Speech #1030066511

This was a critical period in the history of that nation. which at that time had not been recognized as an independent nation by the West. Yugoslavia was fracturing along ethnic lines. the European Communitys cease fire plan for the region was a failure and it was becoming clear that millions of people were about to be plunged into a fullscale civil war. Croatia was taking a pounding from Yugoslav Army forces. entire villages and towns had been burned and blown up by the advancing Serbdominated Yugoslav Army. creating a sea of thousands of refugees flooding into Western Europe. Nowhere that I visited in Croatia was the devastation more severe than in the town of Vucovar which was. at that time. under siege and later fell to Serb forces. I witnessed first hand the conditions within a bomb shelter in Vucovaran old wine cellar where 160 people huddled for weeks. too fearful of Serb snipers and aerial attacks to risk leaving.