Monday, May 12, 2008
The resurgence of loyalists to the deposed Yugoslav president brings Belgrade back to the brink of danger.
Oct 12, 2000 | The tattered remains of Slobodan Milosevic's regime resurfaced in Yugoslavia on Wednesday -- showing just how difficult it will be for the country's week-old Democratic revolution to take hold. As allies of deposed former president Milosevic claimed command of Serbia's powerful Interior Ministry, newly elected Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica and his supporters battled for control of the national security forces that will determine the country's balance of power.
Coming five days after Milosevic formally announced his defeat to Kostunica, the confrontation reveals how close Serbia is to unrest as the political tug-of-war escalates between supporters of Kostunica's plans for sweeping democratic reform and those who still have a stake in the old regime.
Opposition leaders went into crisis meetings with Kostunica after a leader of Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) claimed that a Milosevic ally, Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic, has assumed control of the 100,000-man strong Serbian police -- a high-tech force with armored vehicles that bears a closer resemblance to a paramilitary squad than a law enforcement agency. The announcement is one of several recent clues that Milosevic is fighting to retain control over key institutions in Serbia.
Opposition leaders publicly downplayed the seriousness of the claim -- made by Branislav Ivkovic, a member of Milosevic's SPS -- that Milosevic loyalist Marjanovic should head Serbia's police forces. The announcement follows the forced resignation Monday of Serbia's Interior Minister, Vlajko Stojiljkovic -- one of the half-dozen Milosevic allies who have resigned from their posts this week.
"The situation is a little bit confusing," opposition spokeswoman Vesna Bakic said Wednesday night. "Prime Minister Marjanovic took over the police, which in itself is not such a big deal because the minister in charge of the matter resigned on Monday. On the other hand, there are rumors that the SPS might try to take over national TV using the police, and everyone is very concerned," Bakic cautioned.
"That government can declare itself not only legal but omnipotent, but it's a fact of life they have no control over 80 percent of the processes in the country," said opposition leader Zoran Djindjic. "We are tired of haggling and manipulations."
But it was Djindjic, a well-known opposition politician and Kostunica's former campaign manager, who warned only a day earlier that factions of Serbia's police forces remained loyal to Milosevic. Djindjic's Democratic Party is one of the strongest opposition forces in Serbia, and he retains a large security detail. He's also been at the center of Kostunica-backed efforts to take control of Serbia's police forces, which served as an almost paramilitary force under Milosevic.
On Tuesday, Serbian police believed to be loyal to Milosevic arrested Djindjic's driver and the bodyguard of his aide Cedomir Jovanovic, although they later released the men.
An opposition activist, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Tuesday that command of Serbia's powerful secret police, the Sluzba Derzavnost Bezbednost (SDB), remains in the hands of Rade Markovic, one of Milosevic's closest associates. Markovic, who Serbian political analysts describe as ruthless and secretive, is a close advisor to Milosevic and his wife, Mirjana Markovic (no relation), and once served as the personal guard to their son Marko.
But in a sign of how dangerously factionalized institutions in Serbia have become since Milosevic's supposed departure from power Friday, the head of Djindjic's personal security is said to have cinched control of the red beret special forces branch of the plainclothes SDB secret police. (The parent SDB organization, meanwhile, is still controlled by a Milosevic loyalist.)
According to the opposition activist, conflict between pro-Milosevic and pro-opposition police factions became so pitched at one point this week that masked pro-Milosevic police seized the fourth floor of a Belgrade police headquarters, while police forces supporting Kostunica retained control of the rest of the building.
"I hear such terrifying stories every day," said the opposition activist, who serves as aide to a leader of one of the 18 opposition parties that supported Kostunica's candidacy.
In yet another troubling sign that Kostunica has so far failed to consolidate his control over Serbia's armed forces, Belgrade's independent Radio B292 reported Wednesday that the Yugoslav army issued a statement warning Kostunica of the "negative consequences" of replacing any of the top commanders. The announcement, issued after Kostunica met with the Yugoslav military generals Wednesday, followed statements by Kostunica and Djindjic that they intended to replace Gen. Nebojsa Pavkovic -- the force's top general and a relative by marriage to Milosevic -- with Gen. Momcilo Perisic. Milosevic sacked Perisic, then a commander of the Yugoslav army, in 1998. He now heads his own opposition party, which supports Kostunica and democratic reforms.
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