The Argentinean Syndrome

It is not known who carried out the abduction and upon whose orders, nor is it known what the authorities have done to solve the case. The fate of the missing passengers is also a mystery. Meanwhile, their family members have knocked on the doors of various institutions in Serbia, on those of various Ministries and of the Cabinet of the Serbian President, but with no avail. They want their relatives to be found--dead or alive. ``We wouldn't be Ministers, if we weren't able to find them,'' is what Serbian Minister of Interior Affairs Zoran Sokolovic said after the families of the abducted Muslims talked to Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic the first time. Milosevic, on the other hand, told them that he would ``comb the Earth, if necessary'' when he met them the second time in Belgrade on May 25. ``I don't believe in God, but I do believe in Milosevic,'' said one of the mothers after the talks with the Serbian President. Her faith may be genuine, but it is still not known whether any progress has been made in solving the Strpci abduction case.

All the above made the relatives of the abducted passengers, who are mostly from Prijepolje, get together in Belgrade in the beginning of July. Meanwhile, another meeting with the Serbian President was organized. It could be heard that Milosevic was angry because his promise had turned out to be comfort to a fool. In order to appease the President, the Serbian Government put up a group of relatives, who refused to go home without any news, at the Mladost Hotel. That's where they stayed for over a month, during which time no one ever addressed them. Therefore, on August 9, they went to the Serbian Government building to talk to somebody there. They waited there a whole day to be received and as no one did, they refused to leave the building and started on a hunger strike. They did not take any food for some 60-odd hours all until they were visited by Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic. Another meeting with the Serbian President was scheduled to take place in two weeks so that everybody parted in peace.

Immediately following the abduction, the Serbian police pointed out that the contact with the competent authorities in the Serb Republic in Bosnia had been established. After being approached by one desperate mother, a member of Milosevic's Cabinet said that Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic had promised to use his personal influence so that the case is solved as soon as possible. However, an announcement was issued in Pale that they had no idea that the incident had taken place at all. This was followed by the statements made by high officials of this self-styled state in Bosnia, that if it took place, it was carried out by some paramilitary group, unknown to them. Then, on July 6, the Government of the Bosnian Serb Republic stated that the group which carried out the abduction in Strpci was annihilated. However, the announcement was not specific as to the identity of the mentioned soldiers or the fate of the passengers. In short, this would be all. It is assumed that this kind of response is a purely formal answer to the pressures from Belgrade and is aimed at stalling for time and hushing up the affair, until it's forgotten.

There's no doubt that Milosevic really cares that the problem of abduction is solved, even more so as the Muslims from Sandzak are involved. A number of humanitarian organisations keep pointing at the cases of human rights violations in this area. Their reports, along with the treats by the U.S. administration that the escalation of violence in Kosovo and Sandzak will most energetically be prevented, are making the Serbian leadership more nervous. That is why Milosevic needs peace and stability, which have been most seriously shaken thus far by the abduction in Strpci.

It is no secret that the Serbian police, together with a large number of Serbian paramilitary groups are acting alongside the Bosnian Serb Army units in B-H. It is more that absurd to expect that ``the brethern'' will launch investigations against each other.

The President of Serbia has thus found himself in an unenviable situation. It just so happened that he can no longer control the situation which he himself had created. His admirers in the field cannot understand why he's so upset, when he has never made any objections to their work. Meanwhile, brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers of the missing citizens can only continue to carry the pictures of their relatives, just as it was once done in Argentina. Perhaps, one day in some ten years or so, they might find out the truth as the Argentineans did.