21 years have passed since the start of NATO bombing

The Democratic Front reminded today that it has been 21 years since the NATO bombing of the then joint state with Serbia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

"On March 24, 1999, the aggression of the NATO pact against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia began, during which this alliance killed thousands of civilians, demolished hospitals, residential buildings, bridges, embassies... To this day, no one has been held accountable for this crime, ” stated the Front in a statement.

Since 2017, Montenegro has been a member of NATO. Today, no one from the state authorities announced anything about the events of 1999. The bombing of the FRY lasted for 78 days. In the NATO intervention, the infrastructure of the country was badly destroyed, and the victims were never counted, the media in Serbia remind.

According to the data of the Fund for Humanitarian Law of Serbia, 754 people, 454 civilians and 300 members of the armed forces, died in NATO attacks. Other sources mention many times higher figures, from 1.500 to 2.500 thousand.

Although it announced, the state did not officially "count" the victims either. The bombing ended on June 9, 1999 with the signing of the Kumanovo Agreement, which provided for the withdrawal of Yugoslav security forces from Kosovo, the deployment of NATO and the establishment of UNMIK, the civilian mission of the UN. Slobodan Milosevic declared it a victory.

The bombing occurred after the then president of the FRY, Slobodan Milošević, rejected the solution offered by the West to stop the violence in Kosovo.

In a statement, the DF recalled the victims, from Milica Rakić in Murine, to "heroes from Košar and Paštrik, who did not give a single millimeter to NATO and their servants from the terrorist KLA".

They state that the current president of the country, Milo Đukanović, was meeting with NATO leaders in the midst of military operations, and government ministers "called for desertion, introduced work obligations, split military calls, turned off water and electricity to the army, which is one of the most difficult and ugliest examples of betrayal recorded in the history of Montenegro".

DF adds in the statement that despite the fact that the first victim fell in Danilovgrad, and that children and innocent people were killed on the bridge in Murin, the government "by force, without a referendum, contrary to the will of the citizens, brought Montenegro into the alliance that killed our people and destroyed our country".

Six civilians were killed in Murin in April 1999.