Koha Digest # 65 (19.07.

1995)

THE MACABRE DANCE OF THE MILOSEVIC-MLADIC DUET

by KOHA / Belgrade, Prishtina

At least ten days before the Serbian occupation of Srebrenica, Western diplomats in Belgrade
knew that there will be a Serbian offensive in Bosnia, as a (exclusively) political reply to the
failed American-Serb negotiations in Belgrade. Doses of alarm captivated these circles,
because it was known that Bosnian Serbs were preparing an effective military offensive.

But, they didn't know when.

If one would remember the political-military scene one month ago, then everything would
have been more clear: Milosevic was negotiating with Frasure - the main topic of the
negotiations was to as mildly as possible legalize the Serbian military achievements, and in
fact - how to end this war with only one dissatisfied party, the Muslim, instead of the present
three (Serbs, Croats and Muslims). At that time, the political sign was more or less clear in
Milosevic's interpretation: the West is not that interested in Eastern Bosnia safe areas, since
they in a way, are an obstacle to the Serb ethnic territorial integrity.

A logical step in case of an American-Serb agreement - or even in case there is no agreement

- would be to cleanse the Muslim enclaves in Eastern Bosnia. The most favorable option, say
some of Karadzic's advocates in Belgrade, would be exchanging these enclaves with some
parts of Sarajevo under Serbian control. The most unfavorable option is to have Mladic's
army enter and within one day expel the Muslims from this territory, which at the beginning
of the war in Bosnia fought a real partisan war against Serb forces, without receiving any
instructions from Sarajevo.

And, precisely this happened while the Serbian president Milosevic was explaining in the
famous American news-magazine "TIME" that if sanctions were lifted, there would be peace
in the Balkans within six months. Coincidentally maybe, but the publication of the interview
with the Serbian president and general Mladic's action are symbols of the Serbian politics on
this and the other side of the Drina. On one hand, because the Western intelligence services
know quite well that there is a logistic-military axis between all Serb forces in the former
Yugoslavia and which is grounded on the column of the old Yugoslav Peoples Army (pilot
O'Grady's grounding, it is known in Washington, was a product of the anti-air defense located
in Belgrade). On the other hand, and precisely because of this reason, because the only factor
which is obliged to respect the Greater Serbian pyramid whose center is in Belgrade, is the
military, headed by General Mladic.

The political signal for the initiation of a military offensive came from Belgrade and was
applied in Srebrenica due to the effectiveness of the Milosevic-Mladic duet. Why?

The weekly Koha (The Times) was published in Prishtina (Kosovo) between 1994 and 1997. Edited by Veton
Surroi, a young Kosovar journalist and one of the pioneers of democratisation in former Yugoslavia, Koha
soon became a symbol of quality among the region's media. In 1997 it started to be published daily under the
name of Koha Ditorë. W ith the kind permission of Mr. Surroi, Koha digests were originally posted on
http://koha.estudiosbalcanicos.org.
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From the last negotiations, Milosevic understood what was the West willing to offer him. A
new territorial organization which would imply a Greater Serbia in the future. But, he was not
happy about the conditions, the fact that the key to the sanctions are still in the hands of the
Americans, with a scale of lifting or suspensions. Now he is the position to expect new offers.

On the other hand, with the military coordination from Belgrade he is still controlling General
Mladic (the only member of the Bosnian Serbs leadership who can enter Belgrade anytime)
and is conveying a message to Karadzic that on this side, the famous general is much more
popular than the psychiatrist from Sarajevo. And, thirdly, with the military offensive he
constantly sends a message to the West: "You see, you didn't listen to my proposal how to
reach peace. Now you have to face war again".

Mladic, on his own side, needed an offensive not only to cleanse the territory of Muslims.
Facing (over one month) a Croat-Muslim offensive which would surround the Serbs from the
three sides around Sarajevo - Mladic was forced to fight even harsher than so far and loose.
That much, that he was forced to evacuate his mother from the village he was born in. The
general who has experienced the suicide of his daughter during this war (along with the
speculations that this happened because she didn't approve of his military actions) needed a
psychologic moment of victory in this moment. And, so he did it, in the weakest point of
defense, the one which was supposed to be protected by the UN. According to him, the next
two points are Zepa and Gorazde, both, again, under UN protection. Or, according to the
Bosniac vocabulary, under no one's protection.

The fact that safe areas are totally insecure, will be the main effect of the Srebrenica
offensive. The UN, totally humiliated, are closer to withdrawal from Bosnia, which is also
wished by President Izetbegovic. One of the problems in this direction is that the whole
operation of UNPROFOR's withdrawal is costly and difficult. And, we shall not forget,
requires the direct American assistance inside the NATO.

If Srebrenica has been a detonator of a decision to come, to have UNPROFOR withdraw, we

will be facing many questions to which there are no answers:

- how will the evacuation of the UN troops be done,

- how will the Bosnian army be supported against Karadzic's army,
- how will this whole situation reflect on the integration of Knin in Croatia (Tudjman
also announces that there will be no UN forces in Krajina as of November) and
- is this territory ready for a long Afghan war where the West will materially support
one side?

EX-YU

BOSNIA AND THE (UN)SAFE AREAS

"As of today, the Bosnian Serb Army (BSA) is controlling

Srebrenica", declared Alexander Ivanko, prot-parole of the UN in
Bosnia, after the penetration of the Serbian forces in the Bosniac
town, not respecting thus the NATO air-strikes which aimed at ending
the Serbian offensive against the eastern Muslim enclave. Srebrenica

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becomes the first of the six UN safe havens occupied by the Serbs.
Ivanko further stated that the Bosniac town was occupied and that the
Dutch peacekeepers holding the southern protection line in the south
of the town had abandoned the positions. The attempts to establish a
new line, outside the Dutch base in Potocari, at the north of the town,
continue.

In Belgrade, Former Yugoslavia, Stephen Oberreit, representative of

MSF, said that his group had evacuated the Srebrenica hospital and
that large movement of population is expected in the coming days.
"No one remains in town. The whole population is on the road to
Potocari", he said, including also the Dutch blue-helmets base, three
kilometers up north.

The news about the fall of the enclave came a bit after the action of
the Dutch and American flights, which attacked the Serbian forces in
Srebrenica in sign of punishment for having violated the area
protected by the Dutch.

Over a week ago the UN warned about the potential repetition of the
air-strikes, in case the Serbs forces don't give up on their tanks and
infantry attacks which started last Wednesday, against the enclave
with 42 thousand inhabitants, a majority of Muslim refugees, and
under Muslim control.

Serbs didn't pay attention to UN's warnings and started the war
against Dutch units, attacking the demarkation line in the south
attacking the town and the UN headquarters.

Srebrenica is the first safe haven which was created by the UN two
years ago, aiming at defending the civilian population, however, as
it happened in the case of the other five areas, this one didn't escape
fighting either.

Ten days ago, Serbs declared that citizens and UN peacekeepers had
only 48 hours to leave the area and hand over the weaponry.

The Bosnian Serbs Army released a communique stating that the

offensive started as a reply to the Muslim units, which were crossing
the borders of the enclave to attack the Serbian positions.

The UN also confirmed that governmental units have "misused the

status of Srebrenica as a safe area" in order to attack the Serb
positions (!). At the same time, in Pale, in the BSA headquarters east
from Sarajevo, Jovan Zametica, Karadzic's counsellor stated:
"Muslims have violated the status of Srebrenica as a safety area,
applying terrorist attacks against the civilian Serb population".
Zametica warned that NATO's policy, that of air-striking, was
counter-productive. "It seems that the international community has not
learned yet from it's own previous mistakes - that, more the attacks,

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the more decisive we become".

EX-YU

"BLUE HELMETS" AWAIT FOR SEPTEMBER?

by DRAGAN CICIC / AIM / Belgrade

Almost without firing one bullet, UNPROFOR is close to the solution

which it feared the most and which made it reject the intervention in
Bosnia: the shameful withdrawal in the middle of the winter. Several
weeks ago, a NATO counsellor who wishes to remain anonymous,
said that the decision for withdrawal will surely be made public in
September. After the Serb occupation of Srebrenica, the permanence
of the blue helmets in Bosnia is less certain, even though nether
NATO (but symbolically), nor the Dutch blue-helmets, resisted, nor
did they try to stop Gen. Mladic's troops.

Thus, the fall of Srebrenica became an important burden in the

balance of those who since long ago consider that the further
engagement of the UN forces makes no sense. An UNPROFOR
official in Sarajevo declared last month that the "the safe areas are the
most dangerous places in the B&H", therefore the "presence of peace-
keeping forces in these regions represents no means of response".
These pessimistic viewpoints of the UN representatives in the field
derive from the constant remarks of the state officials whose troops
are in Bosnia, that the withdrawal of their soldiers is always more
realistic.

"If in the next two or three weeks there is no important advances in

the peace process, the issue of withdrawal will reappear" the French
head of the army stated on July 5. The allies are discussing this issue
since several months ago, while in April, these opinions were also
shared by Russia. Alexander Zotov, President Yeltsin's special envoy
for the Former Yugoslavia, warned that, if the truce is not extended
and the fighting persists, his country would consider the withdrawal
of troops from Bosnia.

At that time, all Ghali's proposals about UNPROFOR's future were

being discussed. All of them failed to be adopted for the crisis
deepened. A series of events which seriously endangered the existence
of the peace mission started with it's incapability to extend the truce
at the beginning of May. The conflicts erupted in all fronts, including
Sarajevo. Some time ago, shelling of the center of Sarajevo meant the
annulment of the biggest success of the international community - the
declaration of the Bosnian capital as a heavy weaponry exclusion area
up to 20 kilometres. NATO replied with symbolic attacks, and the
Bosnian Serbs took hundreds of UN soldiers as hostages. Thus, the

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UN got another blow in the face and another reason for withdrawal.

This episode had another serious consequence: first, the disagreements

within the UNPROFOR Command. Rupert Smith, Commander of the
blue-helmets in BH asked for NATO air support, but this request was
stopped by the French General Janvier, UN Commander in the
Former Yugoslavia and the UN Secretary General's representative,
Yasushi Akashi.

According to some information, Akashi gave it a long thought to

allow intervention also in the case of Srebrenica, but at the end he
never gave the green light, for the Bosnian Serbs had practically
ended their operation. With this policy, UNPROFOR endangered its
position in regard to the Bosnian government, but didn't get the
sympathies of the Bosnian Serbs either. Even before Srebrenica fell,
Hasan Muratovic, minister in the BH government declared: "Since the
hostages, UNPROFOR is doing nothing in BH, thus these 20
thousand people (UNPROFOR soldiers) are really not engaged, are
waiting to see what will happen. In this sense their mission is in
danger and the crisis is total. They don't do a thing in the Muslim
enclaves in Eastern Bosnia, first of all because the Serbs don't allow
them to bring in food and they were also deprived of their equipment
which is used by Serbs to shell them, while the humanitarian
assistance destined for the population is eaten by UNPROFOR
soldiers".

The additional mistrust expressed by both parties towards the blue-

helmets, forced the creation of RRF. These troops, mainly French
and British units, are looked by the Bosnian Serbs with suspicion,
because they are fearing that these well armed soldiers can start
concrete and serious actions against them. The suspicion within
Karadzic's team arose especially after Gen. Smith's statement that
RRF's first task would be opening - with force if needed- a corridor
which would link Sarajevo and Kiseljak.

Muslims on the other hand are tending to believe that these are only
the first forces which will help the evacuation of the rest of the blue-
helmets and their equipment. Since there are almost no blue-helmets
on the territories under Serb control, this means that the UN troops
would have to fight the governmental troops rather than Serb troops
if necessary while withdrawing. French Admiral Lancstad hasten to
accuse the BH government for not allowing the RRF settle in Bosnia.

At the same time, he rejected the Serb and Muslim speculations about
the RRF, stressing that their primary task is to defend the lives and
security of the blue-helmets, and not punish anyone, defend the
humanitarian convoys or enclaves.

The plans for the evacuation of the UN forces exist already and they
were adopted by NATO's assembly by the end of June. The project

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on the "decisive engagement", as the operation would be called, is
registered at the center of the Western Military Alliance under
number 40.104.

INTERVIEW

ZDRAVKO GREBO, Citizen of Sarajevo

SARAJEVO: WORLD'S NEGATIVE MODEL!

Interviewed by YLBER HYSA / Budapest

Grebo is a professor of Political Sciences in the University of

Sarajevo, and is one of the witnesses of the Bosnian tragedy, who
stubbornly goes back to his town, and "continues believing" even
though "it is not possible" for Bosnia to be unique. What does this
mean, not only for Bosnia and the Balkans, is explained by Grebo
after midnight in Budapest, after a couple of glasses of wine and
next day's travel through some terrifying check-points and the over
one kilometer long legendary tunnel which takes one from the world
to hell: Sarajevo!

KOHA: You came out from Sarajevo and yet still go back there.

GREBO: What makes me go back to Sarajevo is a realistic option,

even though in the moral aspect, I have no other solution, for two
reasons: I am guilty because a certain group of people are still in
Sarajevo while in the past three years I have constantly repeated that
it is worth staying and fighting as long as there is hope. It is not fair
to stop and say that there is no more hope and that I was joking when
I said what I said, because I can't betray that world. Even if I would
think differently, Sarajevo is the only place in the world, maybe this
is a masochist feeling, but it is the only place where I fell fine. I
simply don't have a place in this planet where I would feel normal
and quiet, even if I would lose the hope of these three years.

The second important thing here is that, in spite of all, I am not

willing to tell fairy tales about Sarajevo because correct people don't
speak openly about their suffering. I don't wish to talk about what
Sarajevo has suffered, what kind of misery, shame and offense this
is. But Sarajevo, I won't say the whole of Bosnia, still resists to react
in the same way, with revenge - to commit a crime which would be
maybe acceptable, if not reasonable then understandable. If it is true
that Muslims were killed in Eastern Bosnia not because they were
members of the Social-Democratic Party or the SDA, but because
they are Muslim; if it is true that in the second Bonsiac war thousands
of Muslims ended in concentration camps in Mostar and Croatia;
maybe it would be understandable to have someone who has lost close

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relatives or whose daughter or wife have been raped, not react in the
same way. This, as far as I remember did not happen in Sarajevo.

Therefore, Sarajevo still preserves as strange hope that a kind of

coexistence, naturally, not as before, is possible. I won't play crazy
and not see that Serbs, Croats and Muslims are fighting in Bosnia,
and that there is an incredible measure of collective identification.
However, people in Sarajevo live and are the suffering together and
as long as this model exists, it should be defended. I don't know
whether it will survive, and I honestly am loosing hopes, but as long
as there is a little chance, I will fight to defend it. See, combining
these two reasons, thinking that it is a moral obligation to stay where
it is difficulty and trying to keep my promises from the political
programs, makes Sarajevo my place.

KOHA: You claim you still hope and that you don't like fairy tales.
Concretely: do you believe in unique Bosnia?

GREBO: The question is not accurate - I do believe in it, but I know

it is impossible! I believe that Bosnia had its chance, that it sunk into
the substance and stories that if Yugoslavia fell apart, Bosnia couldn't
continue the same, and this was not true. Bosnia was different from
Former Yugoslavia, and I believe that Yugoslavia didn't fall apart
because of the fact it was multi-ethnic, but because it didn't pass the
test of democracy. Yugoslavia could have solved its internal tensions
otherwise, but unfortunately this didn't happen and stories about what
could have happened and didn't, are a waste of time. In regard to
Bosnia, when the disintegration of Yugoslavia started, excluding the
shameful case of the terror in Kosova and I don't say this because I
speak for KOHA, when the whole of Yugoslavia was covered with
shame, it became clear that Yugoslavia was falling apart according to
a weird model of the creation of national states, or even nationalist
statehood concepts. Bosnia remained in the middle.

Bosnia was the exclusion. It was inhabited by different people. If

Bosnia could have been divided naturally, it would have been divided
a long time ago. This was not possible because simply the people
were living so mixed and oriented to one-another, that it was
necessary to have a bloody and criminal war to achieve it.
Bosnia was, how to say this, an unpleasant reminder, an unpleasant
exception from the rules, something that could prove that national
homogenization and unification should not be followed by all means
that there are other models to follow. This is why Bosnia has paid and
still pays a very high price. Bosnia was an example of a filthy
conscience, of a bad example which must be destroyed so it can't
remind of that something else is also possible.

KOHA: Can I make a digression once we have mentioned the end of

Yugoslavia. Someone does this in a movie called "Underground".
How do you comment this discourse which won the "Palme d'Or"...

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GREBO: This is big point in our huge internal shame. It is not that
I am evading to answer your question, since I replied to it one year
ago with fists. Kusta used to be - I don't know whether Albanian
slang applies this term - "my little boy". He was a man whom I could
send to buy some cigarettes for me... We had a very serious quarrel
in Prague, a year and a half ago. The fact that he got the "Palm..."
will make him unhappy for the rest of his life. I don't doubt that the
man is talented, but I haven't seen the movie...

However, the falseness which lasts four years now, and if we count
Kosova over a decade already, is ruining our lives and doesn't allow
the truth to come out on the surface. This gesture has taken away the
"gold" of the Big World which must convey us the message that there
is no hope, that simply the World has other criterions, that principles
don't count and that our lives have become cheap. If a man has the
moral courage to receive the "Palm..." on these grounds, so let him
be! Maybe the majority won't have it clear, but the final verdict will
come in Cafe "Setaliste". This is the place where Kusta must end his
life and this is what "Cuka", "Beli" and "Pasa" tell him. This will be
the trial of his life.

Naturally, I am sorry for the man, there was no need for it to end this
way, but in this series of incredible lies, which were the pretext of all
these crimes, simply, everything is possible.

KOHA: When referring to the World, you are a professor of political

sciences. Do you believe that the "New World Order" is happening in
Sarajevo?

GREBO: In a way, even though educated people believe that the

World must have more developed and coherent ideas. I fear that we
are referring to a bunch of ignorant officials and people who have no
plans about what can be called "New World Order". The fact that the
war in Yugoslavia happened, is as if they got haemorrhoids on their
bottom. It is an unpleasant thing, they don't know how to get rid of
it, but we are the ones to pay the consequence of their ignorance.
What is more important than their ignorance is that they have
betrayed their principles. As I said, it is not important whether Bosnia
can pay a high price to prove that multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and
multi-religious life is possible, but it is paying the price to make the
West, or rather the International Community preserve the illusion that
it can still decide about something. They simply don't decide about
anything, the things have escaped their control and the International
World Order doesn't exist because of the cowardice and the lack of
vision of those states and leaders which, thanks to their military and
economic force, could settle this matter. Bosnia's problem in this
context is absolutely tragic because, in our misfortune, it happens that
all possible inter-planetary conflicts can be tested in Bosnia.
Great Germany against France and England; all of them against
Russia; all of them together, whatever that might mean, against the

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Islamic world, etc. Therefore, Bosnia is bearing a difficult burden to
prove that, despite all differences, people can live together and on the
other hand serve as a laboratory where these possible conflicts in the
future World, which seem to be inevitable, will be played in a small
territory, therefore the Bosniacs must pay with blood. It is a long-
term deception, because if Bosnia falls, if the idea which kept Bosnia
falls, which is very likely to happen, then by God, it will not be easy
for anyone.

KOHA: This means the promotion of the ethnic states in the Balkans,
or...

GREBO: Not only this, but also the promotion of some strange
alliances. Since the Berlin Wall fell, the West has lost its identity in
a paradoxical way and simply it has no support, nor place where it
can formulate their values and programs. All of us see a strange
formation of strange alliances. In Belgrade we have "Orthodox
summits" and you must not be naive and not think that a kind of a
pan-Islamic solidarity is being tested, and that the so called civilized
Catholic and Protestant world is creating its new strategic positions...

KOHA: Is this a Huntington approach of "Civilization Clashes"...

GREBO: Unfortunately this is a negative Orwellian utopia. I fear that

losing the real chances to defend the principles and not the national
programs starting from Kosova, Macedonia and Bosnia, etc., then the
international community has lost all chances to act preventively. I
don't wish to scare anyone, but I fear that the future not only of
Bosnia and the Balkans, but also the World is really dark.

KOHA: Do you think that the negative example of Bosnia can be

transferred to Kosova and Macedonia?

GREBO: Yes, I do believe so. I am definitely satisfied that the

Kosovans, Albanians, helped by God, have not fallen to the
temptation to start a war. What has some time ago happened in
Macedonia proves that no one is excluded from the basic dilemma.
Sooner or later you can escape from the bad relations with your wife,
if this can be a good comparison, and one day the final decision will
come.

I believe that it is clear that Albanians, seemingly, have chosen a

good path, preserving their coherent position, evading a war which
could have caused thousands of casualties and massacres. However,
there is a critical question - and in fact I am more asking rather than
responding - and that is how much can the status quo be stood, which
are the limits of patience of an unbearable situation? I fear that people
who have real power, the ones who have applied terrible aggressive
measures against all people, simply have learned a lesson: everything
is possible! I don't know, and it is a shame that I didin't learned

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anything about Kosova in the past three years. But I know that the
resistance model of Kosova can't last for too long!

KOHA: Does this mean that there is only one model left - the
Bosnian?

GREBO: I fear so!

KOSOVA

THE COLDNESS OF THE MOVEMENT OF MORATORIUM

by BATON HAXHIU / Prishtina

The Peasants Party of Kosova released a communique stating that it

was temporarily suspending its activities and at the same time it
suspended all its functions on all political instances in Kosova. In his
regular press conference, President Rugova commented this act as "a
political process of pluralism in Kosova and I am cool about this
event". It is normal, continued Rugova, for the parties to decide
whether they will function or not and there is nothing wrong with it,
but this will be discussed in the Coordinating Body of the political
parties, said Rugova, without commenting this problem at all in the
introduction of his conference, but only answering the questions of the
journalists.

This kind of statements are not new for since some time the routine
of silencing the problems, accompanied by the immunization of the
general situation and the pretensions to the minimization of the
reasons which caused these processes, is dominating. Each time there
is an inter-parties problem, it is transferred to the Coordinating Body,
a worthless, underestimated and formally constituted institution
needed for support, for rhetoric use and for escaping responsibility.

Referring to the Coordinating Body is escaping the problem because

this institution, formed in 1991, is wrapped with enigma: does it
function, does it assemble, and if it convenes, what does it decide, in
reality does it decide anything at all. The experience so far shows that
the Coordinating Body does not function at all, and does not convene.

If something new is to be decided and the Coordinating Body

convenes, then the "relation of forces" in this instance in three to two.
Asked to comment on this issue, the Parliamentarian Party of Kosova
refuses to give a statement "because a moderate evaluation of this
delicate issue is required". The public in Kosova, for the time being,
is not commenting this issue with exaggerated pathetic, even though
the experts on political issues in Kosova are perceiving this as a
starting point of the party moratoriums. The others say that such a

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Moratorium is a political bankruptcy because of the lack of
functioning in this political totality in Kosova. The Parliamentarian
Party considers this to be a good opportunity to start a new discussion
about the issues trying to criticize this political inertia so it can make
it position functional. Other experts on these relations say that the
political position of the LDK could hardly be shaken because the
Rugova authority dominates and because there is no mechanism to
change the situation and establish the responsibility. The others say
that nothing new has happened in this direction, since this moratorium
had been expected even before. So far, it is commented in the
couloirs, no other political body functioned, but there were only the
LDK and other 15 chairmen. Presenting this problem in its
communique, the Peasants Party states that "it was established not as
multi-party decoration nor for the political careers of its leaders, but
to together with all other associations, unify Albanians"! The Peasants
Party enumerates a list of reasons which were kept silent so far. It
mentions: the non-constitution of the decision-making mechanisms;
the improvisation of institutions; legality and legitimacy; leading
several politics (Rugova, Bukoshi, a grouping inside the LDK and
other groups); the privatization of the Government; the non-
functioning of the Coordinating Body, the tendency to transfer
institutions outside Kosova; the close-down and non-opening of
Kosova representative offices abroad, etc. This is Kosova's reality
- says the communique.

It shouldn't be forgotten that the new five-years political life is

accompanied with many events, which come to the surface, becoming
public for some time and to be kept silent, even though none of these
events is "dead", and all of them are actual as long the key to their
solution is found.

They appear occasionally on the surface, scratching the sterile

political reality in Kosova. The amplitudes of optimism and pessimism
in Kosova, nevertheless, depend on the comments of the KIC or
"Bujku" and the often optimistic statements of President Rugova.
But, covering all these problems, and hoping that an ad hoc solution
will solve the problem, we fear that we are not really serious towards
ourselves and all those who participated in free elections and
voted for the independence of Kosova. When a movement or a policy
is not dynamic, is not active, when it stagnates, then the first
consequence is the division inside. However specific the case might
seem, as an isolated excess, this is an expression of the lack of
engagement of the largest party and its key persons.

This reality reveals another truth - that the whole accumulated energy
is aimed to be used not for the creation of a new content, but
preserving the old inefficient forms, making superficial changes,
changing peripheral issues but not touching the essence of the
problem. Is this joking again with the blind public, and external
observer would ask?

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Thus, slowly we are facing the fragility of the political processes in
Kosova. And we will learn to be cool about them. And that's it!

EX-YU

THE GREEK BONUS

by KOHA / Belgrade - Athens

All of those who have elaborated the old story about the marriage
between politics and sports, witnessed some days ago a basic example
which evidences the above fact. The famous final game of the
European championship in Athens surpassed the limits of sports quite
a lot. The ball of the game was transferred from Athens the same
night to Belgrade, on the "Francuska" street, where the windows of
the Greek Embassy were broken, two cars were damaged,
demonstrations took place, where the Greeks were offended and even
exclamations "Macedonia", "Kiro -majstore" and "Cyprus is Turkish"
were heard! A similar demonstration continued the next evening when
the basketball players of "Yugoslavia" came from Athens to Belgrade.
"We don't have a clear evidence about the damage", Spiridon
Hatzaras, press attache of the Greek Embassy in Belgrade declared to

KOHA. On the critical night, he had been inside the building and
called the action of the demonstrators a "barbarian act", adding that
Belgrade hadn't experienced such an incident since 1960, when the
Communist youth had entered the building of the Embassy of Belgium
after its intervention in Congo, which was explained as an expression
of solidarity among the non-aligned. The allusion seems to be clear -
now as well as then, the actual Belgrade politics had a lot to do with
these incidents. In fact, in the past years there have been quite some
incidents and anti-Western moods in Belgrade, but the last one is very
strange, for it is directed against the friends, one of the few allies or
maybe "the only" of the Serbs - Greece! Whatever organization
belonging to whatever ranking, or any truck that would be coming
from Greece would be followed by the Serbian TV camera and even
broadcasted in the central news emission. If it weren't for the Greeks,
we would have been lost, said a high hierarch of the Serbian Orthodox
Church, adding that some 900 multi-tons trucks had brought
assistance to Serbia when it was suffering the most because of the
sanctions. This reaction of the church in the first days after the
incident, almost as if wished to glue the cracks in the newly created
Serb-Greek relations, but also state a clear posture in the reactions
which came after the incident. This was not heard from the Serbian
officials, but an apology came from the highest Greek officials (the
Greek Charge d'Affairs, Spinellis, reminds of the following in the
Belgrade press: "...we have not received any reaction of the official
state, adequate to what the Greek party expressed"). What did really

- 12 -
happen?

According to some sources, for the first game between Greece and
Yugoslavia, the price of the tickets had reached the fantastic sum for
a Greek pocket and cost 100 DEM. This created a negative reaction
among the inhabitants of Athens. Greece lost the game and this had
only made things worse, while the bad organization of the
championship tried to be emended with a popular measure of Greece's
Minister of Sports, Lianis, who decided to buy a large part of the
tickets from the budget and, seemingly, give them to the interested,
many of them extreme fanatics. This could have been the source of
the incident, as explained by some. However, on the other hand, the
reports of sports commentators in the Belgrade media who were
present in Athens (the majority of them in the media controlled by the
Serbian state), were accusing the Greek fans, presenting their attitude
as a generalization of the Greek disposition, thus inciting their
readers. "I can't understand such reporting nor its purpose", says our
collocutor, and even less the attitude of the officials, when one of the
players Tomasevic and his colleagues were offending the Greeks
openly (even with sexual allusions!) and were inciting the masses
gathered in front of the municipality building! All of those who saw
what happened that day in Belgrade, were surprised by the nationalist
reaction of the people against Croats or friendly Greeks. During the
whole day, the streets of Belgrade were full of sports fans who were
carrying flags and national ichnographies and yelling as much as they
could. This continued till deep in the night, in the presence of the
Belgrade officials. Milosevic's congratulation was also conveyed. The
many comments were based on the "unjust" sanctions which had
ousted Serbia and Yugoslavia from the basketball throne, which has
now reinstalled national pride. Thus, the ball got directly inside the
net of the Serbian policy, and was proven a national investment which
for some time gathered all Serbs around the basketball field and made
them forget for some time the sanctions, politics, poverty and the
problems. Once again the Serbs were the best, lonely in their victory,
while the bad guys were on the other side. Some of them were also
Greek! Thus, Serbs immediately remembered that they were paying
Greek visas, while the Croats and Lithuanians weren't - these were
unison exclamations of many Serbs heard those days in many radio
broadcasts, all insisting on getting an apology from the Greeks. A
Greek businessman in Belgrade apologized in a way by writing a huge
poster in front of his shop in Belgrade, and the Greek students of the
University of Prishtina acted in a similar way. In the meantime, visas
are still being extended in the Greek Embassy in Belgrade, despite the
first news launched by the Belgrade media that this had stopped. The
visa still costs 35 dinars (less than any other visa, the Greek officials
will tell you) and between 3000 and 4000 people got them within
these months. Translated into concrete figures, these are close to 60
thousand DEM a month that "FRY" citizens pay to swim in the Greek
sea.

- 13 -
But, let's go back to Athens again. The previous explanations which
can allude to some organizing mistakes and which could have lead
towards the incident, with the often repeated fact that "the loser
always has the right to be angry", somehow is in contradiction with
the fact that the Greeks lost also from the Croats in the game for the
bronze medal, and when the Croats came to take their medals, the
public applauded. The big offense of the Serb media (RTS, Vecernji
List, Radio Index, etc.) had a premeditated calculation in case
Yugoslavia would have lost the final, and for what someone to blame
was needed. Even more having in mind that a possible final was to be
celebrated between "FRY" and the Croats and an eventual loss would
be equal to national catastrophe.

However the mentioned arguments could have been applicable while

the winner was unknown, but not afterwards, when the Greek
Embassy was attacked, not prevented by the police, who, after what
had happened, could have easily foreseen such events! Then, sports
and politics in the bilateral case of the Balkans neighbors gets a totally
different dimension.

All this celebrating atmosphere in the style of national pride and the
anti-Greek disposition seemed to be well calculated. In fact, with the
incredible control over the disposition of masses, its architect
Milosevic, proved the Greek "allies" that the historical friendship
between them depends on him exclusively, and not the tradition, the
church or something similar. Maybe the last event in Athens-Belgrade
relation, relativizes the best the Balkans alliances and counter-
alliances which are based on the explanations about the religious war
in the Former Yugoslavia, to reveal the whole situation in the
fundament of any political connection: the interest! And this
formulation logically leads towards the suggestion that such bilateral
interests of these Balkans allies have crashed somewhere. Analysts of
the Greek side who wish to remain anonymous, see this "short
circuit" in the movements of the Greek diplomacy to visit Pale, where
in a mission on behalf of the EU and the UN they managed to
guarantee Karadzic the promise that there would be no more strikes
after the hostages affair. Such a Greek initiative seems to have
ignored Belgrade this time, and this did not please the big boss. This
in fact was only one step in the last diplomatic Greek orientations,
including also the policy of the Balkans region. Thus, expressed in
basketball terminology, the Greek bonus was completed and
Belgrade's "free shots" followed.

The visit of the SPS's vice-Chairman Percevic to Macedonia and

meeting with Gligorov should also be perceived as a complementary
activity, with the initiative of the first. The old idea of Serbian
president about the Confederacy of the Balkans Orthodox vertical
Belgrade-Shkup-Athens ended with the spoiled links.

But, will there be another "technical foul" after all of this? Some of

- 14 -
our Greek collocutors are not expecting any changes in this area,
since Milosevic is convinced that he needs Greece (for economic and
political reasons). In fact he only pointed his finger towards his
southern ally, and he proved that he is the coach of the team which
surprisingly shoots three points at the basket, of the allies if needed...

INTERVIEW

MICHEL FOUCHER, Counsellor at the European Council

THE BALKANS OR SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

Interviewed by YLBER HYSA / Belgrade

KOHA: How do you perceive the situation in Bosnia after the crisis
of hostages?

FOUCHER: I believe that with the beginning of the changes in the

correlation between the Bosnian army and the Bosnian Serb Army,
the Government in Sarajevo is trying to consolidate militarily and
break the ring surrounding Sarajevo, and not achieve a military
victory, for that is impossible, but rather win some battles so it can
get another round of conversations. But, the situation is tragic and
still, children, women and other people are being killed and despite
the fact that the Bosnian army is growing strong, the civil population
is bearing all the consequences.

KOHA: After Chirac's election as President, do you expect any

changes in the French foreign policy in regard to the Former
Yugoslavia?

FOUCHER: France always preserves the continuity of its foreign

policy, because we take our politics not only as a sphere of interest,
but also as a responsibility. Once again I will stress that in Bosnia we
are not defending our strategic or economic interests. I believe that
we have political responsibility, for we know that if we are not
capable of helping the situation be solved this will be reflected in the
trust of the Europeans. We are not that responsible for the
disintegration of Yugoslavia, which was a collective suicide, but we
are responsible in helping find the solution.

President Mitterand was the only president to visit Sarajevo, while

Chirac is trying to make the army more active and strong in case they
are provoked...

KOHA: In a conversation, you mentioned that Bosnia and this

Balkans territory are in Europe...

- 15 -
FOUCHER: Terminology should not solve this problem, but as long
as the people in this region represent themselves and their situation as
a part of the Balkans, not making reference to the past, to a series of
wars, to it as the evil of the Balkans, etc. then my conviction is that
the Balkans are also part of Europe in the sense of the continent, and
I would call it Southeastern Europe. I believe that this claim could be
grounded not only in the geographic aspect, but also the political one,
and this influences that the whole region in its perspective, if some
basic preconditions are fulfilled, as negotiations, the end of war, the
permanent agreements we are so far away from, then the problems
would be solved within 20 years. This region must find its way in the
European space, and I am referring to the political space.

KOHA: Do you believe that the division of Bosnia created a

dangerous precedent for the Balkans? Is Europe ready to respond to
this test?

FOUCHER: No, I believe that Europe is not ready to accept the

change of the internationally acknowledged borders, because it would
open Pandora's box again. Therefore, we want a political agreement
inside the recognized borders. This applies even in long-term cases
when the right to self-determination could be applied in some parts of
Bosnia, pursuant to the Washington agreement, for the part of
Western Herzegovina has the right to establish confederacy links with
Croatia, and we must be diplomatic and imaginative, to try and find
pragmatic formulas of federations and confederacies about Bosnia.
And it is very hard to find solutions to the satisfaction of all nations.

KOHA: Could this model of confederacies be applicable in the case

of Kosova or maybe Macedonia...

FOUCHER: In reference to what is called FRY, a centralized

confederacy system can be imagined as it was in the past during a
long period in the largest Yugoslavia, normally including Serbia as a
national state, a local form of decentralization in some municipalities
in Vojvodina, another level of decentralization in Sandzak and for
Kosova a system of, let's call it, autonomy or sovereignty, inside such
a democratic confederacy. There has been talks about Quebec, for
example, or you have some other cases, look at Spain. It is
decentralized in some levels of autonomy based on local situations.
The Basque or the Catalan have more autonomy than, let's say, the
people of Andalusia...Therefore, you could imagine a situation with
a variable geometry inside a confederacy system and afterwards it
becomes obvious that essentially the term: "all or nothing" is not
totally non-applicable! Forms of compromise must be found, but
democracy is the key to it...

KOHA: So, first democracy and then the status...

FOUCHER: I believe that this state needs a political evolution and

- 16 -
have some pragmatic agreements. I hope it will be possible, because
if not, I think that in the case of Kosova we would face the same
danger as in Bosnia.

KOHA: Is it true that the French are not all that present in Kosova?

FOUCHER: I really wouldn't know. The problem is that France can't

start a cooperation which is not official and finds it hard to assist the
population in Kosova, since the situation prevents the contacts at
official levels and institutions... We are lacking some elements in
France, which has a long statal tradition, these means that make up
the foundations of a network existing in Germany, USA... But it is
totally incorrect to claim that France is not interested about what is
happening in the former Yugoslavia in general. France has quite some
troops in the field and is very active in the diplomatic plan. In fact,
the public opinion in France is very concerned about the political
situation reigning in Bosnia and in Kosova as well. The French are
very concerned about the eventual expansion of the conflict.

KOHA: How would you describe the situation in Macedonia, which

you have visited several times?

FOUCHER: The Albanian minority participates in government, even

though I have heard of the frictions among their political parties. I
believe that all neighboring countries are interested in preserving
Macedonia as it is today, because of its importance of its position in
the Balkans, between the Morava and Vardar valleys. It is a fact that
some big wars in modern history have happened on its territory. I
believe that this form of a buffer-state is not a bad solution.

Macedonia is not isolated and it represents a corridor between

Thessaloniki and Belgrade and can become a corridor between Tirana,
Shkup, Sofia and Istanbul. I don't understand the Greek attitude
which is part of the European Union and which with a more cohesive,
diplomatic and European approach could have a positive influence on
Macedonia, Albania and Bulgaria. And it seems that Greek circles
lacked a long-term diplomatic strategy. Right now, Macedonia is a
buffer state in the middle of three or four ambitions...

KOHA: What is Albania's sole in this surrounding?

FOUCHER: This state which was closed for 50 years and needs the
big help received from the EU, the USA, and will still be in need of
help.

The most important thing right now is to build up democracy and give
assistance for the creation of a minimal infrastructure and jobs which
would help the situation in this country which seems serious. The
state is missing many things, even the force of justice... Thus, in
these circumstances, I believe that Tirana should first concentrate on

- 17 -
the issue of democracy and development of the market economy.
Albania is a small country but it has its importance as any other state.
But right now, it is in deep need of the assistance from abroad.

MACEDONIA

SAME OLD STORY

by ISO RUSI / Shkup

The exclusive interview of Kiro Gligorov in the "independent" weekly

PULS, was almost an introduction to the events regarding to what
are called Macedonian-Albanian relations. At first sight, it is very
strange to have Gligorov appear at all. It is obvious that Gligorov
considers the journalists of "Puls" to be loyal, maybe a few of which
he trusts enough to, after such a long time, present his opinion about
relevant issues concerning the state he leads.

In the recent plenary session of the Council of Europe, the

Macedonian representatives who were members of delegations of
other states, were clearly told that Macedonia will not become
member of CE in September. Among others, Macedonia is warned
that only the state TV covers the whole territory, and that the
President and the Premier have not given any interviews to opposition
media. On this occasion, "Delo" weekly, which is considered close
to the opposition, re-published the open letter addressed to Gligorov
in which one year ago, it asked him to explain his viewpoints about
the provisional name of Macedonia which is in use at the UN.

Anyhow, Gligorov interrupted his several months long silence, with

the interview to a magazine which he personally considers to be the
pride of the Macedonian press.

Asked about how he evaluated the inter-ethnic relations along with the
remarks that "the wounds of the so called University of Tetova have
not healed" and the thesis that "the policy of coexistence will lead us
to the co-death", Gligorov responds: "recently there have been more
and often attempts of some to present the inter-ethnic relations in a
black&white mode.

Unfortunately, as president of the Republic and as citizen, I can't be

satisfied with the present situation. Some tensions and nervousness
have been created and they don't favor the tradition of inter-ethnic
relations, nor the will of the actual policy and the disposition of the
largest part of the people, regardless of their national appertaining".
According to Gligorov, "the politicization of these issues comes out
of the frames of real economic, social and political possibilities in the
Republic". A typical example of this, says Gligorov, "is the initiative

- 18 -
for the so called Albanian university". The main reply to the asked
question is as follows: "the principle of coexistence implies the
respect of the human being and his dignity, the guarantee of civil
rights and equality and the protection of differences and the ethnic
rights. In this sense, according to Gligorov, the politics of ethnic
closure, parallel systems and especially the position of maximalist
requests, now and immediately, take towards the conflict...

I consider that the path we have taken and the steps we are making
take us towards the solution of this problem, which will make us
create mutual trust and understanding".

Gligorov also discusses the issue of the concept of the state:

"The simplification to the vulgarity of the concept of the civic society
is a vital need of all national platforms. It is ridiculous to stress that
the civic concept is a-national. There are many examples which will
prove this in Europe, which sine one century is being developed
within the concept of the civic society. The status of the citizen
doesn't question at all the national individuality of the person. On the
contrary, the respect of its national, religious and political identity,
gives the individual the same rights and obligations compared to the
other individual in the state. This broadens the frames of human rights
and the space of the democratic institutions in a society, because it
departs from the individual towards the collectivity. The concept of
traditional sovereign national states of the 19th century is totally
opposite which in reality, in their extreme are totalitarian states,
because they are structured in a totally opposite way, on the principle
of the omnipotence of the collectivity on ethnic grounds, which will
mean the creation of structures and orders of citizens according to the
hierarchy, which, at the end, creates human freedoms and relevant
rights.

This is why I said that ethnic concepts of sovereignty are proofs of

radical national platforms, which are not known in Macedonia.
I consider that this is the same vulgarization and is linked to the issue
to the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural character of the community.

You are right when you ascertain that there are attempts to neglect the
fact that the majority population is made by the Macedonian people,
and that it coexists with some other nationalities: Albanians, Turks,
Vlahs, Gympies, Serbs. In relation to this, Macedonia is a state of a
complicated ethnic composition. The ascertainment of the multi-ethnic
composition of the population, with a clear ear-mark on the people
which makes the majority can't be grounds for new experiments. It
would be even a bigger mistake to claim that the existence of
nationalities in the Republic of Macedonia must be closely linked with
federalization on ethnic grounds.

Otherwise, I consider, at least in regard to the official politics of the

Republic of Macedonia, that our viewpoint is decisively proven based

- 19 -
on the Constitution of Macedonia and its concept about the civil
notion of the state, of the rule of law and the tolerance, as a model of
regulation and advance of the rights of the nationalities.

This is why, it is also irrational and absurd to define and restrict the
rights of nationalities, as guarantees for inter-ethnic rights. This is
also a policy of direct conflict and totally opposite to the civil
concept, because it requires the determination of the first, second and
third row citizens.

I would like to remind you about some achievements in this period.

Before all, the nationalities have the right to create their political
parties and are today part of political pluralism. They participate in
the parliament, and the representatives of the largest Albanian party
are coalition partners in the government. It is a fact that the situation
in education has advanced. First of all I refer to secondary education
and the Pedagogical Academy which was elevated to the level of
faculty, as well as the quotas of positive discrimination in favor of the
students appertaining to nationalities on the occasion of inscription in
universities of the Republic of Macedonia. The number of TV
broadcasting hours for nationalities has increased, "Flaka e
Vëllazërimit" became a daily, a considerable number of private TV
and radio stations were established in the languages of the
nationalities, newspapers, and other publications. This means,
according to me, that the path is to reach the principle of the freedom
of citizens and the nationalities. This is the only thing that brings
results. And not blackmailing, ultimatums, producing universities in
gatherings and demonstration of force with numbers and repression".
This a bit longer quotation is the best illustration of what is called
official policy in relation to inter-ethnic relations. The proofs of
confusion which dominates openly in all of this can be found in
Gligorov's words. Gligorov's interview can also be perceived as a
continued manifestation of the policy of inactivity. As if the official
Macedonian government, and before all President Gligorov, were
deceiving themselves. Many of these were not done on due time. On
the other hand, many things which have to be done are postponed. In
regard to the inter-ethnic relations it is very clear that the problems
are not being solved, but they are multiplying. This is not stopping
the tendency of the close-down and division on ethnic grounds, which
strengthens what is called the process of federalization, which,
nevertheless, goes towards the creation of other forms of organization
and political and territorial divisions which leads towards the
destruction of the present state.

- 20 -
MACEDONIA

"SMALL INCIDENTS" AT HIGH LEVELS

by SELADIN XHEZAIRI / Shkup

The Macedonian-Albanian diplomacy symbolized last week. And,

while Tirana and Shkup can justly say that Turkey is an honest
friendly state (Demirel just visited both countries last week), it
remains to be seen what will the effects of the most recent
Macedonian-Albanian contacts at the parliamentarian level be. The
delegation of the Parliament of Albania, headed by the Chairman of
the Foreign Affairs Commission, Eduard Selami, had a series of other
meetings apart from the conversations with the respective commission
of the Macedonian Parliament. The delegation met with Stojan
Andov, Speaker of the Parliament, Prime-minister Branko
Crvenkovski, Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski, Minister of
Education, Emilija Simoska and the Minister of Transportation,
Dimitar Burzelevski.

The mutual relations were at the center of the attention, and they were
not restricted only to the parliamentarian frames: the liberalization of
the movement of citizens in both states; the possibility of removing
taxes on both sides; the increase of the cooperation in transports; the
cooperation towards the realization of the East-West corridor; the
issue of the unification of diplomas issues in University centers of the
two states and naturally, the position of Albanians in Macedonia and
the Macedonian minority in Albania.

"We also spoke of what is called the problem of the University of

Tetova. We didn't reach a consensus in this area, a common opinion,
but we call it a problem which can be solved by dialogue", said
Selami at the end of the visit. On the other hand and referring to the
same issue, the Macedonian Minister of Education, Emilija Simoska
said: "Selami referred to a university in Greek in Albania. The
explanation of the Albanian party was that because of international
pressure and conventions they were forced to open this University.

Our posture is that no pressure or convention can force a state to open

a University in another language. The evaluation of Albania was that
there was a need to open the university and preserve the calm. Our
evaluation is that for the sake of the stability of our state, the
foundation of another university is impossible. We must have a higher
level of integration of nationalities", said Simoska. The Macedonian
party also stated that during the conversations they requested the
Albanian side to call Macedonia according to its constitutional name
and not FYROM.

Actually, the "only" negative thing in these conversations which lasted

three days, could be called "small incidents" which happened in the

- 21 -
meeting of the respective commissions of foreign affairs, when to
Albanian MPs at the Macedonian Parliament, who after greeting the
guests from Tirana in Albanian, started and finished their speeches in
Macedonian, thus respecting the "order", as one of them stated.
Meanwhile, at the press conference, an Albanian journalists from
Macedonia was not allowed to ask a question in Albanian?!

At the end of the visit, asked by our magazine about his comments
regarding the conversations and the problem of the Albanians in
Macedonia, Eduard Selami said: "The impression is that the
Macedonian party, despite the fact that it is sensitive to this issue,
because of its position, is starting to understand slowly but surely that
the concern Albania has for Albanians in Macedonia, is not only in
the interest of the Albanians but also for the stability of Macedonia".

On the other hand, referring to the meeting with Albanian political

parties and their MPs, Selami stated that "regardless of the
misunderstandings that they have between them, and which are
inevitable in politics, I noticed a consensus when referring to the
rights and freedoms of Albanians living in Macedonia. The message
we gave them was that they should be as unique as possible".
At the end, it is worth mentioning that almost after six months of
absence, the MPs of the Albanian Democratic Party came back to the
Parliament of Macedonia. Officially, their return was explained with
the visit of Turkey's President Demirel, however the possibility that
this step was influenced also by Albania's parliamentarian delegation
is not excluded. Naturally, not forgetting the provisions of the
Constitution of Macedonia either...

SERBIA

THE KISS OF THE SPIDER-WOMAN

by GORDANA IGRIC /AIM/ Belgrade

This maybe happened to Tito and Jovanka. But we didn't know

anything about it. The "love story" between Sloba and Mira, alias
Cobe and Beca, as they were called in high school, elevated to
mystification, and which was pleasantly transmitted by the
newspapers, has now been totally upset. Apart from his wife, the
President has a mistress, say "Times", "Financial Times" and BBC,
after Mirjana Markovic published her story in biweekly Duga about
her, the other and him. The citizens of Serbia sighed - finally
something is being revealed, behind the robot image of the Serb
President. Naturally, for them, Sloba having an escapade is the same
as to have elephants flying over Belgrade. The few sceptics started
bidding about who can "he" be (if it is not Sloba, is it maybe Lilic?),
but for the majority of readers nothing can be changed here, and on

- 22 -
the other hand, having a mistress in this country is a matter of
prestige.

Nevertheless, this is not an easy story for the summer journalist

scene. This is a matter of peace or war for Serbia - was an
uncontrolled exclamation of a small opposition party leader in Serbia.
Even if it is not true, nevertheless some details about the story on the
love triangle must be respected.

First of all, the lady was called by her "eliminated" colleague,

Communist Stevan Mirkovic, "Suslov wearing a dress" and stated that
she pulls all the President's strings. And, when the journalists were
writing about Pozarevac, they would ironically say that this was the
place of birth of Mirjana Markovic and her husband.

Second, in the past months, her people, and this refers to JUL
(United Yugoslav Left) conquered all the important financial and
information points, and it is believed that SK - Pokret za Jugoslaviju
(League of Communists - Movement for Yugoslavia) has "purged" the
cadres in the army. Finally, this lady has always predicted without
any error the fall of different people, previously used by her husband.

Now she announced in "Duga" that when "he" will lose his power,
he will also lose all he gained with it. The threat is evident also from
what the correspondent of "Financial Times" concluded: that
Milosevic was given a "lethal kiss" on his forehead by his wife.
And this is how she starts the story: "The two of them, she and he,
had similar biographies until recently. Of similar age, graduated from
similar faculties, and had a similar childhood and adolescence. Since
they were married after graduation, they had common friends and
affinities... Modest people, serious, hard-working and bright. They
would probably have remained the same if it weren't for the fact that
he somehow suddenly became an extremely important personality. The
new place in the societal hierarchy ruined the modest and bright
harmony of their small family".

JUL's leader discovers that he "...is not modest any longer. He is

preoccupied with the types of cars he rides and models of clothes he
wears. He is not serious as he used to be. He is more often in
"amusing" company and without her... Along with the new job, the
new car, the new clothes... came a new woman. We was non-
conformist before, and now he experiences it as a danger for his
status, and this is why he won't divorce his wife".

We understand that the rival has only the capacity to be the second
one, and that she wears short dresses and has a brief working
experience. She has no faculty degree nor husband, and wishes to
marry a famous personality. She uses her affair with "him" to scare
her colleagues at work. However, says Mirjana Markovic, full of
anger, she will never manage to achieve what she wishes the most, to

- 23 -
appear in public with him.

Making account of which of the three won and lost the most, the most
important part belongs to "him": "He has lost his old personality and
ruined everything in the life of his family. he made his wife and
children unhappy, and naturally, he has lost his friends too. When he
will stop holding the position he has, he will not be able to bring back
anything of what he has lost. I am convinced in this. And when he
will lose the post, he will also lose whatever he has gained with it".
Vladan Vasilijevic, law professor and an oppositionist, states that this
story is in the function of creating the illusion that the policy of the
two spouses (SPS and JUL) is not the same. "The goal is to trick the
public that there are discrepancies. It will be seen in September, when
the electoral campaign for the Federal parliament will start. They will
try to create a strong coalition which must create the illusion of a
multi-party parliament. This is an open attempt to reach a
homogeneous maximalist coalition which will replace the previous
fiascos of the SPS with Radicals or Djindjic's Democrats".

Therefore, as it often happens, after the publication of the diary, it

will be clear whom is this story directed to and who really got the
"lethal kiss". Because Mirjana Markovic warns at the end, that only
people motivated with high and honest ideals are honest in their
personal lives. And vice-versa. Only the one who is honest in his
personal life, can be honest in his societal role". And it is well known
that the societal roles in Serbia are of vital importance.

EDITORIAL

ENGLISH "BOBBIES" IN KOSOVA

by VETON SURROI

Dark police caps, clean blue shirts and slightly darker ties reflect a
respectable civic order. And most likely this was one of the main
reasons why Montenegro's police chose the above described uniform.
The second reason, concealed from the public, was that this uniform,
in the closed competition of series of models, reminded quite much
the classic uniform of the San Francisco police.

This is how the history of the fashion of force in the former

Yugoslavia looks like. At the beginning of the war in Croatia, the
images of American action films could be observed: the Croats had
their young "Rambos" wearing Ray Bans (General McArthur's old
model), sleeveless shirts and holding automatic guns with tubes turned
towards the sky, the Serbs had Arkan's death squadrons, camouflage
uniforms and wool caps which could become masks when needed...

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Now in Bosnia we see warriors with ribbons around their heads:
Christians wearing black ribbons, Muslims green ones... All of them
reflecting the whole cycle of American films about Vietnam, starting
from "Apocalypse", "The Deer Hunter" and "Coming Home", movies
which filled up the cinemas in the former Yugoslavia and which were
appreciated the most from New Year's TV program.

Searching for new post-Communist uniforms seems to be one of the

most important requests of the new/old states. And in a way, they
reflect the character of the regimes. The Polish and Hungarians didn't
make many changes: they just brought back the seals and hats of their
countries before WWII. The new states, as Croatia, made radical and
many changes: their ordinary soldiers have perfect American
uniforms, as signs of leaning towards the West; on the other hand, the
officers have brownish uniforms, bordering between the uniforms of
the Turk and some Latin-American military, as if they wished to
show that this state needs a strong hand.

Naturally, there are also some states which didn't change their police
uniforms at all, e.g. Macedonia, which can also be a pragmatic aim
not to waste money needlessly, but also a difficulty to detach from the
idea of having Macedonia inside the Yugoslav frame. (This is not
valid for the army of this state: Macedonian military purchasers
seemed to have found cheap uniforms in some former Soviet states in
Central Asia, for red camouflage uniforms can be found in
Macedonia, and they irresistibly associate with the flora and fauna of
the big Eastern continent).

This whole description would be incomplete without the par

excellence police state. In Serbia, the police wears camouflage
uniforms, conveying a clear message, that in this country there are
two armies: one of brown uniforms where only the officers are paid
and the other wearing blue, which through the Ministry of Internal
Affairs is almost a private and paid police of the Serbian President.
This is well known to all fearing Serbian citizens today, and I can
imagine their surprise when they'll meet San Francisco's uniforms on
their way to the coast in Montenegro.

I know it is soon to think about the future Kosovan police, but if we

follow the parallels between the politics and the uniforms, I would
suggest our future police to be as the "bobby" in England. Meaning,
an unarmed guard street-guard who will help the elderly and children
to cross the streets and reflect a feeling of care and security for the
ones who have decided to walk down the streets till late evening.
During this century we were so fed up with repressive police that I
believe that "the bobby" would be welcome on the streets of Kosova
in the next century. I believe that we will see them by then.

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APPENDIX

J A V O R E / Albanian weekly

P.O. BOX 202

38000 PRISHTINA

Issued by the KOHA Editorial Board

English Edition: KOHA

Contact Person: Filloreta Bytyqi

Phone & Fax: +381 38 31 031

+381 38 31 036
Modem: +381 38 31 276

E-Mail: koha_pr@zana-pr.ztn.zer.de

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