The Generals' Flour

Only three weeks earlier, it was an illusion to believe that Mrs. Plavsic would give an interview to local journalists, while now, her speaker Milka Tosic personally informs the representatives of the seventh force about each presidential conference. On the other side, the SDS is tireless in its intention to muddy the first lady of RS and all her supporters as much as possible, through the Serbian radio and television and the state newspaper Glas Srpski. So, the time of rallies has moved to the area of RS. After the big rally in Banjaluka, the president addressed the citizens of Prijedor on Tuesday, at which time she, for the first time, invited the citizens not to vote for her party, the SDS. Meanwhile, the bishop Nikolaj was waiting for her in Banjaluka. As we have unofficially heard, his mission was to persuade Mrs. Plavsic to meet with Krajisnik. Judging by his short visit to Banski dvori, his mission was probably unsuccessful, as was the invitation of Slobodan Milosevic, who also intended to reconcile Plavsic and Krajisnik.

Last Thursday, after her decision to dismiss the Parliament and announce new parliamentary elections, several thousand citizens "spontaneously" gathered in front of the presidential residence. Probably surprised herself that Banjaluka's citizens (generally static and inexperienced in terms of rallies) supported her, she addressed them, without loudspeakers, and with tears in her eyes. "They will also flee in the end. They have the means, and they have places they can go. Is that what we fought for?" said Mrs. Plavsic, blaming some two hundred "thieves" from Pale. The same day, in a press conference, she showed the wiretapping and monitoring equipment, seized from the captured officers of the RS's Security Service who were on the special mission, with their base in the Banjaluka's hotel Bosna, across Banski dvori.

During a session of the dismissed Parliament at Pale, the RS's opposition organized a big rally in support of Plavsic's ideas, although not in support of her personally, competing vigorously in the epic expressions. There were few exceptions, though, among those devoted to the leaders from Pale, the radicals and, to a certain extent, the socialists.

On the very same day, a special American emissary to former Yugoslavia, Robert Gelbard, visited Banjaluka. After sharp tones directed to Pale, the deference to Momcilo Krajisnik was obvious. His generous offer to meet with Mrs. Plavsic in Bijeljina was refused by the hardheaded president, for security reasons. Exposed to the ruthless Gelbard's torture, Krajisnik and Pale have issued a special permission to the Serbian radio and television to broadcast the rally, characterized as an "insignificant gathering of pensioners", devoting several minutes to this event in the main news show. Just as a reminder, it's worth mentioning that only two days before the rally, upon a decision from Pale, the news broadcast from the studio in Banjaluka ceased, because "the SRT's journalists from Banjaluka operates under pressure from the president of RS".

The role of sad clown in the current events in RS certainly belongs to the chief of staff of the RS's Army, General Major Pera Colic. While waiting for long hours to be noticed in front of the cabinet of the president of RS, he filled all the ashtrays in the hall with cigarette butts, and probably then came up with the terrific idea of justifying his participation in the session of the dismissed Parliament by saying to Biljanja Plavsic that he went "to get flour for the Army". In his letter to Biljana Plavsic written after that, he evaluated her decision to dismiss the Parliament, which has much in common with flour, as premature, in respect to the fact that on the territory of the BC Federation, mobilization is being prepared. And while continuous correspondence and arguing is going on between Plavsic and Colic, and while the favorite journalists' open air restaurant in front of the Dom Kulture in Banjaluka is deserted (which is the center of all happenings in connection with the presidential palace), the security officers from Pale stroll the circle around Banski Dvori, in groups of three. Dressed as civilians - their blue jeans, sunglasses and guns are all the same, only T-shirts differ. Easily recognized in their causal strolls, they are warmly greeted by members of the security staff of Biljana Plavsic: "Hello, partisans, what's up!"