Shorts

Yugoslavia Unsafe For Foreign Investments

The British consulting house Economist Intelligence Unit has upgraded Yugoslavia's political rating from E to D, in its report for this year's third quarter results achieved by the former Yugoslav republics. The EIU says that the mutual recognition of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Croatia as well as the cessation of hostilities has opened a new era of stability in the region. However, Yugoslavia still has an E rating in terms of potential investments and credits, as it is considered risky for any kind of venture. Both Croatia and Macedonia have a higher rating at the moment.

The EIU predicts that Yugoslavia will have to allocate 1.2 billion Dollars per annum to pay its foreign debt, after it reaches some kind of agreement with foreign creditors. It is unlikely that any such agreement will be reached before next July.

It seems that it will be more difficult than expected to entice shrewd foreign companies to skate on thin Yugoslav ice.

Theft

Only wreaths and flowers had been stolen from the Pozarevac cemetery in the not so distant past. However, over 15 graves were thoroughly looted last weekend, when unknown robbers took with them everything they could get hold of: suits off the deceased, coffins and other things.

The authorities had no choice but to assign a police night shift to guard the cemetery, as it seems that even the belongings of the dead are no longer safe.

Happy People

The daily Vecernje Novosti has come up with the life story of surely one of the unluckiest individuals in these parts.

Vukasin Sekularac of Bijelo Polje cut off his own toe with an ax at the age of four. He shot himself in the hand with a rifle a year later and chopped off his left thumb when he was seven. His childhood woes ended at the age of twelve when he accidentally slashed his wrist.

Sekularac managed to burn his right hand to the bone after suffering an electric shock during regular military service. The doctors decided to amputate his hand, but he somehow escaped from the hospital and ran back to the barracks where the wound got infected. He later almost got ran over by

a tank during an anti-government rally in Pancevo.

He survived another electric shock, a fall into shallow water off a 15-meter cliff, he got thunderstruck, bitten by a snake, fell off a five-storey building while repairing a chimney...

Fifty-year old Vukasin Sekularac says he is a happy man. Why not, there are many individuals in the former Yugoslavia who were struck by disasters far worse than his own.

The Last Celebration

Chairman of the Vukovar municipality Miroslav Keravica called a ceremonial assembly session to mark the fifth anniversary of the "liberation of Vukovar". Wreaths were laid on the graves of soldiers killed in the battle of Vukovar, while the chairman of the executive committee, Vojislav Stanimirovic, said the following: "We want to continue to mark this day as the day of the Vukovar victims for all those who died during the liberation of Vukovar".

The statement left Serbs in Eastern Slavonia completely baffled and wondering how on earth the authorities intend to bring reconciliation between the "liberators" and the expelled Croats who are about to return to their homes.

A Politically Acceptable Clinic

The New Belgrade Mother and Child Institute needs money and medical devices for several hundred heart surgeries. The drama of the infants thus unfolds as the institute has demanded means for the purchase of 200 oxigenators needed for heart surgery.

"Our institution, although the only one of its kind in the country, can meet all the demands for children heart surgery in Yugoslavia. We have outstanding surgeons trained in the USA and the UK, and everything would be all right if we had a permanent fund", managing director of the clinic Dusan Milovanovic told the daily Dnevni Telegraf.

The fate of the clinic probably depends on whether its managing director, a candidate of the left-wing coalition rallying the ruling socialists and their communist allies, will win the forthcoming local elections.

The Mayor And TV

The Saint Petersburg mayor recently joined the list of the Saint Petersburg Television creditors, which, like so many other Russian institutions, operates and functions in market conditions. The event happened shortly before the elections, which means that there was hardly a broadcast without the mayor taking part in it. He was on TV when he opened hospitals, supermarkets, took public transport and shook hands with common citizens.

In fact, the citizens got fed up with seeing him so much that he lost the elections quite emphatically. The Saint Petersburg Television came up with this story at last week's debate on the role of electronic media in the development of democracy, to show the public effect of television.

The Sacking Of Mladic

The war in the form of statements between the cabinet of the Bosnian Serb President, Biljana Plavsic, and generals close to the recently sacked commander-in-chief of the Bosnian Serb Army Ratko Mladic, continues relentlessly. The most recent statement made by the Plavsic party says that Mladic's sacking and handing over duty to General Pero Colic is a foregone conclusion, while sources close to Mladic denied the claims immediately.

The Plavsic statement was made after a marathon, eight-hour session attended by Mladic's deputy Manojlo Milovanovic, head of intelligence Zdravko Tolimir, commander of the First Krajina corps Momir Talic, commander of the East Bosnian corps Novica Simic and commander of the airforce and anti-aircraft defence Zivomir Ninkovic.

It appears that the session was quite dramatic. Our sources say that the five generals have scorned Mrs. Plavsic for destroying the entire structure of the army by sacking Mladic and his aides, although they did not insist that the ousted general remains the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. They proposed that a solution should be found in concerted action with the core of the army general staff, whose post-Dayton plans do not include a commanding position for general Mladic. Ranking officers warned Biljana Plavsic at a recent meeting in Banjaluka that swift and radical changes in the army could leave the Bosnian Serb Republic defenseless at a time when the danger of war is still present and real. Plavsic agreed, but said that cuts on manpower in the army was stipulated by the Dayton accord and had to go ahead. The meeting ended without a concrete solution, although the two confronted sides showed more understanding for each other, VREME's reporter was told.

Pero Colic did not attend the session. He waited patiently in Prime Minister Gojko Klickovic's cabinet, separated from Plavsic's own cabinet by a single door. He wanted to see the news some time in the afternoon when the five generals who did attend the session refused to meet him. They took the side exit when they left the session, to avoid "stakeouts" by the families of imprisoned and missing soldiers, who staged a several-day peaceful protest rally outside the presidential building.

However, generals loyal to Mladic are still silent. VREME's source from that party says the generals swore to say nothing after a Manojlo Milovanovic interview to a Belgrade daily was, as they put it, badly misinterpreted.

The personnel staff in the army said they no longer had anything to do with appointing new ranks, but added that they noticed two things: the commander of the Romania Corps Dragomir Milosevic has refused to join the waiting list for a new flat and opted for an apartment in Belgrade instead, while General Arsic decided to take cash rather than extend his flat in Banjaluka.

It all points to the conclusion that they solved their housing problems over the summer, a time when they counted on staying in the Serb Republic for a longer period. General Arsic and the new commander-in-chief General Colic are known as cadres of General Momir Talic, which is why rumours have it that Colic is an interim solution appointed to absorb the rage of Mladic's supporters whereas Talic is the actual successor of Ratko Mladic. Talic allegedly expressed loyalty to the government but later regretted his act and withdrew it.

All outcomes are possible, an inter-Serb armed conflict included. Both the police and the army are alert, but young soldiers are fleeing the army and heading for home. They say it's not even deserting, because they are doing it with the consent of junior commanders. It is their opinion that it makes no sense to sacrifice their youth in a possible conflict. The RS Prime Minister has announced that Mladic will ceremoniously hand over his duties to Colic on Wednesday, but a counter statement cannot be ruled out.