Belgrade burning after NATO air raid
Campaign of bombing civilian buildings, hospitals, bridges and residential quarters
was carried out without permission of the UN Security Council and is one of the major
crimes at the end of the XX century. Belgrade was bombed tree times more during the same century: in 1914 by Austrians and Germans, in 1941 by Hitler and in 1944 by the British Royal Air Force (on Easter day) - Serbia forgives but will never forget.
NATO BOMBING OF SERBIA
IN MEMORIAM
March 24, 1999
Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant
(They make a solitude and call it peace,Tacitus, 98 A.D.:
The Life of Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Chapter, 30)
This page is devoted to the memory of all those who died or suffered during the tragic three months NATO bombing aggression in 1999. Almost seven years ago NATO launched massive air raids against Serbia without the approval of the UN Security Council and without all possibilities for the peaceful settlement of the crisis first being fully exhausted by the international community. Although NATO claimed that the air attacks were directed against Yugoslav military targets and the regime of Slobodan Milosevic, thousands of civilians of all ethnicities suffered and died as "collateral damage". This is a moment to remember all these innocent victims who were killed in the name of "freedom and humanity" and to pray for the repose of their souls. The lives that were lost will never be forgotten; they will always be in our hearts and memory.
Did the military intervention bring full peace to Kosovo as it had been planned? Definitely not for all. Seven years after the NATO aggression Kosovo is still not a safe place for all its citizens, severe ethnic discrimination continues and more than 250,000 citizens of the Province (primarily Serbs) are not allowed to return to their homes despite the NATO and UN presence. More than Serbian Orthodox 100 churches were turned into ashes before the eyes of the international representatives and their powerful military. Kosovo has never been more monoethnic in its history. A peace mission has never been more a caricature of justice.
Did the NATO intervention bring Milosevic's rule to the end? No, because it was only one year later that Serbia managed to overthrow the dictator's regime without outside assistance and trace its own way toward the future. The bombs which fell on Serbian cities, bridges and hospitals will never be considered by its people to have contributed to their freedom. On the contrary, they will remain a painful reminder that friendly assistance and democracy can never arrive on the wings of bomber aircraft and cruise missiles.
While the International Court in The Hague is prosecuting those who have been indicted for committing crimes against Kosovo Albanian civilians, no one yet has assumed responsibility for at least 2,000 civilian victims of the NATO bombing campaign. As well, no one has been brought to justice for the 847 non-Albanian civilians killed and 1,154 kidnapped after the arrival of NATO-led peacekeepers to Kosovo and Metohija and the beginning of the UN Mission. Are these not crimes? If they are not, who in the world can justify the systematic violence where almost 2,000 innocent civilians perished in the time of peace and how? Today we also remember these innocent victims and pray for their eternal peace.
Praying to the Lord of Peace, the Lord of true Peace and Love, we cannot but lament the tragic path which some of the world's most powerful leaders took seven years ago. The depth of their deception was as profound as the conceit of their temporary power and righteousness. Unfortunately they are making a similar mistake today. Yet the only consolation in this moment of sorrow is that the Lord of Peace will be the ultimate Judge and that His Judgment will not be based on shallow principles of human "justice" and hypocrisy. Everything not built on the firm foundation of God's justice will not prevail.
Praying for the innocent victims of the NATO bombing in 1999, we ask the Lord Christ to grant them eternal peace in His Heavenly Kingdom.
After: Two buildings of the Federal Police (current situation)
After: rebuild TV station, were many people were killed.
Two buildings of military Headquarters - current situation!
