-Caveat Lector-
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Originally From: "Tony Borden" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
BROKEN BRIDGES, DISTRUPTED LIVES. The bridges of Novi Sad were life itself.
Now they're gone, and as Milena Putnik reports, Vojvodina?s capital city
has been split in two.
VOJVODINA: A SECOND KOSOVO? A NATO land attack via Hungary could be as
disastrous for Vojvodina's national minorities as the bombing has been for
Kosovo's Albanians.
SANDZAK SEVERED. Links between the Sandzak and the rest of Serbia have been
severed by NATO bombing, and its Muslims continue to leave.
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Copyright (C) 1999 The Institute for War & Peace Reporting <www.iwpr.net>.
*************************************************
BROKEN BRIDGES, DISTRUPTED LIVES
The bridges of Novi Sad were life itself. Now they're gone, and the city
has been split in two.
By Milena Putnik in Novi Sad
April 1999 will be remembered in Novi Sad as the month in which this
picturesque city on the Danube lost its bridges and was split in two. The
bridges meant life to Novi Sad, and now they are gone.
In the course of the month NATO war planes destroyed all the bridges
across the Danube. The city was famous for these bridges, linking the left
and right banks, formerly called Novi Sad and Petrovaradin respectively,
and joining the regions of Backa and Srem.
The railway bridge was completed in 1961. Before it was officially named,
the citizens of Novi Sad used to call it Zezelj's Bridge, after the
architect who designed it. Now it has sunk into the river's sandy bed, as
if its sturdy arches had never existed.
The stump of a damaged column protrudes from the water. When built, it was
one of the first bridges in the world to be made out of reinforced
concrete. But it could not withstand four NATO attacks.
The bridge took a direct hit in the early hours of 25 April. Eyewitnesses
said that concrete debris flew over a four-story building. There were no
casualties.
Windows on near-by buildings and parked cars were, however, damaged, along
with the water system. Now parts of Novi Sad and the villages on the left
bank of the river in Backa are without water. Villages on the right bank
of the river are also without gas, which has been cut for safety reasons.
Aleksandar Ivkovac, the city's chief information officer, told IWPR that
since the destruction of Zezelj's Bridge Novi Sad has been on the edge of
a humanitarian catastrophe.
"Drinking water supplies are now intermittent for about 440,000 people. In
the villages alternative wells are being used, but the water has to be
boiled," he said.
"Parts of the right hand bank of the Danube no longer have access to
emergency medical aid and pregnant women there cannot get to the city's
obstetrics ward. And we are having difficulties helping patients who
require regular dialysis."
On the bank, in front of the where the Varadinski Bridge stood until April
1, people stand and stare in disbelief. For the citizens of Novi Sad it
was usually known as the Old Bridge and used to walk to the fortress.
"When I saw what used to be the bridge, I burst into tears," said a lady
living in a flat nearby who has temporarily moved with her children to her
parents' home.
"My entire life flashed before my eyes--from the time my parents took me
by the hand as we crossed, warning me to watch how I walked across the
planks, through which I could see the water, to the time I told my own
children, just like my father once told me, to look at the clock on the
castle to overcome giddiness."
The clock on the Petrovaradin fortress, built when Novi Sad was part of
the Habsburg Empire, has been witness to many wars. Explanations of the
military importance of this bridge at NATO headquarters cause bitterness
and anger among citizens of Novi Sad.
"Was this bridge really a strategic target? It was only important to us,
since it is linked to all our memories. It was on this bridge I first
kissed," said one lady. Not hiding her age, she explained that in her
youth she had worked on its reconstruction after an older bridge had been
destroyed by bombing at the end of the Second World War.
Several hundred metres upstream columns of another bridge can be seen
protruding out of the water. That was destroyed in April 1941 by the army
of Royal Yugoslavia as it retreated in the wake of the Nazi invasion.
>>From there it is just possible to make out the outline, behind a bend in
the Danube, of the newest of Novi Sad's bridges, the Freedom Bridge, now
broken in two places. It used to link Novi Sad and Sremska Kamenica just
above the city's beach.
It was built on shifting sands and the columns on its right bank had to be
constantly monitored. It could not take heavy trucks.
For the citizens of Novi Sad, it was the most direct route to the only
hospital in town specialising in cardiovascular diseases and heart
surgery, a hospital which had a world-wide reputation.
The clinics for oncology and chest diseases are also part of this hospital
complex. They too were attacked in the early evening of April 3. Patients
there at the time were fortunate to survive unscathed.
Few can understand the reasons behind an attack on the Banovina building
in the centre of Novi Sad, a huge 1930s marble construction reminiscent of
a ship sailing down the street towards the Danube.
For an outsider, it may simply be an administrative building; for the
citizens of Novi Sad it is a sentimental landmark.
Despite everything, life goes on and Novi Sad's citizens continue to live
and work on the both banks of the Danube. They cross the river on a raft
and small boats.
Conditions are most difficult in Sangaj, a predominantly Roma settlement
adjacent to the oil refinery, which has been hit on countless occasions.
Flames from the burning refinery extend high above the city after each new
attack. The 2,500 residents are evacuated every night and only return when
the all-clear sounds. Total evacuation is not possible since there is
nowhere for them to go.
At the beginning of the bombing campaign, air raid sirens wailed every day
at nightfall. But there are no longer any rules. Sometimes the siren wails
in the middle of the day, sometimes in the middle of the night.
Not all citizens react in the same way. Some go down into the shelters,
some sit at home, and some in cafes.
"It's easiest for me to take my children into the shelter and for all of
us to sleep there peacefully, than for me to wake them after the bombing
starts. The children play and don't listen to the explosions, they cry
less and go to bed at roughly the same time as they would normally,"
explains Vesna, a nurse.
The most worried in the shelters are the refugees from Croatia and Bosnia
who have already experienced war. Those without such experience, cheer
each time Yugoslavia's anti-aircraft guns open fire.
But all citizens of Novi Sad frequently ask the same two questions: Why is
the bombing of their city happening? And how long will it last?
Milena Putnik is an independent journalist in Novi Sad.
VOJVODINA: A SECOND KOSOVO?
A NATO land attack via Hungary could be as disastrous for Vojvodina's
national minorities as the bombing has been for Kosovo's Albanians.
By a journalist in Novi Sad
Since NATO launched its bombing campaign against Yugoslavia and Serb
forces set out ethnically cleansing Kosovo of its Albanian population,
rumour and speculation have been rife in Vojvodina, Serbia's northern
province. Its residents wonder whether Vojvodina is about to share the
fate as Kosovo.
Much depends on factors over which people in the province have no control,
in particular on actions by the NATO alliance and Belgrade's response.
However, most agree that if NATO decides to launch a land offensive
against Yugoslavia via the north through Hungary, now a member of the
alliance, the consequences for Vojvodina's national minorities may be as
catastrophic as for Kosovo's Albanians.
NATO guarantees for the territorial security of countries bordering
Yugoslavia--which have been reinforced by US President Bill Clinton--are
of little practical value for the national minorities within Vojvodina, in
particular the Hungarians who are the most numerous, who might yet find
themselves at the mercy of Serb nationalists.
Hungarians in the provincial capital, Novi Sad, have already begun to
experience growing Serb hostility. Some have been thrown out of the
bunkers where they sought shelter during the bombing. They have been told
bluntly, ?There is no place for you in the shelters, since the bombs are
coming from your country." Others have been cursed in the street and
ostracised by their neighbours.
Thus far such incidents have been isolated. And in what is Yugoslavia?s
most ethnically mixed territory, there have also been signs of
cross-community solidarity - with some people, for example, speaking out
against the expulsions from the shelters.
But pessimists fear that such abuse is a sign of what is to come, not only
for Hungarians but also for Croats, Slovaks, Romanians and Czechs. This is
especially the case since, after the destruction of the bridges on the
Danube, many Serbs believe that NATO is attempting to sever Vojvodina from
Serbia.
In the shelters, in the streets and in the coffee shops, people speculate
about a possible carve-up of the province. According to one popular
theory, NATO will reward its allies in the region by giving Hungary Backa,
Croatia Srem, and Romania the Banat?-different regions each bordering the
respective country.
Josef Kasa, mayor of Subotica and leader of the Alliance of Vojvodina
Hungarians, warned Budapest before the bombing campaign got under way that
the Hungarian minority in Vojvodina may suffer if Hungary, as a NATO
member, played an active role in the military campaign against Yugoslavia.
In mid-March, when it became clear that NATO planned to launch its
campaign, Kasa travelled to Budapest to seek assurances from Hungarian
Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi that, in the event of war, Hungary would
stay out.
On his return to Yugoslavia, Kasa stated that he had gone to Hungary on
his own initiative, not at Belgrade's behest, and that his only motivation
was a desire to contribute to peace in the region. Moreover, since the
NATO offensive got under way, he has on several occasions condemned the
bombing campaign and appealed to NATO to halt its attacks on Serbia.
Officially, Belgrade has not responded to Kasa's initiatives. The
opposition Democratic Party of Serbia has, by contrast, assessed Kasa's
conduct as "worthy of respect". It has also urged the Serbian parliament
to look positively at proposals made by the Alliance of Vojvodina
Hungarians for reform in Vojvodina to improve the status of both the
Hungarians and the other national minorities.
Like Kosovo, Vojvodina was stripped of its autonomous status at the end of
the 1980s. In late 1998, the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians published a
discussion paper called "Agreement on the Political Framework of Self-Rule
in Vojvodina". The proposal was ignored by Belgrade, but endorsed by the
Reformist Democratic Party and other democratic parties in Vojvodina. It
has also received support from the Coalition Sumadija and Coalition
Sandzak, two regional groupings that work together closely with parties in
Vojvodina.
Since the beginning of NATO's campaign, several thousand non-Serbs are
believed to have left Vojvodina rather than risk bombing, conscription, or
the possibility of ethnic cleansing.
There are no precise figures, although most are presumed to be Hungarians.
But Slovaks, Romanians, Croats and others have also been leaving. (The
Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians estimates that some 40,000 Vojvodina
Hungarians moved out earlier in the decade during the wars in Croatia and
Bosnia. Croats were forcibly expelled during these earlier wars.)
According to the 1991 census, Vojvodina's 2 million inhabitants included
some 16 different communities. Of these, some 340,000, or 17 per cent of
the province's population, were Hungarians. There were also some 75,000
Croats, 64,000 Slovaks, 38,000 Romanians, 24,000 Roma and 18,000
Ruthenians. Hence the importance of inter-ethnic tolerance, for which the
province has historically been known. And the extreme risks.
The author is an independent journalist in Novi Sad.
SANDZAK SEVERED
Links between the Sandzak and the rest of Serbia have been severed by NATO
bombing, and its Muslims continue to leave.
By a journalist in Novi Pazar
NATO spared the Sandzak, a predominantly Muslim region of Serbia, during
the first 10 days of its air offensive against Yugoslavia. Now, however,
the residents of Novi Pazar, the region's most populous municipality, have
come to expect attacks almost every night.
Judging by the plumes of smoke that billowed over the northern end of the
town, it seems that the army barracks by Novopazarska Banja took another
hit April 30. During an earlier attack on the same target, local officials
reported that some 30 private houses were damaged.
During one night, in mid-April, 18 missiles struck Novi Pazar's other
barracks, close to the town centre. On that occasion, the nearby private
houses sustained collateral damage and the headmaster of one of Novi
Pazar's primary schools reported that almost all the windows in his school
had been shattered.
On several occasions NATO war planes have also attacked the Sjenica
municipality, disabling a military airport, and damaging some radar
systems. The bridge that links the Nova Varos-Prijepolje motorway with
Priboj was damaged and cut in the Nova Varos municipality, as was the
Belgrade-Bar railroad.
All communication--road and rail--between the Sandzak and the rest of
Serbia was finally severed with the destruction of the last bridge on the
Ibar highway, some 30 kilometres away from Novi Pazar in the direction of
Belgrade. The bridges in Zubin Potok and Leposavic, leading towards
Kosovo, had been destroyed earlier.
As a consequence, milk and milk products, that used to be come from the
Kragujevac dairy, are now in short supply in Novi Pazar.
The only road connection between the Sandzak--which straddles Serbia and
Montenegro and borders both Bosnia and Kosovo--and the rest of the world
now runs through Montenegro. Since Podgorica has defied Belgrade and
refused to impose a state of war, Muslims from the Sandzak, including
males of military age, are able to make their through Montenegro across
Republika Srpska to Sarajevo in Bosnia.
Muslims began moving out of the Sandzak as soon as Serb forces launched
their ethnic cleansing campaign in Kosovo, fearing that they would be next
in line. The exodus has intensified since April 18 when the Yugoslav Army
killed five Kosovo refugees in the village of Kaludjerski Laz in the
Montenegrin municipality of Rozaje.
Muslims living in the five Sandzak municipalities in Montenegro are
leaving in especially large numbers fearing that they would bear the brunt
of a possible conflict between Milosevic loyalists and the Montenegrin
authorities. The north of Montenegro, where the Muslims live, is
considered to be a stronghold of Momir Bulatovic, Yugoslavia's prime
minister and a close ally of Slobodan Milosevic.
No one knows exactly how many Muslims have left the Sandzak since the
beginning of NATO's bombing campaign. However, most estimates suggest that
the figure is greater than 20,000.
The Yugoslav Army has been calling up Serb reservists in the Sandzak and
has placed seven check-points on the 60 kilometres of road between Novi
Pazar and Rozaje.
To date, however, there has only been one incident between the Yugoslav
Army and the Muslim population. The commander of the Yugoslav Army's Uzice
Corps, Col. Gruica Davidovic, entered the town hall in Tutin, a
municipality whose population is 98 per cent Muslim, and removed all
insignia with golden lilies and crescents, deemed Muslim.
Elsewhere, the Yugoslav Army has chosen to maintain good relations with
the Muslim population and has not been mobilising Muslim males of military
age. Moreover, the Yugoslav Army points out that it has generally been
well-received in the Sandzak, and that some Muslims have even turned over
their houses for military use.
Some 350 private businessmen and traders from Novi Pazar have also
participated in a funding drive for the Yugoslav Army, contributing some
100,000 German marks. The second stage of this drive is currently under
way and is expected to raise a further 40,000 German marks.
Such financial support is likely to dry up shortly. The economy in Novi
Pazar, as throughout Serbia, is on the verge of the total collapse.
Factories, which for the past decade have manufactured of bogus designer
jeans and footwear, now lie idle. Many owners have transferred the
machines and equipment to Bosnia, where they plan to resume production.
Huge quantities of unsold stock remain in warehouses in Novi Pazar. Goods
sold on credit to be paid by instalments may never be paid for.
Despite the economic slowdown, private firms are still obliged to continue
paying taxes and other dues. Even small retail-stores have to pay taxes
every fifth day.
Novi Pazar's bars and restaurants are obliged to close by 8 o'clock in the
evening. After that time the town becomes eerily quiet. Police patrol the
streets and few civilians venture out.
According to the 1991 census, 420,000 people lived in the Sandzak--278,000
in Serbia and 162,000 in Montenegro--of whom 54 per cent were Muslims. The
population prior to NATO's bombing campaign was already probably
considerably lower since as many as 50,000 Muslims are believed to have
moved out during the Bosnian war.
The Sandzak, which takes its name from the Turkish word for military
district, was administratively part of Bosnia within the Ottoman Empire
until 1878. At the Congress of Berlin of that year, the Great Powers
decided to leave the Sandzak within the Ottoman Empire, but allowed
Austria-Hungary to deploy troops in part of the region. It was seized by
Serbia and Montenegro in the first Balkan war of 1912.
Six municipalities of the Sandzak are in Serbia and five in Montenegro,
all of which are ethnically mixed. Muslims form 2.7 per cent of the
population in Serbia and 14.6 per cent in Montenegro, and 3.2 per cent
overall in rump Yugoslavia.
The author is a journalist in Novi Pazar.
IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT, NO. 28
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The A-Infos News Service
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