Two Kinds of Wardens

The forming of the Seventh Battalion of the Military Police in Montenegro has been attracting public attention for months now, especially after the recent statement issued by the Supreme Headquarters of the Yugoslav Army.  The reason for the reaction from the Supreme Headquarters lies in statements made by Montenegrin officials, especially Prime Minister Filip Vujanovic, who stated that a paramilitary formation is being formed in Montenegro under the auspices of the Yugoslav Army.

A portion of that battalion was seen along the highways of Montenegro during the funeral of the assassinated Minister of Defense, Pavle Bulatovic.  The funeral was attended by the leadership of the Yugoslav Army, and by many federal officials.  The unprecedented security measures around the funeral resulted in different comments, mostly regarding the fact that "had Pavle been guarded like this, his funeral would not be held today."

However, it has been some time now that Montenegrins have been putting on the uniforms of the military police overnight, and many of them had signed contracts with the Yugoslav Army.

All this results in the impression that a regrouping of battle ready citizens into the military police is taking place.  Today it is very difficult to count all the uniformed members of the Yugoslav Army in Montenegro, as, admittedly, is the case for the Montenegrin police.  There are few "brave lads" who remain outside these two camps.

An individual who closely follows the forming of the Seventh Battalion of the Military Police, a man who insists on staying anonymous, told VREME that on January 26 no less than 904 persons put on the uniforms of this Battalion, all of them being citizens of Montenegro and exclusively supporters of Momir Bulatovic.  The Battalion is being formed under the command of Colonel Jovan Susic who came to Montenegro from the Federal Ministry of Defense.  The Battalion officers are not in Montenegro, especially the ones with positions of responsibility.  Presently the Battalion has six squadrons distributed in Kubor, Podgorica, Niksic, Pljevlje, Bijelo Polje and Berane, and one unit in Kolasin and Andrijevci.

The question being raised in Montenegro these days, beside the one why so much civil police is needed, is why there is such a high number of military police, whose formations follow those of the civil police.

Faced with such questions, the Supreme Headquarters states in the issued statement that "the claims about supposed paramilitary formations within the Yugoslav Army in Montenegro are not only false, but are malicious lies propagated by certain former members of the Yugoslav Army and the highest government officials in Montenegro."  Such claims "are used to make threats against the citizens of the FRY and to spread fear in the public."  The Supreme Headquarters claims that all units being formed are completely regular and that they are not paramilitary units, and that the Yugoslav Army commanders and units in Montenegro are on their own territory, with all newly formed units being placed "under single command."  The Supreme Headquarters further explains that "in accordance with the experiences from the war, the Army is taking precautionary measures in the area of reorganization of commanders and their units, mainly for the purpose of executing given task with greater efficiency," and that this is also being done outside of Montenegro, but that only in Montenegro is the public being presented with rumors of paramilitary formations with the objective of "forming negative public opinion about the Army as an important state institution."

The Supreme Headquarters adds that former members of the Yugoslav Army and the Montenegrin Government are not wishing to see "where the unprecedented arming and strengthening of the Montenegrin Police is leading to."  The Headquarters statement is not clear as to what actual weapons are included in this "unprecedented arming", and VREME was not able to get any more information when it contacted the Supreme Headquarters.  However, the public especially noted the fact that the Supreme Headquarters characterized the statements made by "former members of the Yugoslav Army and Montenegrin Government officials" as identical with those made by "the leaders of the countries that carried out the criminal aggression against our country."  Along with the, the Supreme Headquarters also directed criticism at Prime Minister Filip Vujvanovic who supposedly "forgot quickly about the agreement to work together on bringing the situation under control."

The statement issued by the Supreme Headquarters is being interpreted in Montenegro as a new warning issued by the Yugoslav Army to the Montenegrin Government.  The speech made by General Milorad Obradovic, Commander of the Second Army, at the funeral of the assassinated Federal Minister of Defense is also being interpreted in the same light.  General Obradovic raised his voice above Bulatovic's coffin and stated that the Yugoslav Army will stay where it is and will follow the Constitution, and that it will not permit individuals to brake up Yugoslavia through their selfish acts.