In Croatia, the nationalist Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) was elected to power, led by controversial nationalist Franjo Tuđman, under the promise of "protecting Croatia from Milošević", publicly advocating Croatian sovereignty. Croatian Serbs were wary of Tuđman's nationalist government, and in 1990 Serb nationalists in the southern Croatian town of Knin organized and formed a separatist entity known as the SAO Krajina, which demanded to remain in union with the rest of the Serb population if Croatia decided to secede. The government of Serbia endorsed the rebellion of the Croatian Serbs, claiming that for Serbs, rule under Tuđman's government would be equivalent to the World War II era fascist Independent State of Croatia (NDH), which committed genocide against Serbs. Milošević used this to rally Serbs against the Croatian government and Serbian newspapers joined in the warmongering. Serbia had by now printed $1.8 billion worth of new money without any backing of the Yugoslav central bank.