Clipping the Wings of the "Eagles"

Perisic called the armed and uniformed men with blackened faces "wild groups" which roam the "Serb commune of Visegrad", loot property, "interrogate" and abduct Moslems. In other words, they do whatever they want, without even dreaming of submitting to the "control and command of the regular Serb authorities in Visegrad" he said.

What the "wild groups" did in Visegrad will probably one day be recorded as war crimes, and with good reason. The massacre of seventeen Moslems (from the standpoint of the perpetrator)remains "insufficiently clear". Fairly clear is however the fact that both Moslems and Serbs in Visegrad feared the "wild ones" to an almost equal degree. Also the newly-established authorities of the town, which were in its taking more than happy to use services of the "White Eagles" and other similar groups that the JNA

and Serbs' Territorial defense rewarded by turning a blind eye to convoys of lorries carrying out "booty".

Judging by what is now happening in western Serbia, the Serb authorities in Visegrad and other towns just across in Bosnia-Herzegovina have by and large rid themselves of such "patriots". The zone in which they have had a free hand has suddenly become cramped, dangerous. Border controls have been tightened - according to Slobodan Vermezovic, Zlatibor region prefect, "one can't just cross the border whiteout being observed - it is controlled by the Yugoslav Army". Just how much the statement, which reporters heard from Vermezovic in the regional center Uzice, holds can be judged that armed groups continue to cross the newly-established border with ease - witness the recent murder of Stanko Pecikoza, vice-president of the Serbian Democratic Party's branch in Visegrad. Pecikoza has allegedly "helped Moslems to flee into Serbia, taking money for his services" - but his relatives say he gave tens of thousands DEM.

for the "Serbian cause"...

The perpetrators of the crime have not been apprehended, but their identities are not hard to guess a group of 20 White Eagles was recently disarmed by Serbian police and expelled from the region to Montenegro. The public would have remained in the dark about this development, if it had not (according to unofficial sources) featured in the talks Yugoslav President Dobrica Cosic and Montenegrin President Momir Bulatovic held during a joint visit to Plevelja, Montenegro. Bulatovic expressed interest in the case, and Cosic mentioned it indirectly. BORBA,Belgrade daily quotes Cosic as saying that "paramilitary formations have become a serious problem in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia".

"There exist various Chetnik formations, "White Eagles", people motivated By crime, who have crossed to the other side of the river Drina", said Cosic in Pljevlja, informing the Serbs and Moslems present at the meeting that the "state is taking all necessary steps to disarm them".

This was Cosic's response to numerous objections made by Hakija Ajanovic, the president of the Pljevlja Islamic community, who among other things told Cosic that the "state and the authorities must organize the border according to legal regulations and prevent all paramilitary formations from crossing it", failing which, Ajanovic said in the form of the clear threat, "everyone has patience, even Moslems". What angered Ajanovic and his compatriots was that "Serb fighters returning to their homes were not disarmed."People were seen walking around, their fingers on the trigger, asking - "Where are the Turks?"

It would be interesting to confront Slobodan Milosevic, who has on countless occasions claimed that "there are no paramilitary formations in Serbia nor the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as whole", with Cosic who said that "nonexistent" paramilitaries are becoming a serious problem in Yugoslavia. What Serbia's president will not admit is indirectly admitted by the Interior Ministry in Bozovic's government, without whose green light the Uzice police would not have escorted the Eagles to Montenegro, just as they remained passive bystanders when there where in the previous few months more camouflage fatigues roaming their territory than civilian attires.

Proof that orders came from right places is a decision by Bajina Basta police, which closed the town to "Red Berets", members of a paramilitary group of Skelani, just across the river Drina into Bosnia. After they crossed the bridge into Bajina Basta, they had to leave their guns with the local Sheriff, just like in the good old Western times...

And the reasons? Several cars, owned by Moslems blew up in Bajina Basta in the past few months, fortunately without any occupants.