Will There Be a "Little Dayton"

While in the building of the former government's house and in the Grand Hotel in Cetinje, preparations are going on for the inauguration of the newly elected president Milo Djukanovic on January 15, the public is trying to tell fortunes about whether the invited guests Slobodan Milosevic, Radoje Kontic, Milan Milutinovic, and especially the former president of Montenegro Momir Bulatovic will be present for the event, and also whether the announced demonstration of the supporters of Momir Bulatovic may disturb the realization of the act.

In any case, January 15 is considered to be "D Day", and not only in Montenegro. This day should be the one to close the circle of the rarely seen, one-year-long battle of Slobodan Milosevic and Momir Bulatovic against Milo Djukanovic and his associates. This dispute began with the famous interview which Milo Djukanovic gave for the Vreme weekly, when he said that Slobodan Milosevic was an obsolete politician and that his survival in any political position in Serbia and Yugoslavia was harmful. Since then, relations between Podgorica and Beograd have been the focus of public attention.

And after all this, the newly elected president of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, underlines that his attitude towards Slobodan Milosevic remains unchanged. He publicly states that he believes that it is expected from him in his new role to create and realize the policy of democratic and economic emancipation of Montenegro. "In this way I will integrate the function of the president of the republic into the ruling system of Montenegro. To the pity of Montenegro, this function has been disgraced in Yugoslavia, unnoticed in the world, and merged with the party function in Montenegro, and over the last few months, completely put in the function of ruining the status of the Montenegrin state," says Djukanovic.

He announces that he will be the president of the entire nation, that by overtaking the new function he will make his party function passive, while his readiness for new relations with the opposition has already taken shape, he has already signed and put into operation an Agreement about developing new regulations on elections, then also he announces that the transitional government will be multi-party until the new elections and asserts that a big step towards democracy is in view in Montenegro.

Djukanovic has, after the presidential elections, demonstrated in two moves a new attitude toward church and tradition. By paying his respects to the relics of St. Peter of Cetinje he has generated strong support coming from all over Montenegro. In this way he has obtained the "title" of the first Montenegrin president who has bowed to the reliquary of St. Peter, while the metropolitan Amfilohije commented, saying that there is nothing more natural than this act and that the fact that many consider this a miracle "only testifies to the extent to which we drifted away over the last 50 years from what in the 'normal' world is considered to be a healthy and understandable behavior." And when on the Orthodox Christmas Eve, the metropolitan Amfilohije appeared at the door of the Cetinje monastery (the three centuries old tradition is to put the oak tree branches over a fire in front of the monastery door) accompanied by Milo Djukanovic, the president of the Parliament, Svetozar Marovic, and the minister of religions, Slobodan Tomovic, one elderly citizen of Cetinje cried out clapping his hands: "Bravo! After King Nikola, this is the first master of Montenegro who respects Christmas Eve." With no special security measures, no inspection or control, Djukanovic was surrounded by thousands of present citizens. When he leaned the olive tree against the oak branches, the citizens started applauding and exclaiming, then there were gun shots and dynamite explosions from only twenty meters away from the central point of the event.

These details raise the inauguration of Milo Djukanovic above the formal act. The invitations were addressed to all diplomatic missions in Belgrade. There is a belief that this will represent an important turn in the policy of Montenegro, but also of Yugoslavia.

From some circles in Podgorica, claims are coming that it will be no surprise if Milosevic appears in Cetinje and in some way demonstrate that he has nothing in common with the campaign against Djukanovic and his reformist block, since, anyway, he has not spoken a single word about it in public. The pressure of domestic and international public is immense. Seemingly, the international forces are threatening Milosevic that he must not mingle with the will of the Montenegrin citizens expressed in the elections. Analysts claim that certain retreat is recognized in the lessening of the media propaganda of the Belgrade media in favor of Bulatovic. This could supposedly mean that Milosevic acknowledges the lost battle. However, this does not mean the lost war. Tensions within domestic circles reflect in the constant threats from demonstrations of Bulatovic's supporters who are supposed to raise their voices against separatist actions and for coexistence with Serbia within FR Yugoslavia. This was explained by Zoran Zizic, vice president of Bulatovic's party and vice president of the Montenegrin Parliament. Zizic explains further: "Against causing false fear from someone else's nationalism and imperiled Montenegro within mutual state in order to justify one's own incapability and failed policy. Having in mind the great interest of the citizens who daily come to our premises, I respect the existing enormous dissatisfaction with this arrogant, haughty and corrupted government, which is natural, so my opinion is that the protest of the citizens will be large, resolute and dignified." He also adds that people cannot be terrified with the demonstration of pure force in which, as he sees it, the police participate unwillingly.

The news leaked from Bulatovic's tabor about plans to gather approximately 200,000 citizens for the demonstrations, to paralyze Montenegro and force Djukanovic to withdraw. The date of the beginning has not been announced yet. However, simultaneously with this information, some other news is leaking which says that, especially after the presidential elections in Serbia, there is no really valid motive which could serve Bulatovic to gather the desirable number of supporters and that the support he had in the elections is rapidly melting. Bulatovic has tried to turn the arrest of Radovan Vukovic to his benefit, who had been arrested because of his statement about the possible re-tailoring of Montenegro. But Bulatovic did not succeed in his intentions, so later he differentiated himself from Vukovic's statement, although he has never done that about the statements of Zoran Knezevic and Pavle Bulatovic, which are not exactly the same, but resemble them a little. The Montenegrin public attorney Vladimir Susovic was explicit that in case the demonstrations take a violent turn and endanger constitutional order, he will suggest to the Supreme Court that it ban the operations of Bulatovic's political group. Sources close to the police tell VREME that it has been openly said to Bulatovic that in case of any violence in the streets, he will be arrested. This threat came after the registered visit to Montenegro of a group resembling the one that has been arrested in the Ljubovic Hotel in Podgorica, which came there in the election time with the intention to guard the ballot boxes.

There is still the question of whether all this has caused further delay of the beginning of the so loudly announced demonstrations of Bulatovic's supporters, or is it the knowledge that the terrified people do not even consider going out in the streets. On the other side, the information is spreading that Belgrade has refused support to Bulatovic. Counting on a big gathering, Bulatovic estimated, according to the same sources, that 5000 sandwich-boards would be insufficient. This quantity had already been supplied by an aluminum processing plant after the presidential elections, so Bulatovic asked the Army for help, who in turn, refused any possibility to help him. Moreover, one member of the Army Police stationed in Kolasin claims that they are instructed to help the Montenegrin police, in case of major riot...

The detail that Bulatovic, after the termination of his mandate, asked the Montenegrin police to provide him with police protection and put two vehicles and two cellular phones at his disposal for the period of six months, may mean that he does not accept the idea of turning over power to Djukanovic, but that he seriously counts on his return after the pre-mature parliamentary elections. However, after all his statements, it can hardly be imagined that he will appear on January 15 in front of the whole of Montenegro to congratulate Djukanovic. All chances are that he wishes to continue the war, which is, on the other hand, impossible without support from Belgrade.