Anger At The State

by Velizar Brajovic

We don't know what the final straw was, but last week Montenegro's Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic said he would ask the federal prime minister to investigate "the obvious need for personnel changes in the entire foreign policy service of FR Yugoslavia". He said that is necessary to improve diplomatic activities and secure a higher level of quality for Yugoslavia's position in international relations

Economy Minister Miodrag Gomilanovic, Tourism Minister Dragan Milic and Djukanovic concluded that the Avramovic national bank failed to provide financial support, that the Montenegrin government's proposal to the federal government to ease the entry of foreign tourists was rejected, as well as suggestion on abolishing visas. Instead of all that, a media campaign was launched against Montenegro's tourist industry in a favor of Greece. That was helped by a federal government edict on abolishing the previously obligatory bank documents to take up to 1,000 German Marks out of the country and the decision, at the start of the tourist season, on changing the border regime for Macedonians which Milic said has halved the number of tourists in Montenegro.

At almost the same moment, the federal foreign ministry issued a statement condemning Croatia's shelling of Greda in the Boka Kotorska area which surprised local residents. Later it turned out to be a 20 mm shell that landed in the border area in a place accessible only from the air.

So why is Montenegro, i.e. Djukanovic, angry with Vladislav Jovanovic and not for example, federal customs chief Mihail Kertes who is rumored to be doing much more damage to the republic's economy under the sanctions.

The anger with Jovanovic is not recent. Last March, Montenegrin President Momir Bulatovic complained of the small number of Montenegrins in the federal foreign ministry; on April 10 Djukanovic told Pobjeda daily that "diplomacy is one field where the FRY has suffered a complete fiasco" and that he has "a bad opinion of the activities of Yugoslav diplomacy" and that he is "unhappy with the treatment of Montenegro's stands in formulating Yugoslavia's foreign policy". He also said there is a smaller percentage of Montenegrins in the diplomatic service now than in the former Yugoslavia.

It's hard to predict the effects of the Montenegrin initiative which analysts believe could create tension and could be linked to similar intentions in Serbia. If not, informed sources said, the Montenegrins would give Federal Prime Minister Radoje Kontic a hard time because he is, at least Djukanovic claims, the one to raise the issue of personnel changes in the foreign ministry.