|
 WORKERS' PARTY OF IRELAND STATEMENT ON THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NATO AGGRESSION AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA
March 24, 2009
Workers' Party of Ireland
This month, 24th March 2009, is the 10th anniversary of the bloody and unlawful assault by NATO and its allies on the sovereign Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The bombing of Serbia lasted for a month and killed more than 2,000 civilians, including 88 children. More than 80% of the NATO bombing was directed at civilian targets, targeting and destroying residential homes, hospitals and medical facilities, cultural and media institutions, bridges and communications, public utilities, sports and leisure complexes, churches, factories and places of work.
This blatant attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Yugoslavia and the dismemberment of Yugoslavia were gross violations of the Charter of the United Nations and international law. The NATO support for the terrorist KLA in Kosovo and Metohija together with the war crimes of NATO and its member states which participated in the aggression are well documented.
The real basis for the NATO aggression, namely the desire to secure the defeat of anti-imperialist resistance and the expansion of NATO�s geo-strategic interests in the region has been confirmed by the unilateral secession of Kosovo-Metohija from Serbia, with the active connivance and support of the US, NATO and EU, in violation of the United Nations� Charter and in contravention of UN Resolutions, in particular, UN Resolution 1244, representing a further major attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia.
The installation and recognition of a puppet regime in Pristina represents the culmination of a sustained process by imperialism to undermine, fracture and dissolve the Yugoslav Federation, which involved the destabilisation of the entire region, the NATO aggression against Serbia, the demonisation of the Serbian people, the privatisation and sale to the multi-nationals of the natural resources of Kosovo-Metohija and the creation of favourable conditions for military and economic penetration.
Kosovo- Metohija is now the US/NATO �aircraft carrier� in the Balkans. It provides a base for further US and EU intervention in the region and paves the way for the establishment of permanent military bases and access to and the plunder of the natural resources of the province and the region. The Workers� Party of Ireland condemns the so-called independence of Kosovo and regards this step as a further attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia and contempt for established principles of international law.
The Workers� Party of Ireland sends its solidarity and best wishes to the Belgrade Forum of Equals presently meeting in Belgrade. |