MONTENEGRO MARKS 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF NATO INTERVENTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PODGORICA 000073 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL MW SUBJECT: MONTENEGRO MARKS 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF NATO INTERVENTION RELATIVELY QUIETLY ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The 10th anniversary of the beginning of NATO's air campaign against the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was marked in Montenegro on March 24 by a handful of political parties and NGOs, to some extent as part of the parliamentary election campaign. The campaign is a sore subject particularly with Montenegrins who identify themselves as Serbs. The commemorations this year were, however, relatively restrained and did not involve large numbers of people. END SUMMARY. Anniversary As Campaign Fodder -------------- ¶2. (U) As in every year since 2000, on March 24, some Montenegrins marked the anniversary of the beginning of the NATO intervention against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia with public events and statements. This year's date had potentially more significance, as it is the 10th anniversary of the start of the air campaign, and as it occurred on the eve of Montenegro's March 29 parliamentary elections. ¶3. (U) Not surprisingly, the event was raised at least one political rally. At a campaign stop in the northern municipality of Pljevlja, Andrija Mandic, leader of the New Serbian Democracy (NOVA) party decried the "unjustified" intervention, while hinting darkly that "traitors" had precipitated the events of 1999 just as they had caused the legendary Serb defeat in Kosovo at the hands of the Turks in ¶1389. Mandic also said that Serbs in Montenegro would never renounce Serbia or recognize the "false" state of Kosovo. At the same rally, NOVA deputy leader Goran Danilovic criticized PM Milo Djukanovic (who was also PM at the time of bombing) for allegedly being hostile to Serbs, remarking that in 1999, Djukanovic "flew on the wings of the NATO jet planes." Serb Organizations Mark Event -------------- ¶4. (U) Several Serb NGOs also arranged their own commemorations on March 24. Gojko Raicevic, Secretary General of the Serb National Council, and Slavisa Guberinic and Budimir Dubak of the Peoples' Party visited Murino, a village near Andrijevica (in northern Montenegro) where a NATO air strike killed six civilians in April 1999. The three leaders laid a wreath at a monument dedicated to the victims and stopped in at an art exhibit devoted to the air strikes. ¶5. (U) In the coastal municipality of Herceg Novi, which has a large Serbian population, representatives of the Serb National Council also organized a concert to commemorate the event. Priests of the Serbian Orthodox Church held a memorial service at a local church. (Note: The press did not report how many people attended each event.) ¶6. (U) In Bar, Milenko Jovanovic, the President of the Serbs Displaced from Kosovo NGO, spoke at gathering (at City Hall) to commemorate the intervention, which he described as a "misdeed of the new world order, personified by a highly organized and devastating military power based on a powerful system of media lies and propaganda." In addition, Jovanovic was reported to have said that he was convinced that, "~the start of the aggression against Yugoslavia was at the same time the beginning of an end of the darkest empire that the world has ever seen." (Note: As was the case in Herceg Novi, the press did not report on attendance.) ¶7. (U) Finally, representatives of the "Association of Participants of Wars During the 1990s," together with the PODGORICA 00000073 002 OF 002 families of the Yugoslav Army (JA) solders killed during the air strikes, laid wreaths at various locations in Podgorica, Niksic, Mojkovac, Berane, and Andrijevica. The same organization also laid flowers at a memorial plaque in Danilovgrad in memory of a Yugoslav Army soldier in Belgrade who was the first person killed by the air strikes. The Association issued a press release stating that "the beginning of aggression on FR Yugoslavia was the beginning of the massive crime," and that the " horrible crime and the shameful conduct of the then Montenegrin dignitaries thrilled by the NATO bombardment for political reasons will never be forgotten." Comment -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Although this was the 10th anniversary of the commencement of the NATO air campaign, and this anniversary occurred just five days before a parliamentary election, reactions in Montenegro were restrained and all gatherings were small-scale and peaceful (while the press did not report on numbers in attendance, we assume this was because gatherings were not sizeable). While it is far too early to say that time has healed the wounds, we also note that the calm election campaign was relatively devoid of nationalist rhetoric. MOORE