12 KILOMETRES FOR 12 LITTLE STARS MARCH TO BE HELD ON SUNDAY

DOBOJ, JUNE 14 /SRNA/ – The 12 Kilometres for 12 Little Stars memorial march will set off on Sunday, June 21, from Osječani near Doboj to Duge Njive, marking the 34th anniversary of the completion of the military Corridor 92 operation, whose immediate impetus was the deaths of 12 newborn babies in the Banja Luka maternity hospital due to a lack of oxygen.

The march is being organised for the 16th time by the 12 Kilometres for 12 Little Stars Association from Osječani under the slogan “We Have Forgiven, but We Do Not Forget”. Association representative Saša Živanović told SRNA that the march symbolizes suffering and remembrance of the most innocent victims of the war, the 12 Banja Luka babies who died because medical supplies, specifically oxygen, could not be delivered due to a NATO-imposed flight ban. He emphasized that participation in the march is an act of collective resistance to forgetting and a call to the conscience to the world. Participants are scheduled to gather by 6:00 a.m. at the police station in Osječani, after which they will begin the 12-kilometre route to Duge Njive. Živanović said that along this 12-kilometre route, every step is dedicated to one little star, one baby, one life that never had the chance to take its first steps. A commemorative ceremony marking the 34th anniversary of the breakthrough of the Posavina Corridor on St. Vitus Day in 1992 will be held at Duge Njive near Modriča on Sunday. The first baby died on May 22, 1992, after which the ordeal continued and the remaining infants also passed away. By June 19, twelve babies had died in Banja Luka, becoming a symbol of violations of human rights and the international community’s inhumanity. The tragedy came to an end following the breakthrough of the corridor, which re-established a land connection between the Krajina region and other parts of Republika Srpska and Serbia. The thirteenth baby, Slađana Kobas, lost her battle for life at the age of 14, while the fourteenth baby, Marko Medaković, suffered lifelong consequences from oxygen deprivation.