NATO bombing of Novi Sad in 1999

During the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the second largest Yugoslav city of Novi Sad was one of the cities that bore the brunt of the bombing. According to NATO press releases, the bombing targeted oil refineries, roads, bridges, and telecommunications relay stations, facilities which had military uses. The bombing of the city caused great damage to local civilians, including severe pollution and widespread ecological damage as well as lasting consequences for the well being of the population.

The civilians of Novi Sad were greatly affected by the bombing of their city. Residential areas were cluster bombed several times while the city's oil refinery was bombarded daily, causing severe pollution and widespread ecological damage.

The bombing caused civilian deaths and injuries. Those who were not directly physically harmed suffer from consequences for their physical health caused by ecological damage as well as permanent consequences for psychological health caused by almost 3 months of trauma and fear. Due to the NATO attacks, many in Novi Sad were left jobless.

Notably, NATO were accused of failing to give "effective advance warning" of attacks which may affect civilians, as required by Protocol I. [2] One such attack where NATO was accused of this was the bombing of the Ministry of Education in Novi Sad, premises which administered social welfare programmes. [3]

The NATO bombing left the city without all of its three Danube bridges, communications, water, and electricity, which severely impaired the day to day living of the residents of Novi Sad. All bridges were not rebuilt before 2005 and one of the rebuilt bridges is only a temporary solution. Some residential areas were damaged by cluster bombs.

Water supplies (including drinking water) for parts of the city were cut off as a result of the bombing. One attack cut off water supplies to 40,000 people in Petrovaradin, and severely disrupted water supplies to 300,000 people in Novi Sad. [4] Services were restored only after two years, partially due to funding from Britain, one of the countries which sent planes to bomb the city in 1999. [5]

The bombing of Novi Sad had implications for the environment. A United Nations study (the BTF ‘Industrial Sites’ and ‘Danube’ missions) found that there were serious environmental issues, "requiring immediate action", some of which resulted from the bombing. [6] The bombing of Novi Sad's refinery caused fires which burned 50,000 tons of crude oil, sending toxins and carcinogens into the air and contaminating groundwater. The BTF study was complicated by the heavy pollution that existed before the bombing, with the group noting that "the enforced shutdown of the refinery may even have led to local improvements in the aquatic environment, due to a possible reduction in chronic pollution".

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