Shorts

Cleaning Up Vukovar

Four and a half years after the destruction of Vukovar and 10 days prior to the day the transitional administration was due to take over the town, someone remembered that Vukovar should be cleaned up or some more buildings brought down quickly. On Wednesday April 3, the ad columns in Politika daily included a tender for offers to clean up the town. The tender was published by the Vukovar housing and communal affairs secretariat and department for renewal and development. The conditions were clear: offers are sent in a sealed envelope marked "do not open - offer"; anyone who has the necessary equipment and is registered for the work can bid; and the job will go to whoever offers the lowest price per square meter of demolished building and the shortest deadline to bring down 10,000 square meters. The job: demolishing buildings that are old or have been damaged in the war and are a potential danger to the population, neighbouring buildings and traffic. Finally, the mess has to be cleaned up, the buildings must be leveled and a cover of earth of 30 centimeters brought in. Perhaps someone will build an even more beautiful and older Vukovar on the field.

Bombing the Mosque

An unidentified young man threw a hand grenade at the Bajrakli mosque in Belgrade. Luckily, no one was injured and the damage was only slight.

Belgrade Mufti Hamdija Jusufspahic got calls from many people in Belgrade voicing concern over the attack and lending support, the Mufti told Beta news agency. He added that the only official to call him was federal minister Zoran Bingulac. Unlike after other attacks on the mosque, there were no reactions from officials of Serbia, Belgrade or the Serbian Orthodox Church whose support always meant a lot, he said.

JUL Starts TV

Belgrade media reported that the Yugoslav United Left signed a preliminary agreement with the federal government on starting a joint TV station. The station will be launched by Ljubisa Ristic for the KPGT theater company and Spasoje Grdinic for Telesat (the company that owns the frequency used by JUTEL). Ristic announced the new channel on BK TV but Grdinic said the launch isn't certain yet.

Micunovic President

The temporary presidency of the Democratic Centre party was set up in Novi Sad on April 2. Dragoljub Micunovic was elected president and his presidency members are Bora Kuzmanovic, Pavel Popovic, Boran Karadzole, Velimir Simonovic, Momcilo Grubac, Dragoslav Petrovic, Damir Kakas and Miroslav Sproh.

The Vojvodina Reformist Party collectively joined the Democratic Centre but kept its autonomy and legal status.

Strays

The days of fighting against stray dogs in Kovin ended successfully. Dog hunters handed over 100 strays to the local communal service to collect a reward of 20 dinars per dog. Some talented individuals brought in five or more strays.

Maybe they should cool it with the humane action considering the overall poverty, since some poor pensioner could get the idea of catching someone's dog or sell his own pet.

Guard

We know Tomica Raicevic kept his place in the ruling party's politburo and that he's a federal minister without portfolio, but he obviously has very specific jobs as acting director of the Politika company. At least that's what people in the Politika printworks are saying. The DEM magazine (crime magazine) was Minic's bulwark but it's not public knowledge that the magazine is under the special control of the acting director. Sources said DEM is often late coming off the presses because Tomic is often unhappy with what's in it. The latest issue was late because of a report on Sarajevo refugees and Tomic set a record when he sent one issue back nine times.

Password

Trucks with Macedonian plates cruise north and south through Belgrade every day. The truckers often have large crosses hanging in their cabins. The cross is a symbol of Christianity and ordinary people also see it as a tool to scare vampires away.

The cross in Macedonian trucks could be a kind of passport like the ones used by drivers from Serbia and Croatia prior to the war in Bosnia. They raised three or just two fingers. Sometimes, a trucker would raise the wrong number of fingers and the response would be one raised finger.

We'll know in about a month what the new password is once the Belgrade-Zagreb highway reopens and Croatian truckers start rolling through.