Feast

All recipients of state welfare were given an advance payment before Labour Day. This week the municipal centres for social work have begun distributing the rest of the monthly allowance. The amount is based on an average salary in May and raised by 24 per cent compared to the amount allotted last month.

From the republic budget a one-member household will be entitled to 9 dinars, two-member 12.60, three-member 16.20, four-member 17.10 and a five-member household will get as much as 18 dinars.

From the city budget a one-member household will receive 1.53 dinars, two-member 2.14, three-member 2.75, four-member 2.90, and a five-member family will get 3.60 dinars.

A kilo of meat costs around 6 dinars.

Threats And Promises

Vladimir Zhirinovsky has made his second visit to the Serbs. The leader of Russia's Liberal-Democrats spent most of the time he was here (from Sunday, May 8 to Tuesday, May 10) meeting the representatives of the Bosnian Serbs, but also managed to attend the rally of the Serbian national Revival Party (SNO), staged on VE Day. Accompanied by retired generals and admirals, Zhirinovsky used his short visit to repeat the already promised bombing of all cities from where NATO aircraft take off heading towards Serb positions and to threaten Europe and U.S. that the war in the East could be ``their last war.''

However, the attitude of the current Serbian authorities towards him is of a far greater importance. None of both the Yugoslav and Serbian officials found it necessary to receive him, but the SNO rally, the extremists' celebration of VE Day, posed a rather painful problem for the partisans of the Serbian regime. Moreover, Biljana Plavsic, the vice-president of the Bosnian Serb republic, who is particularly disliked in 33 Tolstoy Street (the residence of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic), had announced her attendance. The dilemma whether to allow or ban the rally was rather serious. Common sense eventually won. Extremist Zhirinovsky may rule Mother Russia one day and the rally was approved two hours before it was scheduled to begin. Zhirinovsky then promised all possible help to Serbia and the Serbs, including military aid.

Couches And Deep Freezers

According to the latest announcement by the Federal Bureau of Statistics the standard of living of the citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia went up in March this year in comparison with the previous month: the difference between the average salary in March (80.92 dinars) and the monthly expenses for food and beverages for a four-member family (542.48) is smaller that it was in February when the salary was 63.86 dinars while food and drinks cost 399.48 dinars. This improvement in March this year may dim the memories which needn't reach back further than a year ago. This March one had to invest 9 salaries in the purchase of a couch (medium quality) or 4.5 average salaries a year ago. The price of a table and six chairs is equal to 15.7 salaries now and 8.6 last year.

Consumers may find solace in the fact that their purchasing abilities haven't changed if they are looking for a deep-freezer. It costs 11 average salaries now or 11.6 a year ago.

The Diary

Apart from a brief report of the killing of guard corporal Dejan Mitrovic and soldier Goran Filipovic in the army barracks ``Sajmiste'' in Mladenovac, and an announcement that ``runaway murderer Saban Bajrami was liquidated,'' the Information Service of the Yugoslav Army (VJ) Headquarters in its usual manner deprived the public of the details and the circumstances of the tragedy for which the Yugoslav Army leadership is largely held responsible.

The diary and the letters written by Dejan Mitrovic and published by the Belgrade daily ``Vecernje Novosti'' on May 6 point to such a conclusion. Dejan wrote, ... ``I can't stand this any longer. I'll lose my mind. I can hardly wait to go home. It's Easter, there are no officers, the sentry is chaotic. One madman fired at me the day before yesterday. He had brought the bullet from home. I heard the bullet fly past me.''

The same paper revealed that the Military Medical Commission assessed on two earlier occasions that Bajrami was incapable of military duty because of being ``emotionally immature,'' which, putting it mildly, means that his behaviour is unpredictable. How did Bajrami grow ``emotionally mature'' all of a sudden (the police chased him in a wood in order to take him to the army)?

The Yugoslav Army should provide an explanation how could he have been given an automatic rifle with live ammunition and sent on sentry duty. Political connotations of the tragedy without previously looking into the circumstances and the events that preceded it makes parents increasingly wary and suspicious of possible negligence and tragedies in the army barracks when they are about to send their sons to the army where soldiers are ever frequently getting killed.

The worst is that not a single officer has ever been found guilty.

Milos Simovic, the Head of the Kosovo District, wants to ban the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo headed by Ibrahim Rugova. Simovic says that the party is not registered and aims its activities against the laws and the constitution of the Republic of Serbia. This has been tolerated for four years, but ``it's high time that a demand is put to the Serbian institutions to ban it.''

British Foreign Office Minister Douglas Hogg got the credit for determining ``the right moment.'' According to Simovic, Hogg was surprised that one unregistered party could survive so long while working against the country where it exists.

On the other hand, Simovic finds it only natural to demand the banning of the biggest party of Kosovo Albanians and simultaneously appeal to the very same Albanians to ``be constructive,'' take part in the elections and participate in the government.