A Referendum by Candlelight

"You'll see, Babic will be back soon. He's strong, and definitely strongest in Knin. Hadzic (Goran, Republic of Serb Krajina - RSK President, ed. note) doesn't dare show his face here. He was appointed by Belgrade, and Belgrade doesn't call the shots here anymore. It was different before when they dismissed Babic (Milan, former leader of Krajina Serbs - ed. note). Here in Knin we fear that they've abandoned us, they think they'll trade without our consent. It seems that the time for trading has come. They seem to be hesitating, because they find it convenient. I have three kids and I'd like all this to end sometime, to live a normal life, like we used to. After all that has happened, after so many dead on both sides, we can't go back to Croatia and Tudjman, nor do we wish to. They can't do without us, because the whole of Dalmatia is cut off. They could perhaps target us from Zagreb, and we can target them from here. It's not in the interest of either side. We are strong. Much stronger than is known. Come, tell me who in the world can solve this..."

The night ahead of the Knin referendum, Mico Kasum who works for the local fire brigade, repeated many times that they would probably be "sold out in Geneva", and also claimed that in that case, those who had remained in Knin had no other choice but to "fight to the last man". We talked in the light of candles and batteries because there was no electricity, except between seven and ten at night. Time enough to heat up some water and cook tomorrow's meal, see all the Serbian TV news programs: the local Knin one, from Pale, Novi Sad and Belgrade. "One and the same thing, it just puts one off TV," said Mica's wife Vesna.

That very evening a Japanese colleague arrived in Knin, and using a field generator and a satellite phone linked up with Tokyo. It took less than five minutes to set up the sat phone in Mica's yard.

Mica's family, his mother Melanija, wife Vesna and two children followed the setting up of the line with Tokyo in awe, holding the candles, paraffin lamps and batteries. When the conversation with Tokyo was over, Grandmother Melanija, the eldest member of the Kasum family looked at the sat phone and asked: "Can he really talk with the whole world with that?" After an affirmative answer, she asked "And Split?"

Goodwill and the modern technology of the Japanese colleagues helped make Split, only a hundred kilometers away, part of the world again, allowing the old woman to hear the voices of her daughter, son-in-law and grandson who live in Split, for the first time after nearly two and a half years. Melanija's daughter Jadranka, a Serb, had left many years ago to study in Split and later married Sime, a Dalmatian. Earlier they had visited each other practically every second weekend, but since the break between Knin and Zagreb, they didn't have any information about each other. The last time they had communicated, Sime had been recovering from his third heart attack, and Jadranka had feared that she would lose her job. On that pre-referendum night in Knin, both sides concluded with relief that they were all alive, and then started weeping with joy and excitement at having heard each other once again. There was no real conversation, they just kept repeating each others' names and then falling silent in disbelief. The "conversation" lasted several minutes. We were all very moved and unable to talk.

The following evening Melanija Kasum told us that she had repeated nightmares that her son Mica and her eldest grandson in Split, who is now 17 years old and also called Sime, could find themselves on opposite sides of the front. One defending an independent and sovereign Republic of Serb Krajina, and the other an independent and sovereign Republic of Croatia. This is an ordinary Knin story. One of their neighbors, a Croat (one of the few who have remained in their street) recently enlisted among the first to fight at the front, even though his three brothers have been mobilized by the other side.

The Knin referendum was carried out under the slogan: "One people, one will, one state". Some unhappy journalists added: "and no cafes", since it was impossible to find a drink in Knin those days. During mobilization, the cafes are closed and prohibition reigns. This ban was broken by none other than RSK Parliament President Mile Paspalj. Before leaving for Geneva where he would take part in negotiations with the Croat delegation, Paspalj promised the local journalists a bottle of whiskey. He kept his promise after the press conference and drank a toast to the success of the referendum and a speedy unification with the Serb Republic in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Along with journalists, the only other privileged class are United Nations Protection Force in Yugoslavia (UNPROFOR) monitors who eat in a closed restaurant on the town's outskirts. The main means of payment here, as elsewhere, are Deutsche Marks. The dollar is accepted only where there are no dinars.

Mica and his wife, who works as a nurse, together earn some 20-odd million dinars (arround 20 DM, at the time this piece comes out) per month. This sum is not enough. They have meat only on Saturdays, not every day as they used to. During the referendum days not many mentioned the economy, since the people were preoccupied with the dilemma of whether Croatia would attack again or not. RSK Prime Minister Djordje Bjegovic is one of the few who think about the economy and like to talk on the subject. Before taking over the prime ministership, Bjegovic was known as an exceptionally good engineer (not only in local terms) and of being politically moderate. Bjegovic urges for a prolongation of UNPROFOR's deployment for at least another year in order that peaceful conditions for negotiations might be ensured. Asked if the referendum on RSK's sovereignty automatically excluded all further talks with the Croats, Bjegovic said that in spite of everything, there were things which could be negotiated with the other side. "The situation changes daily, so that we must always have several combinations at hand", said Bjegovic. He justifies the lack of success in Knin of his "moderate" image, saying that it was necessary first to leave behind a state which he described as being a "national democracy." "If it lasts too long, every national democracy becomes the road to Fascism, and we don't want to make a mistake here," said Bjegovic, who urges for the gradual turning towards values of a civic society, naturally after war tensions have relaxed a little.

On the day of the referendum, words spoken by our host Mica the night before, to the effect that Milan Babic would "get out of a scrape once again", proved true. All domestic and foreign journalists hurried to cover that particular poll where Babic and his wife would cast their votes. Everything else was not nearly so interesting. After voting, Babic spent half an hour patiently answering journalists' questions with the confidence of a man who believes that everything is going his way. Many already see him as the Prime Minister of a joint state headed by Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, or rather, as the only politician from Knin who would play a significant role in the future unified "Western Serbia". Even though he probably doesn't believe that the unification of the two Krajinas can take place all that swiftly, Babic obviously knows that the referendum is political capital which can be made use of sooner or later. It was Babic who came up with the initial idea for the unification of "all Serb lands" in the first place.

Babic does not pass up the opportunity of telling journalists once again how the earlier acceptance of the Vance-Owen plan had been an unforgivable mistake, made under pressure from Belgrade. "With their January aggression, the Croats made it clear that they do not respect the plan, and now the majority of the people have realized that agreeing to the Vance-Owen plan was a mistake", said Babic. Asked how long the war could last when practically no factories in Knin were working, and when Serbia was groaning under sanctions, Babic replied calmly that war was expensive, but that the people were prepared to endure sacrifices infinitely and live more poorly, since freedom had no price. Most of the questions concerned Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and whether he would be angry because of the referendum which now spoilt the political idyll with Croatian President Franjo Tudjman over the Bosnian issue. "I don't believe that Belgrade would go for a confrontation with us," said Babic, adding: "We know that this referendum complicates their position somewhat, but it can also help them find the right road again, because they have started forgetting their obligation of helping Serbs outside Serbia. No authority can be stable if it neglects this. The referendum is probably making Milosevic's hair stand on end, but then, it wouldn't be the first time. In the end they'll swallow what we cook up here."

A fellow journalist from Knin confirmed later that Belgrade's influence in Knin today is incomparably weaker than it used to be, and that the local authorities wish to rid themselves of the situation in which RSK interests are represented by politicians from Belgrade, compared to Karadzic, who on the face of it, does everything by himself. A similar thesis was confirmed by Captain Dragan (a professional soldier involved on the Serb side in the Serb-Croat conflict) who can be found in his training center near Benkovac. "I guarantee that Bonn has far more influence on Tudjman than Milosevic on Knin," said Captain Dragan, whose men are the best fighters in Krajina. Asked if the unification of the two Krajinas would militarily strengthen Knin, Captain Dragan said that so far there had been joint actions and cooperation, but expressed fear that a too speedy unification could result in a clash of vanities over who would be commander in chief and who subordinate, something no one needed. "Militarily Knin has never been as strong as it is today," said Captain Dragan. "Croatia's January offensive and the loss of some territory were a warning to the local authorities, after which all shaped up a bit." Captain Dragan believes that the only way to stop the war here lies in the rather frightening and simple formula: "Either the RSK's definite separation from Croatia, or the total destruction of this territory. There isn't a third option," he said.

Some of the men training at Captain Dragan's training center at a temperature of over 30C, complain that "down in Knin", there are too many hiding from mobilization or just lying out in the sun, thinking that someone else will defend them when the time comes. I talked to several 16 year-olds in the streets of Knin later. They are too young for conscription. The majority of them plan to leave for Serbia and continue their education, somewhere where there is electricity and entertainment for the young. "Who are we fighting for here? For those political bums?" asks one.

Like Milan Babic, President of the Krajina Assembly Mile Paspalj doesn't allow for any possibility of putting off the unification of the RSK and the Serb Republic in B-H into "Western Serbia". Paspalj claims that the time of vacillating politicians who can afford to disregard the will of the people expressed at the referendum, and put off unification which has been scheduled for June 28, has passed. Only one-two days later, after it had been proclaimed publicly that 98% of the people had voted for unification with the Serb Republic in B-H, RSK President Goran Hadzic said in Geneva that there were "no plans for the immediate unification of Serb territories in Croatia and Bosnia. The referendum had been carried out to test the will of the people." Even though his word is not respected much in Knin, it could be that this time Hadzic was better informed, since he had the opportunity of meeting Karadzic and Milosevic in Geneva, who, in spite of everything, still has the final say on most issues.

Those whose job it is, have assessed that there are no longer any barriers to unification and a joint state, and say that the referendum was 100% successful. From the point of Grandmother Melanija Kasum, things are much better than could be expected. With the help of a sat phone she managed to reach Split, one hundred kilometers away and learn that her family was alive and well.