Hungry And Forgotten

``Let's not deceive ourselves: we who have survived this war unscathed have a job and duty to beg instead of invalids and orphans,'' said Milan Milivojevic, the retired colonel and the President of the 1990 War Veterans Association. Colonel Milivojevic became known to the public when he got personally involved in the rally staged by parents of Yugoslav People's Army soldiers in front of the general staff building in Belgrade in April 1992. He is now embittered and disappointed at a lack of interest in the fate of soldiers, invalids, widows and orphans. His bitterness can be understood: after 1945 the state provided the veterans of the National Liberation War with benefits much greater than those provided by any other country which won WW2: pensions, disability pensions, doubled length of employment for the years spent in the war, flats, significant discounts for public transportation, priority in promotions both in service and politics, considerable social influence and authority. To be a soldier, especially from day one of WW2, was a big thing in the communist Yugoslavia. A habit of fortyfive years have created high expectations for the veterans of these wars, which is why their disappointment now is even greater.

During the Vietnam War Americans had a joke about the veterans: everybody paid a drink to a WW2 veteran; a veteran of the Korean War paid his own drink; while a veteran of the war in Vietnam was expected to pay a drink to everybody. The joke illustrates society's attitude towards those who were fortunate or unfortunate, for that matter, to fight for their country either as draftees or volunteers, which does not make any difference: simply speaking, there are wars which enjoyed wider public support than others and this is inevitable. This, however, does not reduce the obligation of the country which had sent her people to war in the first place, to look after them and their families later on. It's a tradition which has been upheld from the ancient Rome to the present day and which Colonel Milivojevic boils down to one sentence, with good practical reasons, ``We've asked politicians and generals whether they want to have an army in the future? Who will want to join the army if this is how they treat us?'' There are fiftyodd thousand veterans of these wars, ten thousand invalids and three thousand orphans whose fathers were killed who are forgotten, he added. ``The authorities are trying to annul the fight of soldiers for the rights of Serbs, they won't pay due respect to them, nor give protection to invalids and bereaved families.'' The accusations are grave but could have been anticipated: let's remind ourselves that the President of Serbia has never visited the wounded in hospitals or only mentioned widows, orphans and invalids, expressing his sympathy.

``The draft statute of our Association contains most humane objectives. It is a nonparty association which rallies all soldiers equallyJNA, the Yugoslav Army (VJ), the Territorial Defense, as well as all sorts of volunteers. All volunteers were armed and sent to the front by JNA and the State Security of the Serbian Interior Ministry; they all served in formations under direct command of JNA (now VJ), the Republic of Serb Krajina, and the Serb Republic in Bosnia, or received orders from officers of these armies in the field. We now meet with resistance in spite of these facts. The state of Serbia is now trying to prove that the Serbs have never been at war because of the phrase by one man, Slobodan Milosevic, which reads Serbia is not at war. All other officials, who are nothing but executioners of his stands, seem to fear talking to us. Zoran Arandjelovic, the Speaker of the former Parliament of Serbia, cruelly turned us down. We've sent three letters to Slobodan Milosevic, but he didn't find it necessary to see us.''

The only thing the veterans of the latest wars succeeded in was getting a budget, but even that was done in a ``humiliating way,'' they said. They got ten times less money, that's increasingly worthless, as compared to the League of WW2 Veterans' Associations (SUBNOR) and the Association of 19411945 War Invalids. Besides, they never demanded nor received any benefits which SUBNOR enjoys. ``JNA and VJ acted dishonorably,'' is what the members of the 1990 War Veterans Association said. ``They didn't make an effort to find a proper solution to the status and survival of their fellow soldiers. Chiefofstaff of the Yugoslav Army, General Momcilo Perisic has distanced himself claiming that even the officers in active service are not provided for'' (which, unfortunately, is true). But, what bothers them even more is that the Yugoslav Army has refused to recognize the status of soldiers in BosniaHerzegovina after May 19, 1992. ``There are no legal obstacles to prevent a Serb from voluntarily defending the Serbs outside the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,'' they added. ``He is a soldier and should be recognized as such.'' In legal terms, the criminal act of serving in a foreign army was abolished by amendments to the Federal Criminal Law in the mid seventies.

``We have united the Serbs: we all are equal and have no conflicts whatsoever in any of the 50 branches throughout Serbia. Our Association is a humanitarian and social organization, with no party preferences. Everybody has the right to be a member of any party and politics is a private thing of every member,'' Colonel Milivojevic said.

In spite of this the veterans complain about the problems they have been encountering. There is an interesting phenomenon: the veterans have grown reluctant to report their participation in the war as this meets with disapproval in some municipalities and some companies, especially those where the opposition is in power.

The Socialists' attacks on the Radicals and arrests of SRS military current also play an important role when the veterans' problems are concerned. The veterans said that they strongly oppose that all volunteer formations are regarded as identical. ``We are against all formations being accused of war crimes as if they were one,'' the Colonel said. ``There were individual violations and crimes, but those individuals should be held responsible. This campaign of arresting the Radicals serves the purpose of the election campaign. If war criminals are to be prosecuted then one must start from the top: from Borisav Jovic who kept silent about arming of Croatia, and generals like Zivota Panic, Andrija Silic, Vladimir Stojanovic. They are being protected, just like Veselin Sljivancanin, and his connections with the Ovcara massacre are well known. Whatever took place was in their zone of command and responsibility.'' Colonel Milivojevic refuted the claims made by some JNA/VJ officers that volunteers had been illdisciplined and violent refusing a system of command and subordination. ``There have been about 800 volunteers in all in the brigade under my command. Volunteers were not the problem, but the officers who did not know how to impose their authority. I myself had situations where they drew and cocked a firearm at me, but I sorted it out. It's not right that they should prosecute unimportant soldiers for trifles, while letting the entire former Presidency get away with it...''

The social status of soldiers of the 1990 war is pitiful. The Association has quoted a number of examples: a widow with two orphans received 9 million dinars (10 pfennigs) in aid, a father whose son was killed and has no other source of income has received the amount of money which equals the value of one cigarette and a half a day, a most endangered invalid got together with all bonuses enough money to buy 2 cartons of cheap cigarettes. The situation is unbearable and the Association is doing its best to beg instead of invalids. Nevertheless, there are people who are willing to work: if they got a room and a telephone from the local authorities it paid manifold. This a volunteer work (there's one paid clerk at the Association's seat and in few municipalities).

Their relations with the Captain Dragan's Foundation are said to be friendly. Captain Dragan was elected President of the Association's Assembly, but turned up only once since he was prevented by events in the field and Croatian offensives on Krajina. They hope to develop close cooperation, since the Foundation has both experience and successful marketing.

There is a big job and plenty of temptations ahead for the Association of the 1990 War Veterans. Help must be provided to the hungry and the forgotten, the invalids now denounced by those whose propaganda has so wholeheartedly pushed them into the war in which their country never took part. Orphans must be fed and raised, widows employed. Assistance must be provided to the veterans (which will be extremely difficult) to heal their inner wounds, caused by this ugly and bloody war, so they find peace of mind with which they'll go on living the best they can manage. This will prove to be an impossible task if this state, such as it is, continues to ignore them. The price which the society will have to pay in that case may be too high.