Borders of War

Based on the decision last week by the Federal Government, the Yugoslav Army took control over the border belt with Albania in the width of 5,000 meters, instead of the 100 meter width thus far.  Cited reasons for this measure are attempts by “bigger groups of armed terrorists” to cross the Albanian border, and into Kosovo.  This measure partly departs from claims that the border is “hermetically closed”, and appears as an extra indication that the authorities are admitting that a real, serious war is being waged in Kosovo.

Such a decision by the government has several implications.  First of all, as one retired officer put it, “if they did not succeed in getting the army to ‘lose its innocence’ in Kosovo, well this time they sure have.  What I want to say is that now, beside its work, the army has to do the work of the police.”  According to existing regulations on state border crossing and movements in the border belt, civilians have to have special passes for moving in the border belt area.  These passes can be had by individuals who live within the border belt or who have agricultural land which they cultivate regularly, as well as individuals who have justified reasons for moving in that area (mailmen, forest workers, and all different types of workers).  Depending on the kind of terrain through which the border passes, the number of such individuals can be quite large.  Beside that, the border belt must be visibly marked with warnings.  In the event that parts of the border are mined (which can be expected, given the type of terrain on the Albanian border and the shortage of personnel), marking and placement of fences must be done in a special way, which will reasonably prevent accidents (lost cattle, children, passers-by).
Looked at from an administrative perspective, the border belt is controlled by the authority responsible for guarding state borders, that is to say the Command of the Border Units of the Yugoslav Army.  In order for full control over the border belt to be realized, border patrols will need the help of the military police and other segments of the Special Units Command, as well as of JRV and PVO helicopters and light and heavy armored vehicles, etc.

SPECIAL INTERESTS: What will all this mean in practice on the ground?  The border with the Republic of Albania is specific for several reasons and can be roughly divided into two sections: along Kosovo and Montenegro.  It is specific, above all, because it passes through mountainous, desolate and unpopulated areas.  The five kilometer belt will hardly include any bigger community on the Kosovo side of the border, except for villages, some of which are only known in recent months because of reports of battles (Batusa, Barjah, Brovina, part of the Junik area, Ponosevac, Babaj-Baks, Deva, Zub, Boden, Lipovac, Grcina, Goruzup, Miljaj, Vrbnik, Rapca, Krstac, Vraniste, Orcusa, Mlike, Globocica, Krusevo and Restelica).  As far as terrain and altitude are concerned, the border moves through mountain peaks 2,366 meters high (at the intersection of Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro), all the way down to 300 meters in the Vrbnicko Lake area of Beli Drim (the average is around 700 m).  In such terrain it is virtually irrelevant how wide the border belt is; the villages in question are nearly all at the very edge of the five kilometer border belt.

The Montenegrin part of the Albanian border is much different and far more interesting in the context of this broadening of the border belt.  From the north to the south the border between Montenegro and Albania passes through mountainous territory, without populated areas on the Montenegrin side; the first populated place which falls in the five kilometer belt is Poprat (forty kilometers east of Podgorica).  From there the border drops down to the Lake of Skadar, right up to Hotija and Podhuma, at the seacoast.  This area already comes under the heading of, how should we put it, special economic interest for Montenegro: close by is Tuzi and the Swamps of Zeta, very important channels for smuggling of strategic goods (crude oil, cigarettes, etc.).  Across the Lake of Skadar, the border reaches the Rumija Mountain, which divides the lake from the Adriatic Sea.  Across Rumija, the new border belt includes several populated areas, only to join with the Bojana River — the other, how should we put it, economic region of Montenegro.  Along the Bojana River, the five kilometer border belt includes important spots such as Sas, Stodru, Fraskanjel, St. George, Rec, Beaches of Ulcinj, Gornji Stoj and — which is most important — the entire tourist area of Ada Bojana, all together with its nudists, smuggling, and other attractions.

Thus, it is small surprise that Montenegro bristled at the decision by Momir Bulatovic’s Federal Government to broaden the border belt to five kilometers.  According to some local estimates, this measure will have far greater effect on the Montenegrin economy and tourism, than on the Kosovo Liberation Army: the insurgents of Kosovo care little for how wide the border belt is, as they have to get through one way or another; however, Montenegrin smugglers and tourism workers do care quite a bit.  Namely, earlier there were also problems with Yugoslav Army border patrols, who at a mere signal from Belgrade, according to Montenegrins, would close traffic of fuels and other goods on the border from Albania into Montenegro, and all because of political pressures.  At the same time, the Albanian-Montenegrin border has largely been spared from infiltration by KLA personnel and armaments, for the simple reason that it is very difficult to get to the territory of Kosovo from Montenegro.  Thus, it is a  small surprise that Ph.D. Novak Kilibarda energetically stood up against the broadening of the border belt, interpreting it in the light of the questionable constitutional status of Momir Bulatovic’s Federal Government.

NUDIST AND COMPROMISE: In Podgorica, many people believe that the very decision by the Federal Government is questionable: they say that it would be correct if such a decision was brought by the Head Council for Defense, as last year, when that Council closed the border with Albania.  But, they also say that Milo Djukanovic would never agree with such a decision.  Milodrag Vukovic, vice-president of the Government in Podgorica, stated on Wednesday that Montenegro will not acknowledge this decision by the Federal Government, because it “evidently harms the interests of Montenegro”, and also because it has not been brought on the level of the Head Council of Defense — and the present Federal Government is in any case unconstitutional from the Montenegrin perspective.

Now the implementation, or the attempt at implementation, of this decision is being expected in Montenegro, because there is hardly any conflict on the terrain in Kosovo.  What will the nudists in Ada Bojana, gasoline and cigarette merchants from the Lake of Skadar and the Montenegrin police have to say if the Yugoslav Army border patrols begin to question the presence of individuals in the five kilometer border belt from the Albanian border without special passes?  What will happen to the population of the better part of Malesija, from the area of the Bozaj border crossing, who will now need special passes to go to get water and to go into their fields?  Will Montenegrin tourist agencies hurry to border watch towers or the Ministry of Defense in Belgrade to get special passes for tourists who paid for vacation packages in Ada Bojana?  In any case, at one point the border belt in Ada Bojana was reduced even further (to the middle of the river), so as to enable tourism, which only spurred smuggling of fuels, cigarettes, and other goods during sanctions.

In the meantime things have changed, so that neither smugglers nor tourists figure in the patriotic picture.  Within the border belt the army will assume the operations of the Ministry of Domestic Affairs with regard to the control of individuals and vehicles, and the keeping of peace and the protection of lives and property.  This will not be easy, especially in the heavily populated areas of Montenegro and the tourist zone of Ada Bojana.  It is imaginable that compromise will be reached in these areas so that tourism and the economy do not suffer as a result of this decision — but it is a question of political will and resisting the temptation of strong-arming Montenegro and Milo Djukanovic for just a little bit longer.

Fifteen Seconds

It is interesting that at the beginning of 1990, at the suggestion of SSNO and SSUP, Ante Markovic’s Federal Executive Council proposed to the Federal Government that the Law on Crossing State Borders and Movement Within the Border Belt be changed: for the existing one hundred meter border belt to be broadened to one kilometer.  The proposed change was explained by the sudden rise in illegal border crossings: Bogdan Stare, Head of the Slovenian RSUP Section For Foreigners, stated that the number of illegal crossings from FRY Yugoslavia to the West, into Italy and Austria, had been doubling in those years from 617 (1987) procedure or consultation, not even with Montenegro, which will be most affected with the broadening of the border belt.

Otherwise, at that time Yugoslavia had a narrower border belt than any of its neighbors.  Italy had a 1000 meters, Hungary 5-15 km, Rumania and Bulgaria 30 km, while Albania and Austria had border patrol jurisdiction throughout the entire country (in the case of Albania, it is clear why; in the case of Austria, the border is in any case protected by the police, which is responsible for the entire territory).to 2605 (1989).  This data refers to foreign citizens from undeveloped nations who were emigrating to the west: Rumanians, Turks, Bengalis, Filipinos, Tamalis, Singalezes, Palestinians, Moroccans, Egyptians and Tunisians; at that time Yugoslavs gravitated back toward their homeland.  In those years the number of illegal attempts at border crossing ranged somewhere around 10,000.  Despite such convincing data from the ground (border patrols only managed to prevent a fifth of the attempts), the republics went against the proposal and it fell through.  There were requests that in the future the police be responsible for the borders, which the Yugoslav Army spokesman at the time, Ph.D. Vuk Obradovic, interpreted as yet another attempt at creating armies within republics.  Slovenia and Croatia saw in this proposal the intention of preventing and making difficult the future import of armaments.  In any case, a distance of a hundred meters can be crossed within fifteen seconds by a healthy human being, while border patrolmen were only authorized to shoot during the night.  What is important here is that at that time such a proposed law went through a democratic procedure (discussion, comments, etc.), and today Momir Bulatovic is reaching such a decision without any.