St Stephen Intercedes

by Tanja Topic

Between Westendorp and Milosevic, the RS could get a new prime minister by the end of the week along with a national unity government

Last Monday night, the constitutive session of the RS parliament finally ended in Bijeljina and all the most important Bosnian Serb politicians, headed by Biljana Plavsic and Momcilo Krajisnik, left for Belgrade to meet with Slobodan Milosevic.

Blic daily said later that they agreed on the forming of a new government which would include members of the SDS, SRS, Serb National Alliance and RS Socialist party with Mladen Ivanic as prime minister. They also agreed that the most important ministerial posts, the police, trade and finance, should go to the SDS.

Everyone allegedly agreed with Milosevic that "it’s a shame to betray national interests and enter a coalition with Moslems".

But did Milosevic really manage to reconcile Plavsic and Krajisnik, i.e. Pale and Banja Luka?

Robert Gelbard is also expected to show up in the RS to verify all agreements and make some new threats.

Just days before coming to Belgrade, it seemed there would be no reconciliation and that the SDS and SRS would boycott Ivanic and perhaps form their own government. On January 9, Krajisnik refused any mention of a possible reconciliation. He thought there could be no more talking once Plavsic named an incoming prime minister.

Soon after that, Krajisnik and Plavsic met alone for talks. Still later, Krajisnik changed his mind again: "A great responsibility lies with Plavsic and myself because of the posts we hold. Today we concluded that it’s necessary to find a solution and take decisions. Our party friends met and there will perhaps still be differences after that meeting but we will try to find a solution to satisfy everyone at the parliament session. The goal is to put the RS into the hands of patriots who want to fight for it because this is a time of national romantics. If you reporters had been listening you might have heard the praise we heaped on each other, assuring ourselves of our good intentions and that is the greatest guarantee. I am much more optimistic after the St Stephen's day celebration in Brcko on January 9."