- Belgrade (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Army Chief
of Staff Gen. Dragoljub Ojdanic said on Wednesday that the Yugoslav Army
has been successfully resisting aggression on Yugoslavia for 35 days and
nights.
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- "We did not want the war, but the
people of this country and its state leadership could not accept an ultimatum
which meant the capitulation and occupation of our country," Gen.
Ojdanic said in a statement to the Belgrade daily Politika, its General
Manager Hadzi Dragan Antic.
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- There is great damage from the NATO attacks,
people are dying in defense of the country and in efforts to stop yet
another onslaught by warlords in their plan to rule the world, Gen. Ojdanic
said.
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- "We have resisted countless sorties
by the superior army of criminals. In the battlefield, with all its technical
superiority, the enemy have failed to defeat us morally and militarily.
That is the very reason why they are attacking the civilian population
and economic objects even more ruthlessly and cowardly," he said.
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- The enemy want to weaken Yugoslavia's
defense capability, expecting the fall of the moral strength and unity
of the people, army and their leaders. Realizing that they failed in this,
they have now resorted to the tested recipe of "divide and rule."
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- "The enemy are trying at any cost
to find at least individuals in our national being with whose shameful
engagement they would achieve their goals," he said.
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- Since the start of the NATO aggression,
Yugoslav Army members have successfully carried out all tasks set by their
Supreme Command, and which stem from the army's constitutional role, he
said.
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- The general said he could proudly point
out the extremely high morale of Yugoslav Army members, the firmness and
cohesive force of military personnel. With efficient commands and using
an adequate strategy and action tactics, the most has been preserved of
human lives, war material reserves, and available combat hardware, and,
most of all, resistance has been successful to a superior enemy, many
times more numerous and technically equipped, Gen. Ojdanic said.
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- "We have proven yet again that courage,
patriotism, and immeasurable love for the fatherland and its freedom are
the primary factor in winning a war," he said.
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- Since the onset of the NATO aggression
on Yugoslavia on March 24, the Yugoslav Army has downed 46 aircraft, including
the special plane F-117A, six helicopters, eight unmanned aircraft, and
182 cruise missiles. Moreover, NATO's losses in manpower are not negligible,
he said.
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- As our resistance is more successful
and stronger, there will be growing support from our citizens in the world
and all people of good will. The general thanked them and assured them
that Yugoslavia's struggle was in their interest as well.
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- Gen. Ojdanic said he was certain the
Yugoslav Army would continue to carry out all tasks set by the Supreme
Command, headed by President Slobodan Milosevic, as successfully as ever.
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