IGIC - ONLY AN EMBODIMENT, IMAGE, MARGINAL AND

Summary: When the Yugoslav Ministry of Foreign Affairs made its list of 90 people, mostly from cultural circles, who will be representing Yugoslavia abroad in the forthcoming period, hardly any one expected that the name of Zivorad Igic would be at the very " top of the list of influential and meritorious public figures", particularly not as the future Ambassador to Albania, since he is known in present day Yugoslavia, and especially in Kosovo, as someone who has "used up" the last few years on the promotion of his, Serbian "patriotism", primarily doing good impersonations of Slobo accent wise, and for a considerable period of time of Seselj as far a terminology was concerned, and who has shown a liking towards Arkan and his "Tigers" - while it was worth while. One get's the impression that the man who has spent his entire life in Kosovo had " directed " most of his energy to "defame" the Albanians in front of the Yugoslav and international public which is inadequately informed of the circumstances here.

All in all, in Kosovo no one was actually very surprised at the news that Igic was a serious choice of Belgrade's diplomacy for the post of ambassador in Tirana. Much more than the choice, the act itself was the subject of analysis, an act characterized by some circles as "provocative", and by others as an expression of the lack of will to "smooth ruffled feathers" in the diplomatic relations between Belgrade and Tirana, while the third group considered it a "logical act of a deformed political system that has been in place for quite some time now in Serbia."

IGNORANT RESPRESENTATIVE OF THE SYSTEM

The decision of the Yugoslav diplomacy to nominate Zivorad Igic, the former number one man of the SPS for Kosovo, to head the diplomatic mission in Tirana, did not come as a great surpirse in Kosovo nor did it provoke many comments, but did put a mysterious and rather "unapatriotic" smile on the faces of a great many people there. However, things are as they are. Zivorad Igic actually does meet one of the preconditions for the post - he speaks Albanian rather fluently, which does not imply a good knowledge of the standard language, giving reason to the " more malevolent ones" to express their fear - "that this diplomat of the "future" might completely forget the language precisely in neighbouring Albanina." Those, however, who are well acquainted with the hitherto not exactly successful "Serbian diplomatic make-up" are rather sceptical.

They believe that this time the "Kosovo model created in the Serbian laboratory" will not so easily be applicable in an recognized state. However, of people like Igic, who as he himself boasted to his colleques from the assembly rostrum, "have written endless volumes of books" we have only praise. In order not to end the story at this point, a slight digression won't hurt,especially when issues are at stake which he knows how to do very well and which have ensured him a "brilliant" career. Namely, the potential future Yugoslav Ambasador in Tirana, Zivorad Igic "improved" his solid knowledge of the Albanian language after the Kosovo events in 1981. It is no secret that for the needs of the Central Committee and State Security Service he was at the head of and selected the articles for publication in the then only daily paper in Albanian "RILINDJA."

Because of that, his collegues at the time frequently characterized him as a man "who came from the bottom of the Communist selection list." Not withstanding, it seems that the most difficult thing about him is to establish his political identity. "That can be done only approximately", whose who worked with him point out, " and that exclusively by connecting him with political events that have taken place in the last ten years." Although he is promoted as a "proven patriot in the struggle against Albanian nationalism in Kosovo", as a man who "made amends "in the seventies for his "open" confrontation with the the number one man in Kosovo at that time, Mahmut Bakali, there is no hard proof or testimony of his resistence against the establishment at tht time. The former protagonists of political life in Kosovo do not remember that Igic ever came out with "any form of criticism" or acts of opposition.

On the contrary, he "was a worthy representative of that policy, so good that he prospered in it." Now the reasons why so many people consider him a "toady", "Bakali's protege" or "a man without a political identity"are much clearer. Like it or not, that is what others say of Igic. However, on the other hand, in Kosovo the actions of the Serbian, namely Yugoslav political and, naturally, diplomatic "cream" are being much more seriously analized.Therefore, in the political circles here one can hear the view that the choice of Igic is "an open diplomatic provocation" and "belittling of the Albanian people" by the Belgrade leadership vis-a-vis Albania."

Others view the whole issue much more seriously, namely, as a strategy behind which is "some premediated diplomatic provocation of Yugoslavia" which would actually react quite favourably to the fact that Igic did not get a "visa", so that it demonstrate to the world "its good will, whereas... the other side did not accept that." In other words, those that are greater sceptics ask whether after the possible refusal of neighbouring Albania to have the man who publicly said so many "foul things" about their compatriots, close and other relatives "walk about "its territory, a counter-measure would not follow - the booting out of Albanian diplomats from Belgrade.

The view of some Albanian intellectuals from Kosovo which is according to belief, shared by some Serbian circles, and which is most probably closest to the truth, is that "it is only a logical act of a distorted political system in place in Serbia for quite some time, and that Igic is only its embodiment, the image and petty and ignorant representative of the system." Reflecting along these lines, the rare Kosovo optimists, evaluating Igic as the possible ambassador, jokingly say that an even worse choice could have been made, since "Arkan or Seselj could have been appointed to that post, something that really is not as impossible as it may seem"... In any case, the general opinion is that the appointment of Igic as the head of the diplomatic mission in Tirana, is proof that no efforts whatsoever on the part of Yugoslavia or its diplomacy have been exerted or readiness expressed for peace and good-neighbourly relations with Albania.

This presumptions is based on the fact that Yugoslav diplomacy has opted for a man who did not succeed in reconciling the Albanians and the Serbs in Kosovo, something he had a chance to do for many years taking into consideration the posts he occupied. Instead, at one time he became the champion of an agressive policy in Kosovo, a man who was member of Solevic's headquarters of the "Serbian Resistance Movement", owing to which the situation in Kosovo has become the direct consequence of such a policy. Moreover, his compatriots accuse him that in the struggle for "positions" he divided "his own people" into the natives and new-comers. Taking all this into consideration, it is almost impossible to expect that a man like Igic will do anything positive or play aconstructive role on the line Tirana-Belgrade.

On the contrary, everything indicates that by appointing Igic as the future ambassador in Tirana, the already existing gap in the relations between the two countries can only deepen. But, just as every country has the right to make up and propose a list of diplomatic candidates, so it has the right to accept or refuse the credentials of another country's diplomat. In Igic's case we just have to wait for the outcome.

Astrit SALIHU AIM Pristina