Revenge Comes From Dedinje

One of the members of the Montenegrin ruling Democratic party of Socialists (DPS) main board told VREME after the 16 hour session that he was ready to vote for stronger ties between Serbia and Montenegro but that point never came up so he abstained from voting at all. "I can’t understand why a party body decides the fate of individuals and the state itself in a mood like that and in this way far from the eyes of the people who put them in power. This is my first time in a body like this. My interest has nothing to do with politics but I think I’m through with them all after this," he said.

Reactions after the session make it easy to conclude that most of the DPS main board members had been instructed to defend the theory that strengthening ties with Milosevic means defending the FRY. That theory was used to brand anyone who ever criticized Milosevic as destroyers of the federal state.

The start of the main board session was covered by TV crews and photographers but those pictures which were aired 24 hours later has nothing to do with the pictures that could have been taken at the end of the session, VREME sources said. Few people expected a session as long as this because, allegedly, earlier the DPS executive board had agreed that they only needed to adopt a prepared conclusion. VREME sources said the executive board session was also a fierce debate because Bulatovic demanded unacceptable changes in the government from Djukanovic who said he would rather resign. Bulatovic’s response was "so resign". That was when Djukanovic understood that his resignation was perhaps the final goal of Bulatovic’s initiative for the DPS to take some stand which would satisfy Milosevic.

Bulatovic asked Djukanovic to dismiss some of the prime minister’s closest associates which Djukanovic wouldn’t accept because that would mean he was punishing people he had told what to do. Djukanovic couldn’t abandon his deputy PM Slavko Drljevic, who isn’t even a DPS member but is the prominent banking and finance expert who wanted Montenegro to print its own money to pre-empt Belgrade’s attempt to generate hyperinflation. The Montenegrin prime minister also refused to abandon his culture minister Goran Rakocevic who repeated assessments of Milosevic Djukanovic made in an interview to VREME in an interview to a Japanese magazine. Many people feel that the VREME interview is the main reason why Milosevic is angry. That theory says Djukanovic fell victim to Milosevic’s personal vendetta. On the other hand, the demand to oust Montenegrin police minister Filip Vujanovic and state security chief Vukasin Maras can’t be included in that category since they made no statements in public but they are an obstacle to Milosevic because they broke up the Serbian president’s intelligence network in Montenegro. The people who operated that network up to the moment Djukanovic’s associates came to power were handsomely rewarded by Milosevic. Also, as Montenegrin trade mission chief in Washington Ratko Knezevic told VREME, Vujanovic was brought in at Bulatovic’s proposal with Djukanovic and parliament Speaker Svetozar Marovic agreeing so no one understands what he did to harm Montenegro’s interests.

The list of people to be ousted was drawn up to leave Djukanovic with only one option-resignation, and that would achieve Milosevic’s goal. His pressure on Bulatovic culminated over the past 10 days, VREME sources said and added that Bulatovic discussed the whole thing with Milosevic when they met last Friday. Bulatovic told a press conference that he had been in Belgrade but added that they hadn’t discussed any of this. However, Saturday and Sunday were unusually busy nights in the Montenegrin presidency building. Observers noticed unusual activity long into the night and a row of cars parked in front which means officials were in the building.

Montenegrin officials in the federal authorities were extremely busy, especially Defense Minister Pavle Bulatovic who makes up what Podgorica sources call the anti-bureaucracy strike force (Three B) with DPS parliament group chief Predrag Bulatovic and the Montenegrin president. While they were preparing for the main board meeting, Djukanovic was seen with Marovic at a basketball game in Budva. The impression was that he wasn’t upset about the whole thing.

The meeting was chaired by Bulatovic who voiced endless laments of the damage a group of officials had inflicted on Montenegro with their statements about Milosevic. His supporters claimed that state officials had made fundamental changes in the policies that had been adopted by the ruling party to win the elections.

When Djukanovic spoke (he spoke four times) the weight of his arguments made his opponents bow their heads, sources at the session said. He said he believed in the concept of a federal state as a very rational solution (which Bulatovic later confirmed at his press conference) and that should not be linked to his statements about the Serbian president which he voiced as his personal stand, that the authorities have to think about the interests of their own citizens which are being endangered by the actions of the Serbian leaders. Djukanovic got strong support from Marovic who had a hard time getting a word in. He asked to speak at least five or six times at one point and was allowed to speak only after several people threatened to walk out of the meeting.

"The majority group were deaf to all arguments, stubbornly advocating the theory that the Montenegrin authorities must not upset their relations with Milosevic," the VREME source said and added that Milosevic "wouldn’t have managed to get this kind of support even in the SPS main board".

Djukanovic made it very clear that the whole problem has to be debated in public because the people have to know what it’s all about, they have to be told who is advocating what and who is working to achieve someone else’s interests not the interests of the people of Montenegro. Djukanovic and Marovic said the place for that debate should be either an open session of the main board, a special party congress or a parliamentary debate. The VREME source said that finally, Djukanovic left the meeting without waiting for the vote, saying he would resign as party deputy leader and maybe as prime minister. The source said Marovic also said he would resign as DPS deputy leader. They left to open a food fair in Budva where Marovic told Nasa Borba reporters that he wouldn’t resign and give up the fight as easily as that.

No one can say correctly what the main board voted about, the VREME source said, since the question was hard to read let alone remember. At his press conference later, Bulatovic avoided questions about what the main board voted on exactly.

Several reporters spent the whole night waiting for an outcome. Foreign correspondents filed a number of stories about the turmoil in the Montenegrin authorities while the republic’s state media didn’t even report that the session was underway.

Information from official sources came a whole day late in expectation of the Bulatovic press conference and that’s also how long the main board took to formulate a statement. Neither the press conference or the statement allowed people to conclude what rational reason caused the clash among the republican leaders if it wasn’t Milosevic’s vendetta. The publicly aired censored press conference showed come contradictions in Bulatovic’s words, an uncertainty and a dose of fear of further developments. Bulatovic claimed that he didn’t ask for Djukanovic’s resignation. He said damage was inflicted on Montenegro by statements of some officials, praised the Serbian and federal state media, added that Montenegro will support Milosevic’s possible candidacy for federal president. Bulatovic said that choice of FRY president would get the support of the international community "because it would open the door to the democratization of Serbia". We don't know if he realized the implication of those words but his statement is a fierce accusation of the Serbian president and could lead to an attack on him tomorrow.

In any case, the public is confused because it only heard on side of the story. The other is the very powerful team around Djukanovic and Marovic who haven’t said anything yet. One official told VREME: "We won’t give up that easily because all the arguments are on our side. It’s going to be hard, we can’t go on together, and we have the obligation of not allowing Belgrade to direct Montenegro. We have to do everything in public, the government will speak up, parliament will meet, preparation are underway for the second round which we are waiting for quite calmly".