Prijedor had the necessary oxygen: Banja Luka babies killed in '92 to boost the morale of the Army of Republika Srpska?!

Last week, the 24th anniversary of the death of 12 Banja Luka babies was marked in Banja Luka, writes the Patria News Agency.  

The babies died on May 20, 1992, in the maternity ward, due to lack of oxygen, was the official information. The aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina had largely begun at that time. Fierce battles were being fought. The UN Security Council banned flights over Bosnia and Herzegovina. An airplane with oxygen, which was waiting at Batajnica airport near Belgrade during those days, did not receive permission to fly.

A thirteenth baby died 13 years later from the consequences of not receiving oxygen in time, while a fourteenth baby survived, but with severe physical and mental disorders. 

The commemoration of the suffering of innocent babies at the memorial site "Život" on Friday, May 20, was attended by the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, Prime Minister Željka Cvijanović, ministers, a delegation from the University Clinical Center of Republika Srpska, representatives of the City of Banja Luka, and citizens.

Dodik blamed the world powers of that time for the death of the babies. He said they did not have the understanding to allow the necessary oxygen shipment to arrive under their control so that the babies could be saved.

An investigation into the death of the 12 Banja Luka babies was never conducted thoroughly and properly. It is being spoken about more and more loudly, 24 years after that tragic event, that the then military and civilian authorities in Republika Srpska, led by the Hague convict Radovan Karadžić, deliberately sacrificed the babies to boost the fighting morale of Serbian soldiers. The babies could have been saved. 

Milovan Milutinović, former head of the Information Service of the Main Staff of the Army of Republika Srpska, admits in his book "How I Led the Media War" the agreement of the actors at the time that "the death of babies and kidney patients due to lack of oxygen and solutions could attract public attention, possible condemnations, and appeals for help."

The "Banja Luka Babies" operation ran parallel to the breakthrough of the corridor towards Serbia: "Constant cries for help for endangered children and newborn babies strongly influenced the increase in fighting morale and motivation of the fighters to break through the road to Serbia. Such activity and continuous influence on the consciousness of the fighters resulted in a very fast and efficient military operation "Corridor", so it can be said that such propaganda activity (the death of 12 babies) strongly motivated the fighters to charge and break through the road to the motherland day after day," writes Milutinović.

While the babies were dying, the song and video "12 Stars" was recorded, which speaks of the death of children. The production was done by TV Banja Luka and BIG radio. The song was broadcast multiple times daily on local radio and TV stations. Information about the death of the babies was also read multiple times on local radio stations.

A source for the Patria News Agency also claims that the Prijedor hospital had oxygen that could have saved the babies, but they never received permission to send the oxygen to Banja Luka.

- I worked at the Prijedor hospital at that time. I warned that we had a whole truck of oxygen, and that we should send it to Banja Luka, but I was ordered to keep quiet - says this source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He added that the truck with oxygen remained unused long after the babies had died.

The Banja Luka Clinical Hospital Center at that time covered eight municipalities in the Banja Luka region. At the same time, the same center provided professional assistance and medical supplies to hospitals in neighboring Croatia (then the territory of the so-called Krajina Serb Republic), in Knin, Glina, and Petrova Gora.