used without permission, for "fair use" only

Lack of Medical Personnel

by V.P., Evropske Novosti, FR Yugoslavia, 1/3/96

Five hundred and eighty exiles and 14 wounded persons have found refuge in the camp for the accommodation of sick refugees in Krnjaca. Among them are 16 children with more and less serious psychological problems. They were recently visited by the representatives from the Institute for Cerebral Paralysis who surprised the children with fruit, sweets and school supplies.

Despite these small tokens of attention the conditions, in which the refugees from the latest war live, are difficult. Medical personnel which should take care of the ill refugees is not available, as well as the food: a daily portion of meat has been reduced to only 50 grams.

"We should be better organized; the children from the collection center in Krnjaca above all lack medical attention," said Dr. Andelka Petrovic, herself a refugee from Tuzla [in Bosnia-Hercegovina] and the only physician in the camp in attendance 24 hours a day. "Some of the children in the camp, like 13 year old Sanjin Majstorovic who suffers from cerebral paralysis and epilepsy, are very intelligent; unfortunately, being forgotten by the society, they are wasting away. Sanjin and other children could be assisted by generous people who would pay for their education. Medical staff is another problem. According to the accepted standards, we should have here about 40 nurses, but the actual number of nurses [working here] is negligible." The Ministry for Labour, Health, Veteran and Social Affairs has expressed readiness to help the camp. According to the advisor with the Ministry for Labour, Health, Veteran and Social Affairs, Danica Todorovic, there is an agreement for cooperation with the institution for mentally retarded children in Shakespeare Street in Belgrade. The children from the camp in Krnjaca, regularly go there and spend the whole day in rehabilitation and interaction with similar children. As far as the nutrition is concerned, the collection center in Krnjaca is negotiating with the Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations in order to provide a varied diet for the exiled brothers and wounded fighters.

Translated on 1/16/96

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Campaign Against the Colonel

by Milenko Predragovic, Evropske Novosti, Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia

The New year hasn't started too well in Croatia, at least as far as the international politics and its view and evaluation of the Croatian political situation is concerned. American colonel Gregory Fonteno, IFOR commander in Bosnian Posavina, has recently raised the temperature in Zagreb.

Colonel Fonteno, after his first encounter with the cruel Balkan reality, with the direct and unequivocal language of a soldier, said for "The Wall Street Journal" (in the New Years day issue) that "the Croats are racists"! Ignoring casual Karl Bildt and his limited achievements in the international politics, this is the first time that the Croatian policy has faced an evaluation which can hardly be questioned. American Croatians after receiving a signal from Zagreb, have already sent a letter to the American president Bill Clinton, demanding that the "impudent colonel" be recalled; however, the real target of this campaign is the Croatian public.

Going Back to the Roots

Although soldiers are not supposed to determine a policy but to support and implement it when necessary, the statement of the American colonel for "The Wall Street Journal" was interpreted in the European media as the Croatia's return to its roots: neo-fascism; the world obviously won't tolerate that, even though Croatia is a small and, globally looking, irrelevant country. However, the manner in which Croatia treated 700,000 Serbs puts it on the list of racist states: at first it was demanded from the Serbs to be loyal to the new authorities, then the majority of Serbs lost their jobs, then they were forced to fight against other Serbs and finally exposed to mass executions, as in Gospic and in many other places. At the same time, memorials from the antifascist struggle were demolished and memorials to Ustashe butchers erected; even a memorial to the killed Hitler's soldiers was built near Zagreb! Mile Budak, Ante Pavelic's deputy, who during the WWII signed the law about the racial purity of Croats, after which many Serbs, Jews and Gypsies were killed is today in Croatia a celebrated and well respected person. Ivo Rojnica, whose crimes were described in the film by Lordan Zafranovic, "Occupation in 26 Images", received a high Croatian decoration from the hands of the Croatian president, who [the president] on the other hand, in his books, but also with respect to the Bosnian Muslims, has expressed a dose of racism; because of that, the Israeli government, the only one with any criteria, refuses to establish diplomatic relations with Croatia.

Muslim Fascism

Vecernji List views the pogrom of the Serbs from western Slavonia and Krajina, in the context of the American colonel's statement, as "an expression of the Serbian political will", and the consequence of their refusal to live in "independent Croatia" [neovisna Hrvatska], and "recognize its Constitution and laws." They don't mention that the forementioned Constitution is racist with respect to the Serbs! And it is, it is racist: it turned 18,2% of Croatian population [Croatian Serbs] into a minority! Besides, how can someone recognize laws which persecute Serbs, confiscate their property, destroy them like pests!

Vecernji List commentator (who is a member of the Tudman's presidential council, so that it can be concluded that the article is an expression of the official policy!), Nenad Ivankovic, is probably payed well to lie to his readers, but he forgets the existence of history (and also of historic episodes [!?]): soon, before the end of this month, Croatia will have to make a decision about the return of expelled Serbs and the return of their property.

The attempt to use the refugees from Sarajevo for balance, because between 50,000 and 100,000 Serbs will flee Sarajevo, is an attempt to hide the same roots : Muslim neo-fascism. People leave their homes only in fear from evil: after the end of war in Krajina, Croatian authorities mistreated the Serbs who believed the word of the Croatian president and stayed in Krajina. That means that those who fled had good reasons which are certainly not an expression of their "political will", but simply a struggle to survive! To accuse Serbs that they have committed crimes and therefore are fleeing (similarly in Sarajevo!) is a sign of simpleminded chauvinism and its blackest slime, which distorts thinking and produces prejudice and frustrations. To claim that Serbs share a collective guilt because they resisted the Croatian secession (and they used to be an equal nation in Croatia!) indicates the lack of critical consciousness and recklessness with respect to one's own nation.

Translated on 1/20/96