VZCZCXRO1124
PP RUEHPOD
DE RUEHPOD #0073/01 0851838
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 261838Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY PODGORICA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1226
INFO RUEHBW/AMEMBASSY BELGRADE PRIORITY 0517
RUEHPS/AMEMBASSY PRISTINA PRIORITY 0131
RUEHVJ/AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO PRIORITY 0144
RUEHTI/AMEMBASSY TIRANA PRIORITY 0192
RUEHVB/AMEMBASSY ZAGREB PRIORITY 0232
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 0109
RUEHPOD/AMEMBASSY PODGORICA 1314

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