Showdown On The Danube

The blockade was broken at about 2 a.m. in the night between September 6 and 7. We are not talking about U.N. sanctions but about the blockade of the Danube imposed by ``White Rose'' and ``New Byzantium'' associations helped by several brotherly and patriotic organizations. That night Ukrainian ship ``Captain Ilijusin'' simply blew away all obstacles and sank two boats and one yacht, as people from the blockade's headquarters claimed. To add to the trouble, seven other convoys of barges which had been stopped escaped while one ship belonging to the blockade's headquarters made a narrow escape in front of the furious 'Ilijusin'. Two shots were also heard. It is still not certain whether it was Ukrainians intending to show that they were serious or some 'Byzantines' responding violently. The organizers reacted promptly. ``We've called the Ministry of the Interior more than twenty times so far, but no one did anything. They think that we are fooling around,'' they said.

That is how ``White Rose'' and ``New Byzantium'' opened the second front, this one against the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Traffic. Radomir Smiljanic, the President of ``White Rose,'' and Jovica Vlahovic, the Commander of the blockade's headquarters, called a press conference, which was also attended by a Belgrade-based representative of Bulgarian inland shipping, who testified about the incident. The headquarters has no intention to surrender as could be expected. They told the journalists that all roads leading to the border crossings towards Bulgaria and Macedonia will soon be blocked, adding that ``brothers Greeks and Bulgarians'' will be the only ones spared, and that charges will be brought against Interior Minister Zoran Sokolovic and Traffic Minister Zarko Katic. According to them, the blockade is aimed at fighting the embargo but also at enforcing strict implementation of the U.N. Resolution 820!

``Either everyone will navigate the Danube, of no one!,'' said Radomir Smiljanic and added it was not right for foreign captains to violate sanctions their countries imposed. One Ukrainian convoy (the name was not cited) was accused of killing Sava Jovanovic, a thirty-year-old worker of the ship-building company from Banovci. He was allegedly thrown into ``the Danube's murky waters'' by Ukrainian sailors, which police hushed up. If friendly quarrels between Jovica Vlahovic and Radomir Smiljanic of a type., ``Let me say that!'' are disregarded most interesting were rejections that the state had anything to do with the action.

``The state has nothing to do with this. The Danube blockade is an expression of people's revolt,'' Jovica Vlahovic and Radomir Smiljanic explained. When asked what state firms supported them, they replied that PIM and the Belgrade dredging company let them use two big ships (``Soca'' and ``Lajkovac'') on insistence of their unions, that ``Ratko Mitrovic'' let them have concrete blocks with metal rings to tie the ships. Fuel (700 liters) was provided by ``Spona'' from Frankfurt and the Yugoslav inland shipping company (JRB) sent them ship ``Kovin.''

``I think that the General Manager of JRB actually want to cause us damage by sending ``Kovin'' to us. The ship is one hundred years old and it uses a lot of fuel,'' Vlahovic voiced his suspicions. ``He took 150 liters of fuel when he left. The people from the Electrical Company were very patriotic and supplied us with electricity in two hours, PTT (the state postal company) was helpful and provided us with temporary telephone lines and Zemun police allowed us to stage a public event on the bank. The river police was fair and the portmaster's office in Belgrade sent us a fax with instructions how to stop the ships.''

But, the portmaster's office in Belgrade refuted such allegations. ``We saw the action as a public event, aimed at expressing solidarity between foreign boatmen and our people,'' said Captain Slobodan Zivanic, the pormaster in Belgrade. ``If the rules are strictly obeyed, then a ship in transit cannot be stopped nor can it take anyone on board. Both sides violated the regulations. This was an extraordinary situation, it needn't have been escalated, especially as foreign ships eventually passed. The moment the Danube got blocked, the situation outgrew its original idea. Police are currently collecting the data about owners of the ships, which blocked the river. They will be charged with endangering the safety of navigation. When we find out who the owners are we will order them to move. If they refuse we shall move them ourselves. Once again, I'd like to reiterate that we have not send them any instructions,'' the Captain added.

However, the headquarters of the Danube blockade backed their claim with papers dated July 15 which bear the seal of the portmaster's office in Belgrade and are signed by Captain Slobodan Zivanic. The third item which is most interesting literally says: If navigation is in any way prevented during the event, all necessary navigable objects should be provided so that participants in navigation are stopped as follows: for downstream navigation on kilometer 1176 (Radecin), the right bank, for upstream navigation on kilometer 1169, the left bank (the JRB anchorage).

``They granted us permission because they thought that we were horsing around...,'' Jovica Vlahovic said. ``Now they want to go back on their word and mine our action from all sides. We will lift the blockade only if some state institution gives us written orders. It has not been done thus far, as no one has the guts. Even if they dare do it, the people will be after them with shit-covered sticks...''

The blockade is continuing until the Danube freezes, the organizers said. On the other hand, there are rumors that JRB has never been better off.