Every Day Is Tuesday

The action called ``September 93'' reached a turning-point on Thursday. The day began with the press conference of the Crisis Headquarters where much more moderate statements could be heard and the central government was mentioned. Representatives of the Crisis Headquarters later had a talk with Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic. During the negotiations they decided to give up all their political demands (the government's resignation, elections, forming of the new government with all regions proportionally represented, solving the question as to where the government's seat would be). The news that a list of demands had been extended afterwards was later confirmed by Captain Dragomir Babic, the Commander of Town's Defense and Deputy Commander of the Crisis Headquarters. After the meeting he announced that the agreement had been reached and that all proposal and suggestions (and not demands!) made by soldiers had been accepted, that the army would withdraw from the streets and that all problems would be solved through 'legal institutions of the system' as `the army is not meant to deal with politics.'

``Political demands had been planted. It seems that one political party is behind everythingthe radicals. Their goal was to topple our President Karadzic. They were doing it through one member of the Crisis Headquarters,'' claimed Captain Babic.

It seems that the price will have to be paid by the first man of the action, Commander of the Crisis Headquarters, Ostoja Zec, his wife and Miljan Zugic. It is too early to tell whether several people were sacrificed so that others could save their skin or some political party decided to shake Karadzic's position and topple the government because of the division of booty, Geneva or something else.

There were speculations about who is behind the action ever since the soldiers' rebellion in Banjaluka began. Vojislav Seselj, the leader of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), was most suspicious. His popularity among Bosnian Serbs is frightening, and can be compared only with that of Karadzic. However, the soldiers controlled by the Crisis Headquarters had a conflict with a group of radicals on Tuesday. Several machine-gun bursts could be heard in the town while Ostoja Zec and Dragomir Babic talked to the journalists. A dilemma was resolved several minutes later when a smiling soldier entered the room and said, ``Here are the radicals. We are taking them away.'' Ostoja Zec then gave an explanation not hiding his satisfaction, ``We have decided to transfer the captives from the State Security Center to the Culture Hall where there's more room and conditions are better. The radicals found out about it. As the Vice President of their party in Banjaluka, Pantelija Damjanovic (the owner of Hotel `Bosna' suspected of war profiteering) was among the captives, they freed them by trickery, captured our security guards and took them away. But, we discovered them, caught them and released our people. No one was killed or injured, since we are crack soldiers.''

We could later see the weapons which they confiscated from the captured radicals: a dozen automatic rifles, three machine-guns, ammunition, explosive... ``We get killed out there on the front because we don't have the ammunition, and they keep it in Banjaluka. Why do they need it?,'' said one member of the Crisis Headquarters.

Direct clash between the rebels and the radicals, and Seselj's animosity towards the Crisis Headquarters could represent a ``smoke screen,'' but if this is so one could say that this might rate as a first class swindle. Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic was also mentioned in speculations (possible blackmailing of Karadzic ahead of the Geneva negotiations)...

One shouldn't immediately rule out a possibility that this is a classic apolitical army rebellion (which Karadzic routinely crushed). Being on the spot, that is exactly what it looked like.

``We have been preparing this for months,'' said Ostoja Zec and added, ``They had noticed that something was cooking, so that they sent me two majors with 300,000 DM. They also offered me a loan for my workshop which has been closed since the war began. Just in case, they left us with 20 liters of fuel in each tank to prevent our reaching Banjaluka. However, we managed to find fuel, we simply confiscated a cistern and left from Cerovac (the Doboj battlefield) for Banjaluka, where our guys who had been on leave waited for us. We met at the intersection in Prijedor and launched the action a week earlier than planned. We surprised them and took control of the town without firing one bullet.''

Despite the dilemma as to who organised the action, one thing is certain. It has highlighted the antagonisms between Pale and Banjaluka. It is also indicative that in blocked Banjaluka VREME (``I know, you are the guys who write against Serbs'') rated better than ``Channel S'' (TV programme broadcast from Pale).

``The Parliament holds its sessions in ruined Derventa or on Mount Jahorina where our journalists froze last winter and had to wash with snow because there is no electricity and water,'' said an employee at the local television. ``Why wouldn't they meet here when conditions are incomparably better,'' she wondered.

At one point the forming of the Serb Autonomous Region of Bosanska Krajina was being justified by economic indicators. As was supported by figures, Banjaluka gave more to the center that it received from it. The situation is even clearer knowBosanska Krajina is geographically most compact of all territories controlled by Bosnian Serbs. It also encompasses most of economic, geographic and cultural potentials. One of the favorite topics in Banjaluka is fiscal politics, i.e. the fact that all money goes to the center and is returned after it has been devalued by inflation.

In any case, the central government won this war, primarily thanks to media. The rebels had taken control of television and radio which was met with Karadzic's fierce response: the very same evening he blocked the relay station on Mount Majevica, so that the citizens of Banjaluka were left without the local TV programme. And, then, the units from Prijedor, under command of Colonel Zeljaja, took control of the relay stations on Mount Kozara. The signal could thus not return to Banjaluka, so that television screens went blank. ``Wolves from Vucar'' immediately seized the private ``BIG'' radio, but the rebels regained it. This station was the only one broadcasting at one point, but on Thursday morning a programme of a phantom radio of the Serb Republic in Bosnia full of false reports could be received on the frequency of the official Banjaluka radio. Pale Television also made its contribution, with its news bulletins where the rebellion was reported close to the end after numerous reports on successful factories, and according to a tried recipe: ten seconds for the report, then five minutes of Karadzic and finally a commentary.

In any case, it was seven days of fear, hope and intoxicating atmosphere (flowers on tanks, scores of young walkers mixing with the army, prohibition, curfew, bringing food to the soldiers, surprisingly kind army, arrests and disarming of robbers...) Banjaluka is now returning to reality dictated by prices which are on the same level as the ones in Belgrade, but twice as high when expressed in DM (the exchange rate has been stable here due to the lack of cash and the fact that the rebels have routed the dealers). Military salaries and pensions do not exceed 2 DM per month, while those fortunate few who still have work receive 5 to 15 DM. Unlike Mostar and Sarajevo, Banjaluka was at least spared of destruction in this war, if one ignores the mosquesall sixteen of them were blown up (Catholic churches are riddled with shots, but still standing). The perpetrators are likely not to be punished. Croats have left the area in large numbers, and a Muslim is hard to find. They must have had it with maltreating, searches, beating and swimming across the Vrbas river in clothes (under the threat of arms). Those who stayed now live ``underground.'' ``We owe to our Serbs for still being alive,'' one Muslim said. ``Some of them risked their lives in order to protect us. But, they are moving out. Some other people have arrived.''

In order to illustrate how the structure of the town's population changed due to the outflow of locals and the influx of refugees and inhabitants of nearby villages, the citizens of Banjaluka say, ``It's as if every day was Tuesday.'' Tuesday used to be a market day here. A young woman told us, ``People who came to Banjaluka from villages have not been forced to change their habits: they go to bed at 7 o'clock as there is no electricity, they don't shower as there is no hot water, they chop wood on the balcony... Idyllic!''