitutional Court (CC) Krstan Simic shared a similar view and said that it is necessary to establish whether there are legal grounds to file a motion for assessment of constitutionality of March 1 as B&H Independence Day because “there is absolutely no difference between this holiday and 9 January” at least not in the segment B&H CC mentioned, i.e. that all three constituent peoples should recognize the holiday. Simic argued that it is obvious that B&H CC adopts political decisions which have nothing to do with laws and he also argued that B&H CC in past adopted one of the most controversial decisions related to constituent status of peoples. He explained that B&H CC decided, by outvoting Serb and Croat judges, that all three constituent peoples have the constituent status in each millimeter of B&H. “Of course, people have the constituent status and are equal before laws in each democratic country based on laws. Only, in our society this constituent status is based on the number of chairs and positions someone gets,” Simic said, adding that B&H CC based its subsequent decisions, including the one on 9 January, on that decision.

Reactions to RS Minister Lukac’s initiative to establish RS MoI’s reserve police unit (N1)

RS Minister of Interior Dragan Lukac said that introduction of reserve police force in the RS is necessary. Lukac stressed that the RS needs an organized force with young people who will be engaged in case of need and who will then have the same powers as members of the active police force. Lukac stressed that members of the reserve police force would be selected in the same way in which cadets for the Police Academy are selected. Lukac announced that introduction of reserve police force will be part of the amendments to the Law on Police and Internal Affairs that will be discussed by the RS parliament. While the RS officials claim that such amendments are necessary for security reasons, officials from Sarajevo are warning that it is necessary to take into account the possibility of violation of the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA). Namely, officials from Sarajevo warned about the Annex 1 of the DPA which speaks of balanced and stable defense force levels in the entire region, noting that the OSCE is monitoring its implementation. Bosniak member of the B&H Presidency Sefik Dzaferovic (SDA) said that “they should pay attention to what they are saying about this topic.” “I know that when we worked on the defense reform, we very carefully discussed all those issues and the only thing that we can do now when it comes to the defense-security sector within B&H is to activate the active reserve within the Law on Defense. The Law on Defense stipulates that active reserve can amount to up to fifty percent of the active military force,” Dzaferovic said. Head of the EU Delegation to B&H (EUD) and EU Special Representative (EUSR) in B&H Lars-Gunnar Wigemark also commented the issue on Monday and stated: “What will certainly be one of stances of the EU is that this country – whether in the Federation of B&H or in the RS – should have police forces that respond to the needs of citizens”.

National minorities preparing for elections (Hina)

Elections for councils and individual representatives representing national minorities in local communities throughout Croatia will be held on 5 May, in compliance with a recent decision made by the government, however, they seem to be overshadowed by preparations for the elections for the European Parliament, set for 26 May. In Croatia, members of 14 ethnic minorities are eligible to elect 515 councils, whereas members of 20 minorities can elect 144 individual representatives. Councils representing an ethnic minority are set up in local communities in which the pertaining minority makes up at least 1.5% of the local population, or if there are more than 200 members of an ethic minority in a municipality or town or more than 500 members in the area of a county. Municipal councils representing ethnic minorities include 10 representatives, city-level councils of this kind consist of 15 representatives and county-level councils include 25 members. When it comes to the county level, 20 have such councils and their aggregate number is 74 and only Krapina-Zagorje County does not have a sufficient percentage of minorities to have such a representative body. On the other hand, there are eight councils in Istria and Primorje-Gorski Kotar counties each. The capital city of Zagreb has a total of nine (9) ethnic minority councils representing ethnic Albanians, Bosniaks, Montenegrins, Czechs, Hungarians, Macedonians, Roma, Slovenians and Serbs. As many as 171 cities and 270 municipalities are expected to organize elections for councils representing ethnic minorities’ interests. If there are at least 100 ethnic minority members living in a local community but not enough for the election of a council, that minority is then eligible to elect its single representative. Thus, 20 minorities elect their respective 144 representatives in all 21 counties (89 on aggregate) and 54 in cities. Such an election is going to be organized only in one municipality, and that is Matulji where ethnic Italians will elect their single representative.

In the previous elections for ethnic minority councils and representatives which took place in Croatia in May 2015, there were 280,000 eligible voters who were entitled to elect 288 councils and 25,000 eligible voters who could elect individual ethnic representatives. Elections for ethnic minorities’ councils or representatives were introduced in 2003. All the four previous elections of this kind were marked by a low turnout.

The DF and the SPC will define character of the protests (RTCG)

Political columnist and analyst from Belgrade Vlatko Sekulovic says that after the signing of the “Agreement on the future” the protests in Montenegro will be under the influence of those political forces that have clearer ideas, simpler messages, and have a stronger motivational capacity, such as the Democratic Front and the Socialist People’s Party. Therefore, the goal of the protest cannot be separated from the goals of these political forces. Sekulovic, a former head of the Serbian delegation for the negotiations on the application of CEFTA, believes that the DF and the SNP act as Serbs and the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) believers, confirming that they are “the wing of the non-parliamentary political party of the SPC”. As for the authorities, the main challenge will be the “challenge of justness”. “Not only economic development nor improvement of the work of institutions, including judicial ones, is enough, but also greater inclusiveness and affirmation of human potentials, especially for young people, based on professional and personal qualities” Sekulovic estimates in an interview with Dnevne novine. He thinks that the protests were always political, as they included demand for certain political changes, in the personal sense.

Mickoski and Siljanovska state their case for bringing down the Zaev regime (Republika)

VMRO-DPMNE began its presidential campaign the way it does all its election campaigns – with a major rally in the Macedonian cultural capital of Ohrid. VMRO leader Hristijan Mickoski introduced the party’s candidate in the coming presidential elections Gordana Siljanovska – Davkova, and both presented the elections as the best chance to bring down the PM Zoran Zaev regime. “There is a lot of anger out there, after what they did to Macedonia. So, join us, it is time to take action,” Mickoski called on the thousands of VMRO-DPMNE supporters gathered in Ohrid. Mickoski praised professor Siljanovska as an impeccable and principled scholar with a spotless career, who has been critical of both VMRO and the left when necessary. Her opponents say she used to criticize us in the past. I agree, that is true. But that is her added worth. Her criticism shows that Gordana has the credibility and integrity which is necessary to make her words count, said Mickoski. Siljanovska said that the imposed name of “North Macedonia” is “rootless and has no future”. She said that the only option is to reassert the name Republic of Macedonia. Siljanovska is a strong critic of the Prespa treaty under which the Zoran Zaev regime forcibly renamed Macedonia and as a legal expert she led the expert criticism of the treaty and its numerous violations of international law, basic principles of human rights and parliamentary rules and procedures. “We need to win the elections and to open the way for early general elections. I’m not saying that if you elect me we can restore the name immediately. That is impossible. But, I’m certain that this rootless name can’t have a future. We will have a President close to the people, we will have responsible people in the Parliament, we will have new constitutional judges who will protect the Constitution. And then, one day, we will constitutionally protect the name with an entrenchment clause,” Siljanovska said during the first major rally of her campaign. In her remarks, Siljanovska described the tremendous erosion of human rights and the rule of law in Macedonia under the Zoran Zaev regime. “They said they will fight corruption, but instead they installed a hybrid regime. We have a Communist style Parliament, staged political trials, revenge attacks and selective justice. The only “reform” they initiated is the Prespa treaty and the name change,” said Siljanovska.

Pendarovski frames his presidential campaign around the prospect of EU membership (Republika)

As the SDSM – DUI presidential candidate Stevo Pendarovski held his first rally in Krusevo and Prilep and tried to present his leftist – Albanian coalition as the ticket for European Union membership, Mickoski insisted that the right fights for actual European values, not merely empty rhetoric which gets quickly denied by the actions of the government. Pendarovski told his supporters that this is the first time a candidate is supported by major ethnic groups. Pendarovski received the support of the ethnic Albanian DUI party which would normally field its own presidential candidates. “Our option is one of going forward and they want to go back. There is no better option than joining the EU,” Pendarovski said, speaking about the candidate of the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party Gordana Siljanovska – Davkova. Zoran Zaev also used the prospects of EU membership as the main selling point for Pendarovski. Zaev also called for a mass turnout, amid concerns that the abuse of the judiciary and the political system, and the way in which Zaev forced the name change of the country could spark a boycott of the elections which require a turnout of at least 40 percent to be considered valid.

Zaev welcomes Tsipras with a new sign in front of the government building (Republika)

Ahead of the Alexis Tsipras visit to Macedonia, Zoran Zaev’s government was labeled with a sign in Macedonian, Albanian and English declaring it to be the “government of the Republic of North Macedonia”. Previously, Zaev ordered the removal of the large golden colored letters on top of the thoroughly rebuilt complex, declaring it the Government of the Republic of Macedonia. According to the Plusinfo news site, another concession to the Greek side will include renaming of the Philip II of Macedon sports stadium in the Skopje central park, although this won’t be done in time for the Tsipras visit. The stadium, previously known simply as the “gradski” – city stadium, was entirely redone by the Nikola Gruevski government, and where once only decently sized side was complete, it was made into a world class facility that hosted the 2017 UEFA Super Cup between Real Madrid and Manchester United. According to the Plusinfo, Zaev’s government plans to rename the stadium, which now bears the name of the father of Alexander the Great, into the Tose Proeski stadium – after the beloved singer who died tragically in a car crash in 2007. According to the Prespa treaty signed by Zaev and Tsipras, Macedonia is supposed to re-examine the names of the infrastructure projects. The Alexander the Great highway and the Alexander the Great airport in Skopje were already renamed by Zaev, into “Friendship” and “Skopje international airport”.

Majority: Local elections even without opposition (ADN)

Ruling majority is determined to realize local elections even without the participation of the opposition parties. The head of the Socialist Party Parliamentary Group, Taulant Balla, said that so far, majority hopes that opposition will participate in the local elections of 30 June. But, if not, socialists will realize elections. “SP will run to win in different municipalities. We will participate even if Democrats of Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI) will continue their boycott,” said Balla. He underlined that the names of the candidates will be public soon.

Former President proposes ad-hoc structure as solution (ADN)

Former President of the Republic, Bamir Topi, has commented on Monday the political situation in Albania by providing his alternative for solving the crisis. According to him, a way to solve the situation is the creation of a consultative, ad-hoc structure. “Political parties are extremely remote, with a ruthless rhetoric. The President is not heard and I do not believe that we have to go to the internationals for everything. I would suggest that a consultative, ad-hoc structure could be created. Political and human experience would make this process more appropriate to assist the President,” said Topi. He added that the crisis cannot be solved by internationals, but the Albanian experts because they know the situation better in the country. “We do not have to wait for someone to come because we have seen missions that have stayed for 24 hours and then have left. We know better the situation and political responsibility should be held by all parties. The problem is that we have to be careful, to anticipate that things can come by being agitated. Those who suffer are only the citizens,” said the former President.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SOURCES

In 1999, it was Yugoslavia in the crosshairs of the imperialists, now it’s Venezuela (RT, by Neil Clark, 1 April 2019)

To mark the 20th anniversary of the start of NATO’s illegal 78-day bombardment of Yugoslavia, over 200 distinguished guests from all over the world gathered for a conference of the Belgrade Forum of the World of Equals. The gathering titled “Never to Forget: Peace and Progress instead of Wars and Poverty” promoted genuine internationalism. Participants came from Israel AND Palestine. From Iran and Japan. From Britain, Germany, Italy, France and other NATO countries which had taken part in the bombing. From Venezuela, Cuba, Bulgaria, Greece, Brazil, Croatia, Canada and South Africa. India and Nepal, Austria and Switzerland, Ireland, Portugal, Turkey and Lebanon. From the US AND Russia. This was the real ‘international community’ on display.

Speaker after speaker denounced NATO’s unlawful aggression, and stressed the wider significance of the military action of 20 years ago, which not only lacked a mandate from the United Nations Security Council, but was also in breach of NATO’s own charter.

Eva-Maria Follmer-Mueller, president of the Mut zur Ethik Association in Switzerland, described it as “a historic turning point.”

Momir Bulatovic, the prime minister of Yugoslavia in March 1999, called the bombing “a crime which only grows in significance”. He pointed out that it was the first step in a still ongoing war against other countries. He and subsequent speakers, (myself included), noted that since 1999 we’ve had US-led attacks on a series of independently-minded, strategically important and resource-rich sovereign states, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria, while others, such as Iran and Venezuela have been subject to intense economic warfare. Each time we’re encouraged to see these conflicts as ‘stand-alones’ with the leader of the target state demonized, usually as the ‘New Hitler,’ and someone who ‘must be stopped’, but actually they are all part of the same war. A war for empire and the global hegemony of the US and rapacious international finance capital.

From Brazil, Socorro Gomes, the president of the World Peace Council, reminded delegates that Yugoslavia was a peaceful country that had not invaded anyone. To get round this, Kosovo was referred to in the US and depicted on maps on the television as if it was a separate country, not as a part of Yugoslavia. The media war on Yugoslavia began long before the bombing.

According to HRW, around 500 civilians were killed in the NATO air strikes. The Russian Foreign Ministry puts the toll much higher, at around 2,000.

In Belgrade’s Tasmajdan Park, there’s a very poignant memorial to the 89 children killed in the bombing, entitled ‘We were just children.’ Among the victims was a brilliant 15-year-old maths prodigy called Sanja Milenkovic, who died along with eight others, when the bridge in Varvarin was bombed at Pentecost. Marina Colic read out a very moving tribute to Sanja from the German politician Willy Wimmer. Sanja’s last words were “Don’t be crazy Mum, who’s going to drop bombs on a small town”. Answer: NATO. That’s who.

An exhibition outside the main hall in the Serbian Army House graphically illustrated the horrors of the bombing. Anyone seeing the pictures of dismembered, blood-spattered people being pulled out from debris following a NATO air-raid would ask the same question that I did: How on earth could any of this be justified as a ‘humanitarian’ action?

The line that “there was no alternative” is simply not true. Had Western powers been genuinely concerned over resolving differences between Pristina and Belgrade they could have brokered a deal between Rugova, the Kosovo Albanian leader, and Milosevic, the leader of Yugoslavia, which would have allowed international peacekeepers (but not NATO forces) into Kosovo to protect ALL of its citizens, and at the same time disarm the KLA. But they deliberately chose to bomb.

Speakers recalled that at the Rambouillet Conference Milosevic was presented with an ultimatum to which he could not possibly consent. This is backed up by the testimony of the late Lord Gilbert, a British Minister of State for Defence Procurement, who, in 2000, admitted, “I think certain people were spoiling for a fight in NATO at that time. I think the terms put to Milosevic at Rambouillet were absolutely intolerable: how could he possibly accept them? It was quite deliberate.”

NATO got its war and the direct material damage to Yugoslavia resulting from it has been put at $100 billion. The country’s infrastructure was targeted for destruction and you can still see the ruins from some attacks, such as the one on RTS (Serbian television), which killed 16 people, in Belgrade today. One of the most shocking aspects of the NATO ‘humanitarianism’ was its widespread use of depleted uranium. Slobodan Petkovic, a member of the Serbian government’s commission for determining the consequences of the use of D.U., stressed there was no military need for NATO to use it. So why did they?

In a really powerful oration, Liz Payne of the British Peace Council, said the bombing of Yugoslavia was a ‘deadly experiment’ and a blueprint for further aggressions across the world. “We recall with horror the orchestrated terror and devastation inflicted purposefully and mercilessly on the people of Serbia by the US and its allies, including by the right-wing Labour government of Britain and the neoliberal Establishment in whose interests it acted”. She finished with the words “While imperialism continues there can be no world of equals.”

Linking the events of 1999 with today, Professor Zahari Zahariev from Bulgaria said that the whole continent of Europe is ready for a new Helsinki process, a reference to the 1975 accords which were the high-water mark of post-war detente between East and West. In a thought-provoking address, he distinguished between globalization, which is a technical process, and globalism, which he called “the ideology of imperialism”and it was this ideology which was behind the attack on Yugoslavia and the other wars. While many speakers lambasted the EU, Zahariev said the idea of European unity is not imperialistic per se and that what we really need is to emancipate the EU from neoliberal capitalism. The question is: is this really feasible given the strong links the EU has to corporate power and finance capital? Some of the loudest applause at the entire conference came after Dia Nader de El-Andari, the Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Serbia, declared “No pasaran!” after a stirring address. In 1999, it was Yugoslavia in the crosshairs of the imperialists, now it’s Venezuela, with the US having the temerity to warn Russia, Venezuela’s ally, to get out.

Cross-continent solidarity was also expressed by Chris Matlhako, of the South African Communist Party. He called for the dismantling of US military bases, NATO and their allies in Africa and elsewhere on the globe, and detailed the disastrous impact of the NATO assault on Libya, which has been a big boon to terrorist groups. “We must work hard to block the US and its allies unilateralism in the world today,” he declared. President of the Serbian Generals and Admirals Club, Milomir Miladinovic, reminded delegates that despite the 78-days of bombing, Yugoslavia was not defeated militarily in 1999. “We fought a glorious victory against the aggressor, these were heroic days in the face of the much bigger enemy”, he said. According to Miladinovic, the JNA (Yugoslav National Army), lost just 17 tanks and 30 artillery pieces and withdrew from Kosovo practically intact. And the aggression from NATO didn’t come cost-free with the Yugoslav forces and their “obsolete” equipment successfully taking down a US F-117 Nighthawk stealth bomber, appropriately enough called ‘Something Wicked’. That was a great moment for those who always support David against Goliath and love it when the underdog lands a blow. In a nice postscript, the retired army officer whose unit shot down the plane is now friends with the US pilot.

The conference ended with me reading out the Belgrade Declaration. “The history will note the fact that in 1999, blindly following alien geopolitical interests, Europe fought itself.” Never forget the great crime NATO committed twenty years ago, and what it led to.