-Caveat Lector-
Deadly NATO mistakes heighten insecurity in Serbia
BELGRADE, May 9 (AFP) - A series of deadly NATO bombing mistakes
and attacks on targets in residential areas have heightened
insecurity among the population of Serbia and increased scepticism
of the alliance's claim that its missiles are not aimed at
civilians.
NATO has admitted eight blunders -- where missiles went astray or
the wrong building was targetted -- since air strikes began on
March 24, but says they are few compared to the number of bombing
raids it has carried out.
Belgrade says at least 500 civilians have been killed and more than
4,500 injured in 47 days of NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
NATO bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade Friday, killing four
people. The alliance said it had mistakenly believed the building
to be a Yugoslav government building.
That attack came after NATO's admission that two cluster bombs had
gone astray during an attack on an airfield in Nis, Serbia's second
largest city, killing 15 civilians and wounding 70 at a market, a
hospital and nearby houses.
The attacks were the latest in a series of embarrassing "accidents"
in which NATO planes have killed civilians in strikes on a bus, a
train, a Kosovo refugee convoy and residential areas in several
Serbian towns.
NATO has apologised for the mistakes and has said repeatedly that
it only targets military and military-related sites.
"One cannot feel safe anywhere anymore," Tijana Vukotic, a
24-year-old student said as she was leaving an air-raid shelter
Sunday.
Her home is in the central Belgrade street of Kneza Milosa, a
frequent target for NATO warplanes as many of the Serbian and
Yugoslav government buildings, as well as deserted Western
embassies, were situated there.
Since the start of the bombing campaign, NATO has targetted the
Yugoslav army chief of staff building and two Interior Ministry
offices there at least three times.
Vukotic left her home after the second bombing because she could
not "stand the sound of missiles" and the fear. "All my windows
were broke, I could not sleep and I was really afraid," she said.
But she decided to move back after the unveiling Thursday of a
peace blueprint by the G8 countries and three relatively quiet
nights in the Yugoslav capital had brought optimism to many
Belgrade residents.
"I thought it was something positive, and what happened next was
the worst nightmare one can imagine. They hit again all the targets
they had already smashed," Vukotic said.
"What is the point of that? Repeated bombing of empty or destroyed
buildings is definitely aimed at making people suffer," she said.
Her words were echoed by many Belgrade residents, who simply do not
believe the claims, repeated frequently by NATO spokesmen in
Brussels and other western political leaders, that civilians are
not the target.
"They say they are not aiming to hit civilian targets but it is a
blatant lie. Everybody can see that," a 54-year-old taxi driver
said as he passed the Chinese embassy building.
"Saying sorry and cynically apologizing after the murders is
offensive and it does not work," Milos Pavlovic, a father of two,
said.
"Those words have a hollow ring if you are trudging down to the
air-raid shelter every night, with no job to go to in the morning
because NATO warplanes bombed your factory," said Pavlovic, whose
company was demolished in one of the raids.
Belgrade residents also dismissed NATO claims that two attacks
Friday on a city hotel, Jugoslavija, surrounded by apartment
blocks, in which a man was killed, were aimed at destroying a
command post used by the "Tiger" militia of Serb para-military
leader "Arkan".
"Arkan had a casino there, but everyone knew the hotel was empty,
and that a big air-raid shelter for the whole block was there," a
man living opposite the hotel, said. He said his family now feared
going to the shelter.
"This must be stopped, only I do not know how," he said.
_________________________________________________________________
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