Transcript · Croatian → English
Discussion on Banja Luka and Refugees
Some Banja Luka residents said that half, that part of Banja Luka had packed up and
headed for Serbia, while another part had prepared flowers.
I don't know that, but, but that, that a large part, that those 50,
60 thousand Banja Luka residents were ready to leave,
I was certain of that and, and I heard that.
And I know well that, that the roads through, through the Posavina
corridor were completely clogged with refugees, cars, tractors,
people.
Momir Bulatović,
former Prime Minister, you know, former President of Montenegro and
so on, says that
that, uh, Serbian diplomacy, Yugoslav diplomacy
effectively prevented Banja Luka from falling.
Is that true?
I don't know.
Thinking, thinking that, that, that the United States and Europe
intervened with you and the Croatian side
to stop the units.
If that's what his remark refers to, then that's correct, right?
Because
when, when we were heading toward Banja Luka,
when there was an offensive in that direction,
huge columns of Serbian refugees had clogged the Posavina Corridor
on the way to Serbia.
Milošević was confronted with those, with those angry refugees who could
endanger
even the survival of the regime there. And
He told the Americans that if it comes to that and if it continues further, he will
send three or four divisions here, so let them, well…
yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, things, establish a balance.
It seems the Americans believed that,
because Ambassador Menzies came to me, sometime at the beginning,
or end of September, I think that was when it happened,
and told me that we should stop, that America
was asking us to stop the offensive toward Banjaluka precisely for these reasons.
We did not stop for a moment.
He came back within five, six days and told me very clearly:
"If the operation continues,
we will bomb you in the same way we bombed
Serbian troops,
Serbian units, in late August and early
September.
And let it be known, this is a serious warning."
End of transcript · 335 words · machine translated
Original transcript (Croatian)
Neki Banjalučani rekli da se pola, da se dio Banjaluke spakovao i krenuo prema Srbiji, a dio je spremio cvijeće. To ne znam, ali, ali da je, da je veliki dio da je, taj pedeset, šezdeset hiljada Banjalučana bilo spremno da ide, u to sam bio siguran i, i čuo sam tu stvar.
I znam dobro da su, da su putevi kroz, kroz po Posavski koridor bili potpuno zakrčeni izbjeglicama, kolima, traktorima, ljudima. Momir Bulatović, bivši predsjednik Vlade, vi znate bivši predsjednik Crne Gore i
tako dalje, kaže da je, aa, srpska diplomatija, jugoslovenska diplomatija faktički spriječila pad Banjaluke. Da li je to tačno? Ne znam.
Misleći, misleći pritom da, da, da su Sjedinjene Države i Evropa intervenirale kod vas i kod hrvatske strane da se jedinice zaustave. Ako se na to odnosi njegova primjedba, onda je to tačno, jel'. Jer
kada je, kad smo mi kretali prema Banjaluci, kada je bila ofanziva u tom pravcu, ogromne kolone srpskih izbjeglica su bile zakrčile Posavski koridor na putu za Srbiju. Milošević se suočio sa tom, sa tim gnjevnim izbjeglicama koje su mogle
da ugroze i opstanak režima tamo. I govorio je Amerikancima da ako do toga dođe i ako se nastavi dalje, da će on poslati ovamo tri, četiri divizije, pa nek', pa da, da, da, da, da stvari, da uspostavi ravnotežu.
Amerikanci su izgleda u to povjerovali, jer je kod mene došao, došao negdje početkom, koncem septembra, mislim da se to događalo, ovaj ambasador Menzies i rekao da mi zaustavimo, da Amerika traži da zaustavimo ofanzivu prema Banjaluci upravo zbog ovih razloga.
Mi nismo zaustavili štog momenta. On je došao ponovo kroz pet, šest dana i rekao mi je vrlo jasno: "Ako se nastavi akcija, mi ćemo vas bombardovati na onaj način na koji smo bombardovali srpske
trupe, srpske jedinice koncem augusta i početkom septembra. I nek' znate, ovo je ozbiljno upozorenje."
