Tuesday, June 8, 1999

Why is Belgrade and Novi Sad not empty as Pristina is?

shell, vvm.com

    Q: If your logic of the leaving of Albanian ethnic groups is based on the assumption that they left only after the bombing started... and the answer to the question why they didn't flee to Serbia was because there is bombing there, too... then why are people in Serbia not fleeing at the same rate? Why are Belgrade and Novi Sad not empty as Pristina is?

    First of all, we didn't say that Albanians are fleeing Kosovo just because of the NATO bombing. What we are saying is that there are a lot more refugees since the bombing started than in the last year and a half since the open fightings between the KLA and Yugoslav police (and now army also) began. And surely, when caught between three forces: NATO, KLA and Yugoslav forces all one can do is run away. And to be honest, NATO gave a good cover up to our government for the exodus of the Albanians, and if they (NATO) didn't expect the Albanians to leave, or Yugoslav army to make Kosovo safe from potentially hostile and dangerous population than they're very poor strategists. This bombing had nothing to do with the Albanians. They were just an excuse.

    As for Belgrade and Novi Sad, three things should be pointed out:

• the bombings weren't that heavy in Belgrade, as they were in Novi Sad, but even there (with all bridges destroyed, the oil refinery targeted for dozens of times, as well as the building of state television) it wasn't that heavy as it was in Pristina or the whole of Kosovo
• there is no KLA in Novi Sad and Belgrade
• people did flee, but only women and children (because no male capable for army isn't allowed to leave the country since the bombings started), and only those who had the resources to leave. Hungary, Bosnia, even Montenegro, or (to mention some of more exotic places) Botswana are full of women and children from Serbia.