Dinner with Informers

Ex-Yugoslav President Dobrica Cosic was seen to be cheerful again on Wednesday, June 2 while strolling with friends in Dedinje (a posh Belgrade residential area), perusing through the papers and talking politics. On the same day a session of the Supreme Defence Council was held in Belgrade, but without him. State news agency Tanjug gave the former President's full statement in which he says that he is stepping down from office. Cosic was relieved because of accusations of preparing a military coup. With his final moves, Cosic justified the trust that was invested in him, including that of Radmilo Bogdanovic (former Interior Minister, currently Vice-President of the Chamber of Republics in the Federal Parliament) who made mincemeat of him in the Federal Parliament. Asked by journalists "if Cosic had really wished to change something with the help of the army", Bogdanovic said calmly: "No, he's not that kind of a man".

Democratic Party leader Dragoljub Micunovic agreed with Bogdanovic, when he said on the same day: "I don't think he'd get involved in such an adventure, he's not a putschist". Journalists found evidence of Cosic's innocence with regard to military coups in a statement by Serbian Radical Party (SRS) leader Vojislav Seselj who claimed that "he didn't know a thing" and that apart from not being informed of Cosic's alleged attempt at a coup, he wasn't even aware that someone would try to dismiss Cosic on Monday, May 31. "I was surprised when I heard about that during consultations with deputy groups", Seselj told journalists later.

Of course, neither Bogdanovic's sincerity, nor the reactions of other politicians cannot alter the fact that Cosic was relieved because he met with a group of generals (members of the General Staff) in Dobanovci on May 27, but failed to inform Milosevic of the meeting, and because, according to claims made by the Socialists, he repeated what the generals had told him: "What are you waiting for Dobrica, you have the army behind you".

Milosevic was informed of the meeting and of what took place by one of the generals who had been present. The Socialists revealed this at the session of the Federal Parliament, perhaps with the aim of showing who really controlled the army, or that they also had the army and not just the police, as speculated.

It is still not known which officer found it necessary to denounce his Supreme Commander. Circles close to the former President believe that there were "several traitors" and that Milosevic was informed of everything in a simple fashion - by having dinner with the informers.

There are quite a few who are suspected of treachery. Some find them in a sentence uttered by one of Cosic's associates: "At the airport, when Rumanian President Jon Iliescu was due to arrive, Cosic told General Zivota Panic, that the affair concerning accusations against him and his son (accused of making deals with the Yugoslav Army) would have to be made public and that a committee would be set up to inquire into the matter. Panic was very much hurt, and his eyes filled with tears". This story led to the story of treachery at the level of generals.

It is a mystery as to who attended the meeting. What is known is that of Cosic's team, only Colonel Slavko Krivosija Chief of the President's military cabinet was present, but that no stenographer was present. The meeting lasted nine hours, and was held in a sound proof room. No tape-recorders were visible. Those close to the former President claim that there were no notes on the meeting in Dobanovci.

In his letter to the public after being relieved from office, Cosic underlined the part about the stenographer, demanding that it be proved if one was present, and promised to make public all he had talked about with the generals, except for matters considered to be military secrets. Colonel Krivosija kept the minutes during the meeting in Dobanovci, Cosic most certainly did not. Those close to Cosic explain Colonel Krivosija's animosity towards journalists by the fact that he will have a new Supreme Commander soon, to whom he will have to make a report and hand over all notes pertaining to what took place in Cosic's military cabinet and in his presence. This line of reasoning has led some journalists to suspect Colonel Krivosija as a possible traitor, something not confirmed by those close to Cosic.

Those close to the former Yugoslav President claim that the generals spoke a lot more than Cosic at the meeting ("they complained of their situation, salaries, and the fact that many were without apartments"). Bogdanovic claims that the meeting had not been called by Cosic, but by General Panic (this was confirmed by the General Staff later). When asked "if the generals had complaints about Seselj", Cosic's people say: "Perhaps", adding that the "perhaps" refers above all to General Panic, who has "complained about Seselj for some time".

"He spoke about the police, he didn't menton that bit about 'having the army behind him'," said one of Cosic's friends while retelling the vital part of the meeting.

That sentence "What are you waiting for Dobrica..." was spoken during a dinner with friends in Cosic's house, and not during the meeting with the generals. The problem lies in the fact that the dinner was attended by some of Milosevic's friends. However, those close to Cosic are more inclined to believe that bugs were planted, rather than that there are traitors in their ranks.

Be as it may, Milosevic had been familiar with the sentence for some time, and according to a possible construction, probably originating from Cosic's cabinet, he used it when he finally decided to get rid of the "Father of the Nation".

Democratic Party leader Micunovic, who along with many, views Cosic's dismissal as a "benign personal conflict". Cosic's friends find proof for this claim in the fact that Cosic was first written off some fifteen odd days ago in the bi-monthly Duga in a commentary by Milosevic's wife Mirjana Markovic. "She wrote a requiem for Cosic", said one of his associates.

According to this thesis Milosevic was very angry when he heard that the meeting had been held without him ("Like Tito, he is touchy about the army", say Cosic's associates).

Finally, before departing for Athens, angry but armed with rumours pertaining to Cosic's clandestine activities, Milosevic decided to get rid of Cosic, something the latter viewed as a "coup via parliament".

"I would never have feared that", said Bogdanovic talking to journalists, and this is probably enough for the majority to believe that Milosevic would not have been greatly concerned over a coup masterminded by a 72-year-old, a man far too old to play the role of an ambitious lieutenant.

Suspicions of putschist ambitions among the military leadership had to be denied by Bogdanovic. Asked by journalists: "Is it true that you said that the General Staff had gotten out of control?", he replied: "No, don't say they got out of control. Some laws were missing and they made decisions on matters they weren't supposed to".

Since he is under investigation by a state committee looking into Panic Jr.'s dubious affairs, General Panic is not making statements, so that VREME's attempts at reaching him failed. Instead of General Panic, another high ranking officer who wished to remain anonymous answered questions regarding the "military coup". "No. Those claims are incorrect. There are no conditions for a putsch, there is no such idea in the army. The army is very much aware that in the last 20 years no single coup in the world has lasted very long, and that theoretically and in practice, there was no chance of something similar taking place".

Seselj, who is known for his very close links to the military leadership (according to some officers, Seselj's people literally never left the office of General Panic's former deputy General Domazetovic) did not know anything about the officers' attempts in Dobanovci at persuading Cosic to undertake the coup, nor did any of VREME's other collocutors. The story was challenged by Cosic's cabinet, where it was said that none of the politicians or soldiers with whom the former Yugoslav President had met, "had ever given such a crazy idea a thought".