Wednesday March 24 ,1999

An aggression against Yugoslavia.

The Yugoslav Army's General Staff informs the Yugoslav and international public that NATO carried out an aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on Wednesday evening at 8 P.M. local time.

On the dictate and for the interests of the world policeman - the United States, and to the benefit of the Albanian separatists and terrorists, the North Atlantic Treaty's military forces seriously violated the territory of sovereign Yugoslavia, brutally endangering the lives of its citizens. The anti-aircraft defense systems which timely detected the aggressor's missiles and acted efficiently, are not damaged and they remain in combat operation and are ready for further actions. In the first attack by the world aggressors, 20 facilities were targeted and activities are still under way. The Yugoslav Army is taking all necessary measures of defense and protection. Operative and combat readiness are at the highest possible level, and the morale and motivation of the soldiers and officers are unprecedentedly high. Volunteers are reporting to Yugoslav Army units in large numbers for the defense of their country. The first explosions which took place after NATO's attack marked an end of international law, the suspension of the UN Charter and opened a new sad page in world history, it is concluded in the statement of the Yugoslav Army's General Staff.

Four strong explosions were heard on Wednesday evening at 8 o'clock local time in Pristina, while Tanjug's correspondent reports that the first three came from the direction of Pristina's SLATINA airport. The aggressor's attacks on Pristina were repeated around 9:15 P.M. local time. On Wednesday evening around 8 o'clock strong detonations were heard on the outskirts of Podgorica in the vicinity of the Golubac airport. At issue are obviously NATO attacks on defensive targets in Montenegro. Radio Montenegro has confirmed this information.

***

The Yugoslav Army's General Staff has announced that, during the three-hour activities in the aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the NATO air force targeted around forty facilities. The information service of the Yugoslav Army's general staff has reported that at issue are five airports, five barracks, a number of communication centers, several command posts, storage facilities and units at their positions, as well as two arms-production facilities. The effects of the massive activities by the air force and cruiser missiles on facilities and manpower are minimal. Preserved has been the morale of the people, the compactness of the commands and units and the efficiency of commanding has been maintained at the necessary level. According to the Yugoslav Army general staff's initial knowledge, two enemy planes and a number of cruiser missiles have been shot down.

***

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic addressed the Yugoslav nation on Wednesday afternoon. In his address, Milosevic said the following:

Dear citizens, I believe that the National Assembly did the proper thing to decide not to accept the presence of foreign troops on our territory. This decision was reached by the National Assembly unanimously, which mirrors the unity of all the citizens of this country and their joint commitment to independence, freedom and a free development of this state and all its citizens. At stake here was not only Kosovo-Metohija although Kosovo-Metohija is of enormous importance for us. Here, at issue is the freedom of the entire country and Kosovo-Metohija would only represent a door through which foreign troops would pass and bring into question precisely those greatest values. They chose this door because they assumed that the Albanian separatist movement should stand at it rather than the Yugoslav Army or the citizens of this country as a whole and that, in this manner, they would see to it that our country, step by step but very swiftly, loses its independence and freedom. The only right decision to be reached was to reject the stationing of foreign troops in our territory.

However, despite this, we wish to maintain our persistent commitment to a peaceful solution to the problems in Kosovo-Metohija. We sincerely believe that long-term problems in Kosovo-Metohija can be solved exclusively by peaceful and political means. Besides, we insist on the key issue which was at the center of our delegation's efforts in Rambouillet and all our efforts in contacts with representatives of the international community. This key issue is our commitment to the equality of all national communities. The political agreement which ensures the equality of all national communities in Kosovo-Metohija, including Albanians, Serbs, Montenegrins, Moslems, Turks, Gorancies, Romanies and Egyptians, stands the chance of succeeding and stabilizing our southern Serbian province and ensuring peace and stability in the entire country. We will persevere in our efforts invested in forging a political agreement and resuming the political process. In this sense, I wish to stress that I fully support our delegation's work in Rambouillet and Paris and President Milutinovic's stands on these key issues on which the future of Kosovo-Metohija and, I would say, the whole of Serbia depends. At stake here is the entire country and not only Kosovo-Metohija no matter how really important it is for all the citizens of this country as a whole. At this moment, when we are exposed to threats and the danger of Nato attacks, everybody should do his job. All the citizens will contribute to the defence of the country only if they successfully carry out their regular tasks in the sphere of production, health-care, education and culture. It is in this manner that they will best assist the countrz's defence forces, the Yugoslav Army and interior ministry forces in defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity of this country. Consequently, we are in favour of two main things: persistently to continue the political process since I believe that the truth and justice are on our side and to defend the country with all means if it was attacked. It is to this end that everybody should make his contribution primarily with his work. Thank you.

***

Russia retains the right to take adequate measures, including military ones, for the purpose of ensuring its own and general European safety, warned Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

He said on Wednesday evening that Russia was deeply outraged by NATO's military action against Yugoslavia, considering it an open aggression against a sovereign state and the violation of all norms of international law. The president and supreme commander of the Russian armed forces at the same time announced that he had ordered that the urgent convening of the UN Security Council be requested, that an urgent cessation of NATO's military action be achieved, that Russia's chief military representative at NATO headquarters in Brussels be summoned to Moscow, that Russia's participation in the PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE program be suspended and that talks on opening NATO liaison mission in Moscow be postponed. The Russian foreign ministry has condemned NATO' military action as an outright aggression. There is no cause for these attacks which can have the gravest possible consequences. In response to NATO's aggression, Moscow, it is stated in the announcement, intends to take military-diplomatic and diplomatic steps. The ministry, at the same time, points to Wednesday statement by Igor Ivanov that in case of an attack, Russia could unilaterally withdraw from the regime of the embargo on arms deliveries to Yugoslavia.

***

Russian President Boris Yeltsin said on Wednesday in a televised nation-wide address concerning the situation in Kosovo-Metohija that an attack on Kosmet would represent an attack on the entire international community and he called on the international community to prevent US President Bill Clinton from making this dramatic move.

In Wednesday's telephone conversation with US President Bill Clinton and French President Jacques Chirac, President Yeltsin once again resolutely spoke against the use of force in resolving the Kosmet problem without a UN Security Council decision. Russia sees a way out of the present situation in a continuation of talks and intensive talks with the parties to the conflict, Yeltsin stressed.

***

Four strong explosions were heard in Pristina on Wednesday evening, and Tanjug's correspondent reports that the first three came from the direction of the "Slatina" airport, twenty kilometers south-west of the Kosmet capital, while it is difficult to determine the location of the fourth one.

According to unconfirmed information, at issue is a NATO attack which started with strikes against military facilities in Kosmet and other locations in Yugoslavia.

This information has also been confirmed by the American CNN television network.

***

Croatia, Hungary and Albania lined up with the aggressors.

According to Tanjug, NATO's air force has attacked several targets. In the first wave aimed at were targets in Pristina, Kursumlija, Novi Sad, Pancevo and Podgorica, it is unofficially learned from the military authorities.

Used in the attack were the air spaces of Croatia, Hungary and Albania, the military authorities report.

***

Civilian casualties.

The criminal American and NATO attack has resulted in civilian casualties and all this for the new world order and justice as they see it.

Tanjug reports that, according to the first information which is still being checked, in military facilities hit by NATO missiles there were casualties among several members of military personnel families temporarily accommodated in them.

At issue are the wives and children of militarymen who have fled former Yugoslav republics.

There are dead among the casualties, the military authorities report.

***

The Serbian Information Ministry mostly sharply condemns the brutal and criminal aggression by the NATO air force against the people and the state territory of the Republic of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

The criminal, terrorist, perfidious and cowardly attack by NATO's army on Serbia and the Federal Republic od Yugoslavia represents proof of the neo-Nazi policy of the United States and its satellites. On Wednesday evening, international public law was formally abolished. The republican information ministry calls on the citizens to preserve their calm and composure and to take measures of personal protection and property security. State bodies of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia are taking all the necessary activities for the defense of the country's sovereignty and integrity. Serbia will defend itself, and will defeat the aggressor and enemy, the statement concludes.

***

Activists of the International Red Cross will stay in Kosovo-Metohija and Yugoslavia despite NATO's decision to start preparations for air strikes, announced the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, as cited by Agence France Press.

The ICRC's spokesman, Susan Berger, has said that 30 of this organization's activists in Kosovo-Metohija, 13 in Belgrade and 3 in Podgorica will stay on in order to respond to all the needs of Yugoslavia's population.

***

Russian Prime Minister Yevgeni Primakov has said that his conversation on Wednesday with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic fits into Russia's activities, aimed at finding a political solution for the situation concerning Kosovo-Metohija, announced the Russian government's press service.

However, to our enormous regret, NATO is obviously choosing a different road, stressed the Russian prime minister in a conversation with the Yugoslav president.

***

The Austrian army will not take part in NATO actions in Kosovo-Metohija, said Austrian Defense Minister Werner Vasslabend in Vienna.

Neutral Austria does not have the right to be engaged in NATO actions that do not have a UN mandate, said Minister Vasslabend in a statement to the Austrian OE 1 radio. He said that Austrian soldiers will not be included in the peace forces in Kosovo-Metohija nor will Austria issue transit permits or permits the overflying of NATO war materiel and troops, since such actions do not have a UN mandate.

***

The Russian Duma's International Affairs Committee assessed, on Wednesday, that, under the current circumstances, it has become senseless to continue all forms of cooperation between Russia and NATO.

In the event of a NATO aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the issue of offering Yugoslavia military assistance should be considered, it is stressed in a statement of the Russian Duma's Foreign Affairs Committee, in view of the situation concerning Kosovo-Metohija.

***

The patriarch of Moscow and all of Russia, Alexei II, on Wednesday called on the presidents of the NATO member countries and the North Atlantic Treaty's leadership not to allow the use of force against sovereign Yugoslavia.

Such an action, the Russian patriarch said, would inevitably lead to an escalation of military activities in the very heart of Europe. Pointing to the danger of NATO attacks causing new bloodshed and human casualties, the head of the Russian Orthodox church also warned about the possibility of unique Serbian cultural and religious monuments being damaged.

***

With an aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, NATO has committed a serious crime against mankind and an act of undermining the international order, said the charge d'affaires of the Yugoslav embassy in Washington, Nebojsa Vujovic to CNN.

In an exclusive statement and message to the American nation, he warned that the air strikes represented an aggression against a sovereign country which had done nothing to provoke such an act by the western military bloc. On the contrary, Vujovic pointed out, Yugoslavia did everything it could to have a political agreement reached.

NATO's military action is totally contrary to such efforts and it has dealt a serious blow to the political process, taking it backwards, stressed the Yugoslav diplomat.

***

Several hundred people rallied in Paris on Wednesday evening in front of the Opera building in the city center to protest against NATO's aggression against Yugoslavia. The demonstrations were organized by the most powerful French trade union organization CGT, the French communists and the peace movement. Read at the protest gathering, which passed without incidents, was a proclamation most sharply condemning the use of force against Yugoslavia and NATO was called on urgently to abandon its aggression.

***

China is against the use of force, said the Chinese foreign minister, Tang Jiansuan in Oslo, where he is on a visit to Norway. He expressed deep concern, stressing that NATO's decision to carry out an aggression against Yugoslavia was unacceptable and that it could have serious consequences. Every such action without the UN Security Council's approval is unacceptable, said Tang, and China is against it. The Chinese news agency SINHUA, early on Thursday morning local time, broadcast the information about the American and NATO aggression against Yugoslavia, marked URGENT. Carried were news agency reports on explosions in the vicinity of Pristina, Podgorica, and other cities in Yugoslavia. SINHUA reports from Belgrade that this is a cold night, full of worries, not only for the Yugoslavs, but for all peace-loving people of the world as well.

***

At a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York prior to the extraordinary Security Council session, the Yugoslav ambassador to the UN, Vladislav Jovanovic, warned about the danger of NATO's aggressive conduct and the blockade of international institutions.

The United Nations has so far been passive towards NATO's threats to Yugoslavia and the world organization has so far practically been blocked thanks to the United States, Great Britain and some other western countries, Jovanovic said. On this occasion, he pointed out that NATO's military operation against sovereign Yugoslavia would deal a serious blow to the United Nations itself and that this should warn all small countries of the world about the kind of threat NATO, as the world policeman, represents. The Yugoslav ambassador stressed that the UN Security Council would have to remind NATO that it cannot attack sovereign countries and that its aggression against Yugoslavia is endangering the entire international order.

***

On Wednesday evening, in the village of Ljubisda near Istok, Albanian terrorists killed, with automatic weapons, police reservist Vukadin Petkovic from Zakovo, and Sinisa Ostojic from Osojan.

According to Tanjug, the police responded to the attack, liquidating terrorists Baskim and Afrim Mesi, while one terrorist managed to escape. The police is searching for the runaway assailant.

Copyright (C.) Radio Yugoslavia