PREPARATIONS OF UNITARIAN FRY

Army of Yugoslavia "Fighting against Crime"

Who is Shooting and Montenegro?

Intimidation with Albanization, with military force, starvation, applied recently by Belgrade and its diligent Montenegrin toadies, differ from the former methods by being directed towards preparations of circumstances in which unitarian FRY (Serbia, in fact) would remain "with no alternative"

AIM Podgorica, 21 June, 1997

"I know nothing about it", that was the answer, or something in this sense, of colonel-general Momcilo Perisic, head of the General Staff of the Army of Yugoslavia, when prime minister Milo Djukanovic protested because of recent shooting in the Boka Kotorska Bay. Under the pretext that it was preventing "illegal crossing of the border of Montenegro and smuggling of goods", the navy opened fire on a convoy loaded with cigarettes on their way to be "re-exported". Information about the shooting was publicly denied by the army a few days ago in an attempt to hush it all up. The navy must have "overdone" it in its excessive zeal. It turned out that the bullets were shot at a load which had a permit issued by the Federal Government in the vicinity of Prevlaka (where the navy usually waits in ambush for "smugglers". But, this was not all. As informed by an assembly deputy from Ulcinj, it seems that the navy is opening fire all over the place, even at ships sailing towards ports in Bar and Ulcinj. And the answer to the question why this is done - is becoming more and more obvious.

Who ordered opening of fire? Can the answer to this be anticipated from a text published recently by a Belgrade journal as the contents of talks at the latest session of the Supreme Defence Council, attended apart from the military intelligentsia, by Slobodan Milosevic, Zoran Lilic, Momir Bulatovic and the Minister of defence, Pavle Bulatovic? This session was an attempt to coordinate stands concerning some current political issues. The participants were convincing each other that Montenego was ruled by criminals and profiteers, that the police and the State Security Service of Montenegro were controlled by them, that the Constitution of FRY would surely be amended, and it was made known to the Army that its financial situation would be considerably improved - for a long term - "in order to bring the internal political situation to a satisfactory level". In order to eliminate even the slightest doubts that the term "internal political situation" in fact refers to pre-election atmosphere in Montenegro, it was suggested a few times that time has come for definite squaring of accounts with a part of the Montenegrin "ruling set".

Putting Montenegro on the other side of the law had begun by snatching away Montenegrin smuggling deals by Milosevic, members of his family and associates. First it was oil and then tobacco channels which were taken possession of. Then, indirectly, the major Montenegrin enterprises became the target: the Port of Bar, Niksic Steelworks, Montenegrin Railway...

Very strict customs control was established between Montenegro and Serbia. At the crossings in Brodarevo and Prijepolje, at the moment, passengers are allowed to take into Serbia two cartons of cigarettes at the most. When a "surplus" of the goods is confiscated over there, it is sold in Serbia at a price up to 30 per cent higher than in Tuzi. This supplements the profit from extortion carried out by Mihalj Kertes and his customs officers. "Temporary" extortion of foreign currency from individuals and firms, even foreign citizens who are leaving the territory of Serbia brought several million German marks into Kertes's safe. Instead of paying that money to the National Bank of Yugoslavia, and sending the minutes about the reasons for confiscation and amounts of money to the Federal Foreign Currency Inspectorate, it remained in Kertes's cash-box.

It is impossible to satiate the craving for money - and as the elections are approaching, the craving is increasing. It is necessary to finance the campaign, buy political support, improve the financial position of the Army of Yugoslavia, scare political opponents and prevent them from doing the same. This means that the customs strategy applied in Serbia could be extended to include Montenegro. Kertes has already manifested the intention to take over full control over Montenegrin customs offices and taken the initiative for discharging Bozidar Lakic, head of the customs office in Bar, and according to information, his relations with Radusinovic, head of the customs office in Podgorica are extremely strained. The case of Lakic is already in the procedure. Some people claim that the proposal for his discharge was made by Momir Bulatovic himself. This is not impossible because the President has especially lately shown a pronounced inclination to employ only persons who are dear to him in public institutions. It is quite clear of course, that Kertes, Bulatovic and the Army of Yugoslavia, are all suspended on the same string: while the first is trying with all his might to take over control of customs offices in Montenegro, Bulatovic is keeping all official crossings closed under further notice, and where it is impossible to close them under a "justified" pretext, the Army of Yugoslavia is ensuring that they are impenetrable.

"Border guards are doing only what is prescribed by law", says a high officer of the Army of Yugoslavia who wished to remain anonymous. According to the law, border guards are in charge of 100-metre wide border zone, while further to the interior, the country is in the competence of the police. About ten days ago, a coordinating commottee was established consisting of representatives of the police, army and customs officers, and its task is the already mentioned "prevention of illegal crossing and smuggling of goods across the borders of Montenegro". That is how, besides the border units, the Army engaged also "special units of the navy", and the Ministry of Internal Affairs its unit on boats, its special unit and occasionally a helicopter for patrolling over the Skadar Lake. But, although he claims that cooperation with the police is good, this military source says that the police takes no action concerning cases reported by them. They are convinced in the Army of Yugoslavia that smuggling will be prevented only when the state decides to do that, as it had once done, just before the crisis in Albania broke out. All it had to do was to open the regular border crossings.

The mentioned cooperation between the army and the police in Montenegro is not convincing, because it seems that they are are, in fact, controlling one another because of the lack of confidence. The fact that smuggling continues undisturbed implies this. Since neither the army nor the police intercept fast boats which transport goods across the Skadar Lake, nor shoot the smugglers, the market in Tuzi, after just a short shortage of goods, is flourishing again. But, this trade does not threaten to fill the Montenegrin state cash box.

It is obvious that introduction of the state of emergency along the border should somehow be justified. Private, small-scale smuggling from Albania can, therefore, be tolerated, but it is different with state smuggling, the so-called re-export and transit which was organized and in fact - as an informal sector of the economy, along with the grey economy - legalized by the political top echelons of the Democratic Party of Socialists. At that time the ruling trio still held each other by the hand, and the pensioners without hesitation voted for them in the elections. Nowadays, the trio is deeply divided, and it seems the pensioners will be replaced by the army which is a more reliable and homogeneous "electorate". The Pension and Disability Fund cannot promise and guarantee regular payments to Montenegrin pensioners any more. A few days ago, they could do nothing but issue a statement that it was impossible to collect money for pensions, that they might be paid, but when - they did not know.

All this shows that border games are in fact political skirmishes along the separation lines between conflicting parties: Milosevic and Bulatovic on one, and Djukanovic and Marovic on the other side. Since Pavle Bulatovic publicly admitted at the session of the Municipal Committee of DPS in Podgorica that Momir Bulatovic had lost advantage in the Main Board of the party, it occurred to the other side that by relying on the Army of Yugoslavia and running into the hands of Milosevic, the President of Montenegro was sacrificing his fellow-fighters and intentionally discreditting the office of the president of the republic. At the new post in unitarian FRY, this office would be of no use to him anyway. That is why they are wondering in the DPS: is not this a case of treason of interests of Montenegro and has not the federal state joined in economic exhaustion?

Every - really or fictitiously - autonomous move of Montenegro always met with hostility in Belgrade. But, intimidation with Albanization, with military force, starvation, applied lately by Belgrade and its diligent Montenegrin toadies differ from the former methods by being directed towards preparations of circumstances in which unitarian FRY (Serbia in fact) would have no "alternative". Judging by everything said, shooting at Montenegro can hardly bring about the desired result. Not because the citizens and the politicians in power in Montenegro wish separation from Milosevic's Serbia (and they should), but because someone who is thirsty goes to drink only where there is water to be found.

Goran VUJOVIC