[Info-Prim Neo article of the series “20 years of the start of the war. When should we expect peace?”] {The armed conflict between the two banks of the Nistru River during several years had been preceded by numerous acts aimed at separating the eastern region from the former Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic and afterward the Republic of Moldova. The secessionist processes were inspired from outside in the context of the national renaissance and self-determination movement of the Moldovan people in relation to the Soviet Union that started to fall apart, Info-Prim Neo, reports, quoting the Chisinau Center of Military Culture and History.} [Continuation from February 27, 2012] According to a publication of the Center, on the night of [January 31, 1992] an attack was launched in Bender as a result of which five police officers were seriously injured. Another attack was mounted on a police patrol in the same town. Four policemen were hurt. Similar cases took place repeatedly in the region, causing a state of chaos. Since March, the guards-merchants and the Cossacks managed by the Transnistrian leaders constantly made attacks on the legal bodies of Moldova. The paramilitary units launched an offensive on the building of the police in Dubasari, arresting 34 police officers. In the evening of [March 1, 1992], the Cossacks attacked the police station and took 32 policemen and two officers on probation hostage. On [March 2, 1992], armed guard members and the Cossacks patrolled the Tiraspol-Dubasari road, blocking the bridges over the Nistru towards Vadul lui Voda, Lunga and the Dubasari hydroelectric plant. They also blocked access to the bridges in Bender, Rybnitsa and Camenca. The posts of guard members and militiamen were equipped with armored vehicles of the Russian army. Sixteen armed guard members arrested six employees of the Bender police stations at 8pm. On the night of [March 3], the Cossacks and guard members prepared an assault on the Bender police station. The streets were patrolled throughout the night. At 11pm, the guard members attacked the military unit of the Civil Defense General Staff. The fighting between the guard members and the police lasted for three hours. The guard members were defeated. Several residents of Dubasari district and guard members were killed. Dozens of persons were injured. On [March 4, 1992], six armed guard members attacked a mobile police post in Bender. They injured police officers, took their car and went to Tiraspol. There they attacked a team of doctors of the local police station and took their car too. On [March 6], a group of guard members entered the rented territory of the auto police station of the Patrol and Guard Service and destroyed several vehicles. On [March 7, 1992], armed guard members caught several guards of the auto police station in Bender and took several safes with documents and files out of the building. Afterward, they set the building on fire. When the firefighters arrived, the building was destroyed almost completely. On [March 12, 1992], guard members detained two employees of the Buiucani police station. The police officers were dispossessed of guns and identification papers and were intimidated. Afterward, they were released together with the car and the two offenders they were escorting. On [March 13, 1992], a group of women in Parcani village, helped by about 300 Cossacks, launched an attack on the military unit of the 14th Army. The publication of the Chisinau Center of Military Culture and History says this act was orchetrated by officers of the Army. In the evening of [March 14, 1992], guard members and Cossacks who controlled the Tiraspol-Rybnitsa highway opened fire on a group of 15 police officers of the Ministry of the Interior of Moldova near Roghi village. A machine gun fired on a bus with civilians going from Rybnitsa. Eyewitnesses said the bus was used as a shield as the guard members and Cossacks were sure the police officers would not shoot at a civilian unit of transport. There were 33 Ukrainian tourists in the bus, heading for Turkey. Both of the drivers of the bus were Turkish men. Twenty passengers got to Rybnitsa. A seriously wounded woman was rushed to the town hospital. The Moldovan police transported two injured guard members to the hospital in Criuleni, where they were given first aid. On [March 15, 1992] the Transnistrian leader Igor Smirnov signed a decree to create a state commission for the social protection of servicemen and demobilized persons. The act was aimed at gaining the servicemen’s sympathy. On [March 17, 1992], there was adopted the Law on the Armed Forces of the Republic of Moldova. The law said that the armed forces of Moldova aimed to defend the state in case of aggression and to ensure the inviolability of the republic’s airspace. On [March 20], based on Article 4 of the Law on the Armed Forces of the Republic of Moldova, President Mircea Snegur took up the duties of supreme commander of armed forces of Moldova in order to operatively coordinate the fighting involving police officers, carabineers, volunteers, and reservists. At the OSCE Summit in Helsinki the same day, a quadripartite mechanism was created to regulate the military conflict in the Transnistrian region. It consisted of representatives of Moldova, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine. After Moldova joined the UN, on March 2, 1992 Moldova’s President Mircea Snegur sent a telegram to the UN secretary general, informing him about the acts of the separatists and asking the UN to contribute to ending the military conflict. [Irina Turcanu, Info-Prim Neo] [Info-Prim Neo: The last part of the article “Figures and facts about Transnistrian conflict” will be published on February 29]