Croatia declares 3 Montenegrin officials persona non grata over WWII camp genocide statement

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatia has declared three senior Montenegrin government officials persona non grata after they led a declaration in Montenegro’s parliament stating that genocide was committed in a World War II concentration camp operated by a pro-Nazi Croatian regime at the time. Croatia’s Foreign Ministry informed neighboring Montenegro in a diplomatic note on Thursday that the country’s parliament speaker, a lawmaker and vice-premier Aleksa Becic are now unwelcome in the European Union nation. Montenegro’s parliament recently passed a declaration on “genocide” in the Jasenovac prison camp in Croatia, where tens of thousands of ethnic Serbs, Jews and anti-Nazi Croats perished during WWII. Zagreb said the passing of the resolution was “unacceptable, inappropriate and unnecessary.”