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Sanctions
against Yugoslavia -
A
continuation of NATO's aggression
By Karin Wegestal MP, the
Social Democratic Party
on behalf of the Swedish Committee for Solidarity with
the Yugoslav People
During the last decade, the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia has received more than 500,000 refugees from
Croatia and Bosnia, and another 300,000 internally
displaced persons, mainly from the province Kosovo and
Metohia. For a country with about ten million
inhabitants, such an influx of homeless people is
obviously a very heavy burden - even under peaceful
conditions. But in addition to that, the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia has been the subject to sanctions from the
western powers for close to ten years and its
infrastructure was badly hurt through Nato's intense
bombardment during 78 days in 1999.
The result of all this is that Yugoslavia, once the
most developed industrial country in Eastern Europe, is
today the poorest country in Europe. In Serbia excluding
Kosovo, with about ten million inhabitants and close to a
million refugees and displaced persons, about 30
international aid organisations operate. This should be
compared to the Kosovo province, with about one million
inhabitants, where no less than 400 aid organisations
operate. There, one could talk about overheated aid
activity.
A delegation from the Swedish Committee in support of
the Yugoslav people, the Yugoslavia Committee, visited
the country during one week in January, on the invitation
of the International Red Cross and Crescent Society. We
saw with our own eyes the great relief efforts made for
suffering people. We visited refugee camps, soup kitchens
and warehouses for humanitarian relief in Uzice, Pozega,
Cacak, Novi Sad and other places. We met representatives
of the Roma people (gypsies) and saw the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia's Minister for refugees, displaced persons
and humanitarian aid, Mrs Bratislava Morina.
This visit gave us a strong impression of the very
difficult situation of the Yugoslav people, but also of
the great efforts done to relieve the situation for the
refugees and displaced persons and other people driven
into misery, and to repair the damage done by Nato's
bombs.
All the refugees and displaced persons must be given
lodging, food, clothes, school and if possible also a new
job. In the beginning, many families opened up their
homes for refugees. Through great personal sacrifice,
most could be taken care of in that way. But we also met
refugees who have lived for nine years in provisional
refugee camps with all their personal possessions
squeezed into a few square metres. Many have to suffice
with food rations containing only 20 grams of meat a
day.
The refugee situation is made worse by the country's
stagnating economy. Many companies have been deprived,
through the sanctions, of their possibilities to import
raw material, to re-invest and to export their products.
Therefore they have been forced to stop production or to
continue working on a low level. The result is falling
salaries and excessive unemployment. 1.2 million people
are totally jobless. The figures have increased
gradually, but took a great leap through the bombardment
in March-May 1999, when many factories were destroyed.
Over two million people - one out of five citizens - are
under the line of poverty. Except for the refugee
problem, there are 300,000 social cases.
Many people who have volunteered to take care of
refugees, have themselves become dependent of social
assistance. About one million people get assistance
through the Red Cross, which has a well functioning
organisation with offices in 180 places - a fantastic
structure and an impressive work both from the employees
and from many unpaid volunteers.
For those people who are lucky enough to have a job,
the average salary is about 82 D-marks (equivalent to
some 40 British pounds) a month. A well-educated
university graduate can have 150-300 D-marks (75-150
GBP), which is regarded as a very good salary. Many young
people - the best educated and most productive ones -
leave the country to find jobs abroad if given a chance.
The medical situation is all but catastrophic, with acute
lack of medicine and spare parts. The insulin was almost
used up. At our visit at Bezanijska Kosa Medical Center
in Belgrade, we learnt that X-ray equipment stood idle
because X-ray tubes are regarded as "strategic spare
parts" and therefore cannot be imported - even with hard
currency!
We can now see the paradoxical result of the Yugoslav
wars during the 90s.
Several ethnically cleaned states and areas have been
established and today receive extensive international
assistance, while Serbia, the most multinational society
with 26 nationalities living peacefully together, are
exposed to the punishment of the western world.
The sanctions against the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia were not imposed by the United Nations but
single-handedly by the USA and EU. Officially they are
not intended as a punishment against Yugoslavia or its
population, but as a pressure to make the government
"co-operate with the world society" and "respect human
rights for all citizens of the country".
In reality, however, they are a continuation of Nato's
war of aggression.
Their intention is to achieve what Nato could not
achieve at Rambouillet, i.e. total political, economic
and military control of the whole country. It is blatant
big power aggression against a sovereign country and
gross interference in its internal affairs.
The sanctions hit hard against the people. They are
obviously intended as one of several means to force the
people to overthrow their government and replace it with
an administration which can be manipulated and dominated
from abroad. That is a travesty of democracy; in fact its
very opposite.
What is now required is common action to force the EU
countries to stop its hostilities. The sanctions and
interference in Yugoslavia's internal affairs must come
to an end and normal inter-state relations be
established. Relief assistance must be increased to
alleviate the human suffering. International assistance
must be given unconditionally to help repair the damages
after Nato's bombing.
In Sweden, an appeal against the sanctions was
published in connection with the anniversary of the start
of Nato's bombing of Yugoslavia. It was signed by
representatives of various political parties, former
government members, bishops and priests, scholars and
writers, athletics, and many other well-known people
representing a broad political and social opinion among
the Swedish people. The appeal was published in a number
of papers, including the dominating dailies Aftonbladet
and Dagens Nyheter, and on international web-pages
including www.antiwar.com and www.transnational.org. That
appeal shows that there is a broad support in the Swedish
society for a normalisation of relations.
It would be very useful if a similar initiative could
be carried out in all EU countries, to mobilise broad
strata of the people. Such an appeal, of course, must be
supplemented with other forms of mobilisation of public
opinion and mass actions to increase the pressure on our
governments to stop their hostile actions and change
their present hostile policy against Yugoslavia.
Karin Wegestal is a
Member of the Swedish Parliament for the Social
Democratic Party. She is a member of the Defense
Committee and of the Swedish Parliamentary Delegation of
the OSCE. She is one of two spokespeople of the Committee
for solidarity with the Yugoslav people, which started in
April 1999, as the Stop the bombings now!
Committee.
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