Anniversary of Operation Storm Marked

BELGRADE — Today marks the 14th anniversary since a Croat military onslaught on the country’s Serb area of Krajina that ended in the murder of more than 2,000 people.

The attack, known as Operation Storm, also saw over 200,000 Serbs driven out of Croatia as refugees.

The Veritas center for documentation and information says that only in the former Sector South 22,000 Serb homes were pillaged, demolished or set on fire. The 1995 assault came despite the fact that the area was under UN protection.

In Belgrade’s Church of St. Marko this Tuesday, the dead were remembered in a service dedicated to their souls, followed by a commemoration for the fallen Serbs in Croatia. President Boris Tadi? was in attendance.

Several dozen refugees have traveled from Serbia to their hometowns in Croatia where they too will attend services in rebuilt Serbian Orthodox temples. Then, they will place flowers along Petrova?ka Road, along which they fled to become refugees 14 years ago.

The refugees will do the same on the Sremska Ra?a border crossing, where they entered Serbia in the summer of 1995.

In Belgrade on Monday, President Boris Tadi? said the return of refugees, problems concerning the return of Serb property in Croatia, and the exhumation and identification of the victims are the issues that must be resolved as part of improving the overall relations between Serbia and Croatia.

Tadi? met with a delegation of the Association of Families of the Missing and Killed in Croatia, headed by association president ?edomir Mari?, his office said in a statement.

The delegation informed him about their problems and expressed dissatisfaction because the exhumation and identification of the victims of the war in Croatia is proceeding slowly.

According to the delegation’s figures, some 2,230 Serbs are still listed as missing in Croatia.

Meanwhile, that country is today celebrating the anniversary as its national holiday.

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