Yugoslavia Marks Anniversary of NATO BombingYugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica expressed Friday his condolences to the victims killed in the NATO bombing two years ago.In a statement released here, Kostunica said that during the 78-day of attacks (in 1999), NATO's "humanitarian" bombs took away 2,500 Yugoslav lives, which included 81 children. "Tens of thousands of NATO's 'humanitarian" depleted uranium bombs are still gradually devouring lives of Yugoslav people and the international peacekeeping soldiers in the country," the president added. "The purpose for us to commemorate the dead and remember the disasters caused by NATO is to avoid the recurrence of that period of history," Kostunica stressed. "Yugoslavia does not intend to enter the new century with hatred." On the same day, Yugoslav Prime Minister Zoran Zizic said in his statement that "history will not allow us to forget the crimes that NATO has committed to Yugoslavia." "We are determined not to allow this tragedy to be replayed," he added. On March 24, 1999, NATO began its air attacks against Yugoslavia. The two-and-half-month bombing left more than 2,500 killed and over 10,000 wounded with an economic loss of US$30 billion to the Balkan country. |
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