-Caveat Lector-
>From www.bhhrg.org/serbia/serbia1999-3.htm
> A post-war visit to Novi Sad
>
> Yugoslavia’s second city, Novi Sad, was repeatedly bombed during NATO’s 78
> day-long air campaign. Its three bridges across the Danube were destroyed early
> in the war but the bombing of economic targets in and around the city continued
> throughout the conflict. Novi Sad is both the most ethnically diverse city in
> Central Europe and the Balkans and the capital of Serbia’s northern province of
> Vojvodina with its significant Hungarian minority. Since 1996 the majority of
> its city council has been composed of opponents of President Milosevic’s
> Socialist Party. Novi Sad’s status as a multi-cultural city run by opponents of
> President Milosevic made NATO’s repeated attacks incomprehensible to many of its
> citizens.
>
> At the start of August, 1999, two members of the British Helsinki Human Rights
> Group visited Novi Sad. Their aim was to assess the economic, political and
> medical effects of the NATO bombing of the city. They met with representatives
> of the Red Cross, several political parties, the mayor of Novi Sad, and with the
> press and information Minister of the City council. They also visited sites that
> had been damaged or destroyed by NATO bombing as well as met with refugees from
> Kosovo and the director of Novi Sad's main hospital.
>
> Introduction
>
> War damage
>
> Political repercussions
>
> Hungarian political parties and the question of autonomy
>
> Refugees
>
> Conclusion
>
>
>
> The publications of the British Helsinki Human Rights Group do not express a
> corporate view. The Group is, however, grateful to the authors of its reports.
> Any views or recommendations expressed in the Group's reports are those of their
> authors alone.
>
> First published: 19 August 1999
> Introduction
>
> The city of Novi Sad and the province of Vojvodina have had a chequered history.
> After the Habsburgs conquered the area on the Ottoman Empire at the end of the
> 17th century Emperor Leopold promised the Serbian subjects of the Ottoman Empire
> that their rights would not be curtailed under his rule. In order to urge them
> to rise against the Ottomans he, therefore, promised that the Serbs would be
> allowed to continue to elect their leaders, or voivods. Hence the name
> Vojvodina. As part of the Hungarian Kingdom under the Habsburgs, the Slavic
> majority in fact suffered discrimination especially after 1867 when Hungarian
> self-rule effectively excluded non-Magyar rights. The area became part of the
> new Yugoslav Kingdom in 1918 after the collapse of the Habsburg empire at the
> end of the First World War. After German-Hungarian occupation in the Second
> World War, Vojvodina was made a showcase of minority rights Communist-style
> under Tito’s regime. Like Kosovo, the Vojvodina gained autonomous status under
> the 1974 constitution and - again like Kosovo - lost effective autonomy in 1989
> (though as with Kosovo it should be remembered that the autonomy between 1974
> and 1989 was for local Communist leaders and not in any sense pluralistic).
>
> The province is often seen as a potential future flashpoint because of its
> ethnic make-up. After the many wars and population expulsions in the former
> Yugoslavia Vojvodina is now the most ethnically mixed area in the former
> Yugoslavia. Both because other areas have been 'ethnically cleansed' and because
> the Vojvodina has absorbed some 300.000 refugees from all over Yugoslavia. Many
> different nationalities inhabit the province such as Romanians, Slovaks and
> Croats. The population of the small town of Beocin is said to contain 28
> different nationalities.
>
> But those who fear further ethnic strife point a the sizeable Hungarian minority
> in the province. It is often assumed that the Hungarians - similar to the
> Albanians of Kosovo - want autonomy or even secession from the remainder of
> Yugoslavia. However, such a simple comparison between Kosovo and Vojvodina is
> misleading. Hungarians make up only 16% of the total population of the province,
> whilst Serbs account for 60%. Most Hungarians live in the north of the province;
> the Hungarian population of the capital Novi Sad accounts for 8 percent.
>
> On the other hand, it seems that many in Vojvodina - not least the Serbs -
> regard themselves temperamentally different from the Serbs in the rest of the
> country. Often, this is explained as a result of Habsburg rule. Aleksander
> Ivkovac, member of the local council told BHHRG observers: " I call myself a
> Vojvodinian".
>
> In general, most people BHHRG observers spoke with showed a dislike for the
> government of Slobodan Milosevic but at the same time hated NATO for bombing
> their city. In only one case did a man refuse to talk, saying he was still to
> angry with NATO and the West. His demeanour was not threatening, however. Most
> people were very hospitable and willing to express their views. Nobody could
> understand why NATO had hit so hard at Novi Sad. After all, the city council has
> been firmly in the hands of opposition parties for the last few years. In its
> opposition against Milosevic the West should have treated Novi Sad as an ally,
> most people argued.
> Send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with questions or comments about this web site.
> Copyright © 1999 British Helsinki Human Rights Group Last modified: September
> 06, 1999
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