Playing With Fire Amid Tears

As this issue of VREME goes to print, events in Montenegro are nearing their outcome in very dramatic circumstances after months of political crisis

The last reports before this article was completed said outgoing Montenegrin President Momir Bulatovic and his associates were leading 7-8,000 followers towards the republican government building where tear gas was released and shots were heard. This was Momir Bulatovic’s final attempt to stay on top in Montenegro and the casualties be damned.

Bulatovic scheduled a peaceful and dignified "glorious rally of the people" for Monday, January 12, just three days before his term in office expired, in Podgorica and claimed it would be attended by at least 100,000 of his followers. He didn’t say what the goal of the gathering was but left what he called the organizing committee to formulate demands.

Djukanovic and his people showed no intention of preventing the rally but they prepared for it.

Police minister Filip Vujanovic made several public warnings that no violence would be tolerated or attempts to endanger constitutional order in Montenegro. The education ministry told parents and school principals not to take children to the rally.

Djukanovic’s faction of the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists spoke up along with a number of state institutions and political figures with a clear message that peaceful demonstrations are a democratic act but the organizers shouldn’t try anything else and it did seem for a moment that the organizers of the rally would try something.

Momir Bulatovic told a session of the FRY Supreme Defense Council just a few days before the rally that he can’t control the popular movement in Montenegro which he said would number at least 100,000 people. He also claimed that at least 80% of the Montenegrin police supported him and proposed measures which would mean a complete radicalization of the political conflict in Montenegro. He indicated that there would a take over of the Pobjeda state daily building as well as the Montenegrin state radio and TV, government and presidency. At the same time, a blockade would be raised to prevent Milo Djukanovic from returning to Podgorica from his inauguration in Cetinje.

The Supreme Defense Council also discussed the possibility of introducing a state of emergency in Montenegro. FRY President Slobodan Milosevic agreed to that scenario as did FRY Defense Minister Pavle Bulatovic who is involved heavily on Momir Bulatovic’s side. But, Yugoslav Army (VJ) chief of staff General Momcilo Perisic and federal Prime Minister Radoje Kontic disagreed. That report was later denied but very reliable sources said it’s true.

The rally in Podgorica drew great attention. It was announced to start at a symbolic five minutes to noon in front of the Montenegrin parliament. The first day the crowd grew to 12,000 people and the people kept saying there are too few of us. The police didn’t block the roads to Podgorica but it paid special attention to cars carrying Bulatovic’s followers in from other parts of the republic, confiscating handguns, some dynamite and a few explosive devices. The demonstrators arrived in Podgorica in groups, stood in front of the parliament building, waved flags and banners saying things like We Won’t Let Yugoslavia Go, climbed trees and listened to the occasional speaker.

It was very obvious that the majority of the crowd were older people who are convinced that everything is honest in Montenegro and there was no mass energy of the kind we’ve seen in other parts of the former Yugoslavia. It was almost sad to see Momir Bulatovic arrive in a black Mercedes at 1:00 p.m. on January 12 and climb the steps of the presidency building where perhaps 200 people applauded him.

During the day the crowd heard the demands formulated by the organization committee: the annulment of the presidential elections which Djukanovic won; the annulment of the recent Montenegrin parliament resolution on not recognizing the rulings of federal courts; the annulment of the decision to take away the parliament seats of members of Bozidar Bojovic’s National Party; an end to all activities on changing the republican constitution and the calling of a referendum on Montenegro’s legal status and statehood; a decision to dissolve the Montenegrin parliament and call early elections by April 15; leaving police minister Filip Vujanovic (who has been mentioned as the new prime minister) out of an interim government along with justice minister Dusan Lakicevic, finance minister Predrag Goranovic, health minister Miodrag Mugosa, information secretary Bozidar Jaredic and legislature secretary Rajko Milovic; an end to pressure by the Montenegrin authorities on local authorities especially in Podgorica and the abandoning of announced activities aimed at introducing special measures in the Podgorica city assembly; an end to persecution and abuse of Momir Bulatovic’s political groups and an end to the terror by state media which have sided completely with Djukanovic.

A deadline was given for Djukanovic’s associates to respond to the demands and the federal government and FRY president were asked to protect the constitutional values that the FRY and Montenegro are based on because they are threatened with separatism and rifts.

A reply came soon from DPS parliament group chief Dragan Djurovic and that was followed by a letter from parliament Speaker Svetozar Marovic. The essence of those responses was that the presidential elections wouldn’t be annulled and that the other demands can be discussed in parliament.

The first night of the rally Podgorica was quiet. Podgorica residents went home and others stayed in the square all night with fires to warm, eating sandwiches and drinking tea. The police feared January 13, Orthodox new year’s eve, because Bulatovic called his followers to the rally to celebrate. That day was also quiet, the demonstrators stood in groups in front of the parliament building waiting for something to happen.

FRY Prime Minister Radoje Kontic arrived in Podgorica that evening on a mediation mission. Djukanovic agreed to that mission earlier and Bulatovic’s agreement was never in dispute. Kontic was scheduled to met separately with the two, first Djukanovic then Bulatovic, but it quickly became clear that the mediation would take some time. Interestingly, Kontic’s entourage included JUL member and federal information secretary Goran Matic who is unofficially reported to be a friend of Djukanovic.

Reports on January 14 said the demonstrators numbered no more than 10,000 and were still waiting for something to happen while the negotiations between the two opposed political groups were difficult and mainly unsuccessful. The only thing that was evident immediately was that Bulatovic’s followers had to give up their demand for the presidential elections to be annulled and assessments on the spot said they were slowly abandoning their other demands. There was confusion among Bulatovic’s staff and that could be seen in the fact that Bulatovic first said he would return his presidential mandate to the people at 15:00 hours (he said earlier he would never hand over to Djukanovic), then Predrag Bulatovic said on the afternoon of January 14 that Momir Bulatovic would not hand over his mandate and finally Momir Bulatovic said he would lead the demonstrators in a walk to the government building as an ordinary citizen since he is no longer president. Unofficial reports said Momir Bulatovic planned to return his mandate to the people by throwing the keys to his office into the crowd.

The demonstrators were called to go to the government building by Montenegrin parliament deputy Speaker Zoran Zizic, unless the government responds to their demands by a new deadline of 19:00 hours. The crowd left on their walk across a bridge over the Moraca river. The police released tear gas but the crowd also had some tear gas.

Witnesses who saw the demonstrations in Belgrade said the amount of tear gas released in the FRY capital is nothing compared to the amounts released in Podgorica on the night of January 14-15. People cried on the streets and in the government building whose windows were shattered by the stone throwing crowd. Something exploded and tear gas canisters were thrown into the building. The police pushed the crowd back and they returned to the parliament building to wait for something to happen in the Djukanovic-Bulatovic negotiations. Later, they decided that the crowd had to be dispersed.

It’s politically interesting that Bulatovic’s staff spoke of a special session of the FRY government on January 13 which would discuss the situation in Montenegro at Bulatovic’s demand. That wasn’t correct. Reliable reports said the prime minister and his five deputies met. Deputy Prime Ministers Nikola Sainovic and Vladan Kutlesic (both close to Slobodan Milosevic) spoke out in favor of a special session. Deputy PMs Zoran Lilic, Vojin Djukanovic and Danko Djunic as well as PM Radoje Kontic opposed the session and it was never held. Allegedly, Kontic met with Milosevic for two hours before leaving for Podgorica.

There was surprise at Kontic’s active role because he never did anything similar in his 20 years in politics. Regardless of whether he wanted to solve the biggest problem of his career or whether he decided to start behaving like the FRY prime minister should, his constructive role is worth recognizing. That is also true of the Yugoslav Army which did not allow itself to be drawn into the conflict in Montenegro, probably because it learned its lesson during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.

Regardless of the size of the riots in Podgorica on January 14, it’s not probable that they will bring Bulatovic any political benefits. Whoever is prepared to play for all or nothing just to hang onto a political post has to be prepared to loose. The people who came to support him in Podgorica must have realized that he never got close to the crowd of 100,000 supporters he promised or that he failed to prevent Djukanovic from taking over as president, or that he failed to get Milosevic’s open support.

 

 

Expectations

"In the coming days and weeks, first of all, we are expecting in Montenegro the assumption of office of the President of the Republic of Montenegro, and I hope that this will occur in an atmosphere appropriate to this act. Following that, mandates will be assigned and the government will be formed which is expected to perform an important part of the job in preparation for the early parliamentary elections. I expect that these several months preceding the early parliamentary elections will be spent in working on their successful preparation. In the Parliament of Montenegro we will be in a position to go through once again the laws which define the requisite infrastructure for holding early parliamentary elections. We are awaiting discussion of the most important legal project associated with that whole activity — the Law on Electing Members of Parliament and Parliamentary Committees. Of course, I expect that Momir Bulatovic’s political faction will continue the destructive acts which it has been undertaking for months now. However, speaking sincerely, I do not think his faction will be any longer in a position to destabilize Montenegro significantly. Beside that, it is a fact that the law adopted by Parliament in its last session has been struck out by the acting President of the Republic, Momir Bulatovic, with the explanation that members of his political faction intend to demonstrate their attitudes to such legal projects in a repeated procedure in the Parliament of Montenegro. From this it can be concluded that they, in fact, have no intention of boycotting the adoption of this Law.

Therefore, in the next session of Parliament we expect to listen to every possible argument, and it is our intention to really have the best possible laws, especially when the previous situation is taken into account. The intention of all other parties in parliament is to ensure democratic, fair and free elections", said Milica Pejanovic-Djurisic, DPS President, in her statement for VREME.

"Get the Separatists"

"The absolute political objective of Momir Bulatovic and his political faction is to remain on the political scene, to survive. They, like us, know that the presidential elections were not rigged and that they are finished. They also know that federal institutions, without constitutional basis, cannot interfere in the jurisdiction of a republic. But the significant part of their manipulation is the slogan ‘Get the separatists, Yugoslavia is threatened’.

Momir’s faction will remain without membership, it will remain politically isolated and without any support, because their demands about canceling the presidential elections and the parliamentary resolution that abrogates the right of the Federal Court to interfere in the election of government officials in Montenegro is without legal basis. However, it is a fact that with blunt social and political demagogy they have won the bordering, rural part of Montenegro. They are indulging in dangerous attempts to revert Montenegro into a system of tribes. If you transfer one official or an inept man, the entire tribe raises arms to protect him. In Berane, the Vasojevic tribe councils, in my native Piva, it is the Piva tribe. They are attempting to revert us back in time before St. Peter of Cetinje, who two hundred years ago brokered truces between Montenegrin tribes and created the Montenegrin state. Now they want to change the state into tribes", said Miodrag Vukovic, Vice-President of the Government of Montenegro, in his statement for VREME.