Pale, the Day After

Defence and the Last Days

Citizens of Pale are divided into the native ones, who are wondering whether they should accept Dodik, and the refugees, who are wondering whether Dodik will accept them.

AIM Banja Luka, 28 January, 1998

Ever since last Monday, the first day after the new government of Republica Srpska had been elected at the dramatic session of the parliament, something that can best be described as lull, has prevailed in Pale. "It was the same here in the first days after Dayton, when we lost Sarajevo", says a journalist of the local news agency SRNA. "And then, a stampedo started overnight. Pale were like Saigon. Whoever had a truck at the time, could be considered to be a rich man", says this journalist who justifies his wish to remain anonymous with the following words: "Never mind the name, for us here Banja Luka is too far away, and God is too high up". On the first day of "Dodik's era", the busiest place in this mountain town which is living its last days as a capital, they say, was the hall of the Serb State Bank (former Social Accountancy Service). Managers and owners of enterprises were withdrawing money from their accounts. The Bank ran out of cash early in the morning. Those who came later, transferred their nmoney to accounts in Serbia. "Exactly like after Dayton", the journalist of SRNA repeats. "At first, there was commotion among the big fish, then in the Accountancy Service, and then people from Sarajevo (suburbs held by the Serbs until the Dayton accords) started coming in on trucks".

CRUMPLING PAPER: Just a few days before the Bijeljina session, Serb leadership from the then still ruling Serd Democratic Party (SDS), celebrated the Serb New Year's eve in the once exclusive Sarajevo restaurant called Kula. Those who were present say that the atmosphere was relaxed, although not like in previous years. As if they had not even suspected that in just four day's time they would lose their carefully guarded posts. "The atmosphere was more affected than relaxed. The fact that we did not discuss politics just shows that there was nobody who had the will to start the discussion on the topic. Only after Momo (Krajisnik) had left, a few of those present, headed by Gojko (Klickovic) took off their ties and had a few more drinks", denies the street version one of the officials of the government who was present at what he called "secret dinner where each one of us was slightly Judas and slightly Christ". "When someone dared mention RK (he does not mention the name in full), we realized that there were things for which we had no strength any more".

That everything had become quite clear to many was proved already by the next day, which was not a working day in RS, continues this official from Pale, who also did not wish to have his name published ("put it like this: one who knew every move of the government for all these years"). "A few ministers and senior clerks, me inclusive, entered their empty offices with cardboard boxes and packed things they did not wish to be found by somebody else. We knew exactly what would happen, but we did not know how we would feel, and we are surprised now", he says.

In the government building, in fact a few prefabricated houses at the entrance into the town, a big crowd. None of the ministers are present. "Some are away on business trips, some are at meetings elsewhere in the town. Only we, the small fry, are here", says a pleasant blonde girl with a sense of self-irony, passing down the corridor with a file in her hand. "Crumpling of papers has begun", says the omni-perceiving journalist of SRNA, refugee from Sarajevo with, as he says, six years of experience. He adds that he has just heard in the corridor that Rajski do (Heaven's Valley) Hotel, where the government clerks, refugees from Sarajevo, were accommodated, refused to continue to offer hospitality to their guests who had stayed there for six years, as of 1 February.

IF BILJANA APPOINTS SRDJAN: In the cafes in Pale, the favourite game in the past few days has been guessing the names of the ones "who will be brought by those from Banja Luka". "Is it true that Nenad Kecmanovic will be the ambassador in Washington", a man who says he was Kecmanovic's student wonders in a prestigious cafe called VBC. "Kec is clever, he knows how to gratify his own wishes. When I think how small he seemed to us when he came up to Pale back in '92". Nevetrheless, more than state personnel policy, citizens of Pale are interested who will be their local authorities, primarily at the post of the chief of police. "If Biljana appoints Srdjan, there will be great clashes", enthusiastically say two young men who are sharing one bottle of beer. They mean Srdjan Knezevic, war commander of the elite unit called "Grey Wolves", the only one who resisted the local leaders sunk in crime. At the time when the conflict between president of RS Biljana Plavsic and the leadership in Pale was at its height, Knezevic's name was mentioned often as the man at the post of the founder of Pale committee of her party. In return for such bahavior, the local underground, supplied with police identity papers for a long time, organized an attempt on the life of Knezevic's brother. However, this young man was "only" seriously wounded. "They attacked his brother because they dared not try anything against Srdjan himself, because the Wolves would have known where to look for them", the by now very excited young men are saying.

It is believed in Pale that in the background of this and a few other similar attempts of liquidation and "teaching them a lesson" is Malko Koroman, formally the local chief of police, and unformally much more than that. Of course, his is one of the typical war life stories. People from Pale remember him as one of the watermelon sellers in front of students' dormatories in Sarajevo suburb Nedzarici. After that he was a "not very bright" patrolman, but in 1990, he was awarded for becoming a member of the SDS the post of the chief of police in Pale. Natives from Pale claim that such as he is, he could not have participated in the planning of big jobs, but that he earned his position by successfully "mislaying" in his desk all the criminal charges raised against protected men. He ensured a grand entrance into crime for himself by establishing connections between a large number of local war criminals with corrupt politicians whom he enabled to remain "clean" in the dirtiest business deals. Nowadays, they say, he likes to brag that down the road between Podgrab, a village 12 kilometres from Pale where he lives, and his office, in just an hour he can collect 200 thousand German marks from his debtors. To a question where he can be found, the young men give the following instructions: "If a bright red Audi is parked in front of the police station, it means that he is over there. If it isn't, look for it in front of the Television station. Malko likes to chase women journalists".

Tha Audi was parked in front of the police station, but it was impossible to reach Koroman. "The chief does not speak to journalists, he has more important things to do", explains the policeman on duty, with a voice which proves that he experiences the "fourth estate" as a natural disaster. However, a military security captain agrees to talk about crime in Pale, who also has no wish to have his name appear in the press. "What has been published is not even one per cent of everything that has happened. But when the bubble bursts, they will first be astonished when they see which heroes and national dignitaries in Pale were involved in crime. And the second time they will be surprised is when they see that the Army has the most comprehensive material on them because it has set its moles among them in time. The Hague will be too small to receive them, least of all Pale", underlines the captain of the Army of RS.

WHY THE PEOPLE IN PALE DO NOT LIKE THE SDS: Contrary to election results, the SDS is not popular in Pale. The interlocutor of AIM in army uniform claims that people had not had much choice in the elections. "Of course we know better than the people in Banja Luka how big criminals they are. But, their defeat opens many questions of survival for us", he says. "First, if all state enterprises are going to be transferred to Banja Luka, we will remain an easy prey to Sarajevo, the people will either gradually withdraw towards the Drina or they will go down to kiss Alija's hand. Neither Biljana nor Dodik care too much for such problems. And on top of everything else, the Main Board of the SDS sends us a proclamation that we should 'express in a peaceful and democratic manner' disagreement with the election of Dodik", says the captain and resignedly concludes: "We seem to look to them as men who would fight with Dodik, and they are allegedly trying to pacify us".

The journalist from Pale from the beginning of this article, who says that he has lost the best years of his life in this town, explains that Dodik is an ideal litmus-paper for differentiation of people in Pale. "Those who still wonder whether we will accept him are natives from Pale, people who have houses, estates and a cow. They are the lucky ones in front of whose stables in just a few days in '92 Sarajevans came up with just a few nylon bags in their hands. The government was formed, the media, and as a collateral for the necessary alliance with the local population, the natives from Pale were awarded posts of senior officials or editors. They did not go down to the unattainable Sarajevo to sell cheese any more, but instead, Sarajevo, humiliated and forlorn, came up to them. For the first time they had city girls, they drank drinks they had never seen, they watched the president of the state pass by their chicken-coops".

KLICKOVIC IN HIS SWEAT-SUIT: "Those who wonder whether Dodik will accept them", continues the journalist of SRNA, "they are the Sarajevans, the refugees, the stratum of office-workers, journalists and similar. They cannot go back to what they used to be as the former who will in a year's time go down to Sarajevo again to sell milk and eggs, and apologizing that it was all the fault of Radovan and the refugees, they will simply realize that every dream must come to an end. Even if he wished, Dodik would not be able to take us all in Banja Luka, in the government, the state media, there are too many of us. He cannot leave us to work here either, he knows that we are close to Momo (Krajisnik), and Momo can be very persuasive. Regardless of whether I was in favour or against him, I knew I had nowhere to go from here. And to be against the SDS here was possible only if your wife and child could live on grazing grass. It was easier in Banja Luka. If you got fed up on state television you could always quit and go to one of the alternative tv stations for a higher salary. There was no such thing here".

To a question what outcome he expected, the disappointed journalist answers: "It will be yet another migration of Sarajevo Serbs. With the only difference that those in '92 had where to go, the ones in '96 after Dayton, also more or less, and we know not where we can go. They will probably leave us here, give us some jobs by doing which we cannot do much harm, but at which we will not be of much use even to ourselves. Our migration will in fact be slow withering away. The other solution for me is to pack up my family and set out with Klickovic. But, my colleagues from Belgrade tell me that they have seen him the other day in Aleksandrija (Belgrade cafe owned by Momcilo Mandic, deputy minister of Pale police). They say, Klicko was sitting down in his sweat-suit having a drink. I can't really believe that he jogged all the way from Pale, though".

Ivan Djordjevic

(AIM)