Grim Business

The speed with which events are taking place in the conflict between President Biljana Plavsic and the chiefs at Pale is reminiscent of bygone days of war. At the time of the writing of this text, late Tuesday night, Banski Dvor, the Building Housing President, Biljana Plavsic of Republica Srpska, is being surrounded by SFOR forces which received information in due time of the mission of 40 members of state security and special units from Bijeljine, who, dressed as civilians, have been sent directly from Pale to Banjaluka with the objective of arresting Mrs. Plavsic. As panic broke out, the challengers of SFOR blocked all entrances to the building, while the members of the international force hurriedly ran toward Banski Dvor. The members of SFOR placed machine guns on the windows of this important building. What had to be figured out was where the Pale and Bijeljine security forces scattered. Members of the armored unit of SDS in Banjaluka, along with certain members of the Banjaluka State Security Service, could be seen in front of the building, as they were impatiently waiting for the resolution of the newest events. The unsettled guardians of the President of the Republic, namely a special brigade under the command of Major Dragan Lukac, are warning that the situation could get bad: "Every one of us saw active duty. Nearly every one of us has been wounded. So that we are not afraid. We are going to the very end, even if we all have to die". In this way the events on the political scene around President Biljana Plavsic have reached the boiling point. While the results of the emergency meeting of the Head Committee of SDS in Pale were being expected, Mrs. Plavsic held a press conference in Banjaluka this Tuesday in which she explained the details of her arrest in Belgrade. She showed documents to reporters which confirm the illegal activities of Government enterprises, Centreks and Selekt-impeks. As we are finding out from direct sources in the Head Committee of SDS, it's members will take the stand that the President of Republika Srpska knew all along who and what is hiding behind these enterprises; and that Mrs. Plavsic's sudden change, her direct stab in the back of the SDS, will be credited to her taking of sedatives in the past two months. In an exclusive statement for VREME, Mrs. Plavsic said: "The question of an individual’s health is in God’s hands. I do not think too much about my own life. But I wish to tell them that I am feeling well". Plavsic confirmed in her statement for VREME that she knew about the dealings of Centreks and Selekt-impeks, but only in the period in which Radovan Karadzic was the head of Republika Srpska, and while she was Vice President: "I was receiving some not exactly confidential information. I was not entitled to raise any questions regarding the matter. The moment I signed my name beneath the President of Republika Srpska, I was forced to deal with these things", adds Mrs. Plavsic for VREME. Besides the sedatives and the foreign factor, members of the Head Committee of SDS also came up with the so-called Canadian contingent factor. Given that her Chief of Cabinet, Milos Prica, came from Canada, (and, according to members of the Head Committee of SDS, has direct contacts in that country), his influence on the policy changes of Mrs. Plavsic has been strongly suspect.

How ready is Plavsic to use the authority assigned to her by the Constitution? Mention is being made of the dissolution of Parliament which is set to meet this Friday. "Perhaps I will be forced to dissolve the Parliament of Republica Srpska, even though I was personally against such power being entrusted to the President of Republica Srpska, because it means unparalleled authority", explained the President. However, she will first accept the resignation of Gojko Klickovic, President of the Government. On the other hand, in it's afternoon meeting on the same day in Pale, the Head Committee of SDS decided to ask for the resignation of Mrs. Plavsic. The present Vice President of RS, Dragoljub Mirjanic, would assume her position along with all the authority that Plavsic would be forced to hand over to him. In the statement made following the Head Committee meeting at Pale, it is intimated that in the event that the President of the Republic were to refuse to accept her own resignation, it would remain for the Parliament to force her to resign in its session set for this Friday. Otherwise, Plavsic refused to participate in the workings of the Head Committee of SDS, which was the only proper thing to do given that the Pale Security Force is being sent after her, and given that key people in the Government are being called to account.

SURCIN AND BIJELJINE: The decision of the President of RS to hold a press conference could be interpreted as an attempt on her part to gain the support of the people. Even though Plavsic could count on the support of the international community, which itself has often proven undecided and lagging, the President of RS is presently counting on the support of the people, who represent her strongest lobby group. From sources close to President Plavsic we are learning on Tuesday morning that the special units under the command of Dragan Lukac have take charge of two transmitters on Kozare Mountain, and executed "a media coup of sorts" with the occupation of the Serb Radio Television building in Banjaluka — all the while the President of RS was on her eventful journey from London to Banjaluka, via Belgrade. According to reliable sources, on Monday evening in the presidential building a conflict broke out between the members of State Security and the members of the Special Units headed by Commander Lukac, loyal to President Plavsic. State Security attempted to force its way into the building and to assume control of it. President Plavsic insisted on keeping the situation under control. From the same source we learned that she stressed the significance of preventing any shedding of Serbian blood during that uncertain June evening. In her own words, "this is not 1992 when we were waging war against the Muslims and the Croats". The conflict ended with a few slaps in the face inflicted upon Ljuban Ecim, the Chief of State Security, who is otherwise directly involved in the gravest malversations, according to the documents Plavsic submitted in connection with the dealings of Centreks and Selekt-impeks. The Sixth Division of the Special Police Brigade assumed control over the building of Banski Dvor, thus coming under the direct authority of President Plavsic.

All attacks on Biljana Plavsic can be ascribed to statements made by the President of the National Parliament of RS, Dragan Kalinic, who dubbed the President of RS a traitor. "Republika Srpska is encountering these days many attempts at the degradation of the dignity of the Serb people by those who came to this country with the intention of bringing peace and stability to it". By supporting the police, Kalinic gently steered the direction of attack toward President Plavsic, justifying his actions with the fact that "some foreigners would not behave like dictators and occupiers if they did not feel that they had allies among our numbers".

On Monday, few people in Banjaluka believed in the return of Biljana Plavsic. The otherwise shortened visit to London by the President of RS concluded in her detention at the Surcin Airport by the members of State Security. Before leaving for London, after a three hour meeting, it was decided in Pale that the President of RS would address the Head Committee of SDS and the public on July 6. In that session, Plavsic was supposed to state the facts about the dealings of Centreks and Selekt-impeks. On the day she was headed to London, Mrs. Plavsic found out that the meeting of the Head Committee had been scheduled for June 30 — in other words, during her absence.

The conflict between Banjaluka and Pale — more accurately, between Biljana Plavsic and Momcilo Krajisnik — culminated in the decision of the President of Republika Srpska to suspend her Minister of Police, Dragan Kijca, directly before leaving for her visit to London. Mrs. Plavsic stumbled into the lion’s den named Centreks and Selekt-impeks, where she had no business poking her nose. Outlining her reasons for suspending the top man in the Police, Mrs. Plavsic pointed out that "Kijac did not wish to submit a report to the President of the Republic. At my first request for investigating the dealings of the cited enterprises, Kijac told me that he received the job contract directly from Radovan Karadzic. Hence it is clear that he could no longer remain in his position, because that would risk a conflict with IPTF". The President of RS accused Radovan Karadzic of having led a "state coup" in Republika Srpska. In her words, "he urges people to obstruct state institutions". That obstruction began with the absence of members of the civil section of the Chief Security Council of RS from two sessions. In a letter to the President of RS, Dragan Kalinic cited the reason for his absence as being the unsuitability of Banjaluka as a meeting place: "The suggested location is not according to the agreement, and does not permit for adequate presence of all persons relevant to the workings of the Council, nor for their full involvement in decisions which the Council could reach". All documents submitted to the press are marked "strictly confidential". One more indication of a state coup, according to Biljana Plavsic, is related to statements made by the Parliamentary President, Dragan Kalinic.

NEW ENTERPRISES: Several months ago Plavsic requested from the Government that the legal aspects of the business dealings of these enterprises be examined. In a supposed lack of care taken, the documents regarding this matter have been lost. The public, already abreast of the idea of Centreks, is becoming impatient with regard to how far Plavsic managed to carry the whole matter. She would probably hold those dossiers for a while longer in her drawer, had Kijac not dissolved the intelligence section of the antiterrorist brigade of MUP, otherwise loyal to Mrs. Plavsic, and if he had not sent Brana Pecanac, the Chief of Police at the Center for Public Safety in Mrkonjic Grad, into early retirement. The intelligence section of the antiterrorist brigade of MUP gave Plavsic evidence indicating illegal dealings, which she used in serving subpoenas against important people in RS as well as against the cited enterprises with the Regional Prosecutors in Bijeljina and Banjaluka. As the paper Reporter of Banjaljuka unofficially learned from very official sources, it is stated in documents submitted to the Prosecutor of Bijeljine that Centreks and Selekt-impeks illegally gave substantial amounts of foreign currency to institutions as well as individuals, among which number the State Security of RS and the former President of RS, Radovan Karadzic. As soon as the dust rose around the Parliamentary statements of Mrs. Plavsic several months ago, in which she decided to take on the so-called Government enterprises, there suddenly appeared nonexistent individuals as owners of Centreks. Hence the considerable possibility that the machinations in which these two enterprises are involved will never see the light of day. Many believe that these enterprises changed names in the intervening period, and their existence is questioned by the President of RS herself, who points out the sudden appearance of enterprises Erline and Javnost in Pale, and Genex Trade in Banjaluka. They could be mixed up in shady dealings, serving as a front for government enterprises.

As it was assumed that Plavsic learned of this sensitive information from the section of the Antiterrorist Brigade of MUP loyal to her, Kijac received a direct order from Krajisnik to investigate who are the undesirables jutting out of the system. Accusing the top Serb policeman of "willfulness and disregard for the function of the President of the Republic and Chief Commander of the Armed Forces, which includes MUP", Mrs. Plavsic made a decision to suspend Kijac. With that, she explicitly forbade "that anyone change her decision, or make another decision in the name of the President, during her absence from RS". Plavsic declared the decision of the Minister of Police void, and ordered Major Dragan Lukac not to engage the Sixth Division of the Police Brigade for Antiterrorist Activities beyond the region of Banjaluka until given the go-ahead by the President of RS. She entrusted him with the continued command over this unit. The Government comes on the scene: fourteen ministers are declaring Biljana Plavsic’s decision regarding suspension void, stating that "MUP is not obliged and must not act on decisions made illegally, even if they are brought by the President of the Republic".

In this general confusion, Plavsic could not answer the question of who is the commander of the Sixth Division of the Special Unit of MUP, whose commander, Dragan Lukac, was fired by Dragan Kijac. Kijac’s decision was declared void by Plavsic, with the Government getting the last word in its declaration of the decision of the President of the Republic as void. Because of this Plavcis does not know who at the present time is the Minister of Police, while she is being "guarded" by Lukac’s Special Unit. The Government is issuing a statement during the visit of the President of RS to London that Biljana Plavsic is directly involved with foreign elements. Thus, according to the Government, Plavsic joined the side which "with the incorrect implementation of the Dayton Agreement wishes to dissolve RS".