Serbian Virtual Archives

The leaders of the Alliance for Changes were in Vienna last week where they acquainted top people from the European Community with their program.  At the present moment, Milan Panic and Nebojsa Covic are in America as representatives of the Alliance for Changes.  Before them, the President of Social Democracy, Vuk Obradovic, also went to the USA.  During his time, one of the youngest generals in the history of the Yugoslav National Army, he was mentioned recently on a TV show as a “traitor” — probably due to his frequent trips abroad (it appears once again that anyone with a passport here is under suspicion). We begin Vuk Obradovic’s interview for VREME with this name-tag “traitor”.

“Serbia cannot emerge from the situation in which it finds itself without cooperating with the world.  Without this we will be in an even worse position than this one which can only be described as desperate.  That is why accusations directed at those us who are trying to establish appropriate contacts - calling us traitors or someone’s yes-men - are at best senseless.  It will very soon be seen who has protected national interests and the interests of this country in a correct way, and who has not.  It is mere stupidity and fraud.  How come the people who are trying to forge alliances with Belarus and the Ukraine are not traitors, while those who are trying to open our way to the most modern European and World states are traitors?  Let no one worry — the people in the Alliance for Changes will not do anything against the key interests of this country and the people of which we are a part,” states Vuk Obradovic in an interview for VREME.

Leaders of the Alliance for Changes persistently keep saying that in 1999, elections will be held on all levels.  Why do you believe that the ruling SPS-JUL-SRS coalition, with SPO’s assistance, will give up their absolute power and will allow you to make changes through elections?

We will fight for this using different methods and forms of political pressure.  I am even prone to believe that the parties which today decide our fates will very soon realize that it is in their interest and in the interest of the entire Serbian people for those elections to be held in the coming year.  It would be exceptionally dangerous for the country if the idea of organizing elections only in Kosovo were to come true.  This would practically lead to the acknowledgment of two legal systems in this country.  It should not be forgotten that Montenegro is insisting on new federal elections also.  Regardless of how much the authorities in Serbia might try to negate this, it is absolutely unarguable that the federal parliament and federal government have been illegitimate for some time now.  No federal unit acknowledges them and further support of such a situation could considerably threaten the survival of the Yugoslav federation.  I also believe that the situation in Serbia will become more complicated with each coming day.  Serious tests are yet to come.  Some of them none of us is able to predict at this moment.  When the country is in that position, when all options are open, when even the possibility of a serious conflict situation is also possible, it is better to give people voters’ slips than anything else.  The present government, it should not be forgotten, is not in power in the better part of Serbia.  It is also in their interest that those elections be held.

Are you spooked by the fact that state institutions are not operative here, that Milosevic and his regime constantly keep imposing the logic of all or nothing.  Or that it’s 100 percent power and absolute control, or no power at all.  Could a resolution of the present crisis be harder and more painful because of this?

Even though I do not spook easily and am not prone to being seized by fear, apathy or depression, I am sometimes struck by fear just thinking about which people are ruling this country today and deciding about the main social developments.  It is evident that we are being led by people who place themselves above all institutions and the entire people.  Slobodan Milosevic is not the only one at issue here.  The same thing is the case for leaders of some parties who are close to saying: “I am Serbia, I am the Serbian people, only I can speak in the name of Serbia.”  It is a very dangerous political atmosphere.  For the sake of illustration, I will cite what happened with the Milosevic-Holbrooke agreement.  In order for one NATO plane to fly over the territory of a member country in that alliance, it is necessary to get approval from the parliament of that country.  We permitted one man to give himself the right to make the decision on allowing NATO free reign over the better part of the airspace of FR Yugoslavia.  While at the same time, our own Military Air Force has been denied to the right to fly over that territory.  Just tell me if there is another such country in the world where this could happen?

If the Yugoslav Army is no longer controlling the majority of FRY airspace, if the possibility of action by entire sections of that Army is being limited, does that mean that, according to this agreement, the Army is being reduced to mere policing?

Perhaps it is more important what some soldiers think about this.  If two key men in the Air Force, former Commander Ljubisa Velickovic and Assistant to the Head of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Blagoje Grahovac, refused to sign that agreement, then that speaks clearly about what happened and what the Yugoslav Army is being reduced to.  This agreement also did not achieve the disarming of the so-called KLA.  The fact that this agreement does not stipulate any such thing could end up costing this country dearly.  At this moment it is clear that the process of constant organization, staffing and technological improvement of the KLA is continuing.  Before our eyes and the eyes of the rest of the world, the key element of Kosovo’s statehood is being constituted — while everyone is watching this with complete calm.  Kosovo is being constituted as a self-sufficient state through the back door.  I fear that developments are taking that direction, and that relatively soon Kosovo and Metohija could get all the attributes of an actual state.

Why was General Perisic really replaced?  Is this merely Milosevic’s usual usage of generals, or is it Perisic’s disapproval of this agreement.  vice-president of Serbian Government, Tomislav Nikolic claims that Perisic and Jovica Stanisic went because they had been in their positions for far too long and because the KLA had armed itself during their mandates...

Forget about it, you known that officials said many things about this.  For instance, that what is at issue is normal, usual replacement because these people have occupied their positions for a long time and only naturally the time came for them to make space for other people.  One or two hours after that, Stanisic and Perisic explained in their statements what really happened — that they were replaced and removed from their positions in a completely illegal way.  In a way that does not take into account the stability of state institutions.  Both the Army and the State Security Service are very sensitive players.  They must be handled with care.  Staff changes in those institutions must be prepared with attention, not with urgency or without consulting the people whom these changes concern.  For me, Perisic’s departure was not unexpected.  This had been spoken about for some time already, and it is evident that what is at issue are some serious differences between Perisic and Milosevic — that Milosevic basically did not believe this man, but that everything that happened with the Kosovo crisis, and especially the Milosevic-Holbrooke agreement, was used as an opportunity for making this change now.

You called on General Perisic to become politically active.  Did you call him to join Social Democracy?

I did state that, and on this occasion also repeat the same offer.  I am convinced that General Perisic is not fit for the scrap yard.  Only in this country can it happen that people with such integrity and such expertise are driven into retirement at ages 40 or 50.

Did you call him personally?

I called on him publicly.  And I repeat it once again.  He still did not respond.

You said recently that you privately know General Ojdanic also, and that you trust him as a soldier.  However, there is some belief that he was brought in to do something which Perisic did not wish to do.  For instance, to venture into the Montenegro affair and to try to “discipline” the Montenegrin leadership...

Montenegro will remain stable, it will progress and will advance at a faster pace than Serbia, assuming that democratic changes do not happen here also.  They will surpass us very soon.  Nothing will happen in Podgorica on January 13 and 14 in the coming year.  It will only be yet another failed attempt at violating a new government which has been established there through the will of the people.  The Army will not get involved in the Montenegrin conflict.

Therefore, you claim that General Ojdanic will exclusively serve his people, and not one conjugal couple.  How are we to take Momir Bulatovic’s claim that days are numbered for Montenegro’s leadership?

General Ojdanic is a wise enough man who cares enough about his personal integrity to not permit the army to turn against its people.  I am completely sure of this.  I said something to that effect recently on Montenegrin television.  But the problem is that we in Serbia are constantly meddling in affairs there and supporting an atmosphere of conflict.  Why is our government taking this attitude toward the will of the people of Montenegro?  Why doesn’t it accept the people who are supported by the people of Montenegro to come to the federal parliament and government?  In whose interest is it to constantly inspire uncertainty down there?  Evidently no one but those who hold the positions of highest responsibility in Serbia and FRY, for they know no other way of governing but through constant provocation of conflict.

Army Indigence

“The Army has been insulted and degraded in every way.  It is teetering on financial collapse.  It even has problems with ensuring its food supplies, with taking care of officers’ and soldiers’ elementary needs.  Officers and civilians in the service of the Yugoslav Army get very low salaries which are not paid out regularly, and with that, they cannot cover even the basic needs of their families.  There is also no money for modernizing the Army, for reforms which are increasingly necessary with each new day.  This state must make it clear soon whether it wishes to have an army or not.  For if this situation continues, we will lose our Army.  Or the Army will be opened to such phenomena from which it will be unable to recover in the coming 10-15 years.  I can only imagine what sort of bitterness must reign among officers with this new law with which government officials get enormous privileges.  This law is a shameful political act.  Not only is it politically irresponsible and harmful, but it is in collision with the basic ethical principles.  Adopting such laws under conditions in which 30 percent of the population is living in poverty and privation, with as many on the border of minimum existence, is something that is difficult to understand for anyone who has the least bit of sense.  But what is in the background.  It is clear that certain people who are holding today positions of the highest responsibility in Serbia are psychologically shaken and burdened with worry for their own fate and existence, and that they are merely trying to secure themselves in advance,” states Vuk Obradovic.