| PART TWO One possible motive for the killing is that Arkan, who was one of the main players on the gasoline black market, was not happy with his share. "He tried to bite off more than he was allowed. He stepped on many a leading businessman's toes and it is thought that many had had enough, so that they asked the state leadership's blessing to get rid of him," says Jovan Dulovic, an independent analyst, recalling that a dozen similar killings have taken place in the last decade and that not a single one has been resolved. "One should not expect that this one is going to be any different," says Dulovic. On 18 January, Yugoslav State Television announced that police had found a suspect: a wounded man in a hospital in Loznica, western Serbia, who is of course without counsel and cannot issue a statement. THE PLOT THICKENS This is not the first time the government has been suspected of foul play. On 3 October four close associates of Vuk Draskovic-leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement, one of the most popular opposition parties-were killed in a traffic accident near Belgrade, though Draskovic himself survived. The crash was caused by a truck loaded with sand that inexplicably swerved toward Draskovic's vehicle on a clear and straight stretch of highway. The police have not yet found either the driver or the truck. Draskovic maintains that the accident was an assassination attempt organized by the Serbian State Security Service. In November last year, police arrested five members of the Yugoslav army reserve charging that they were members of a terrorist group, Spider, which they claimed was established by the French secret service. Minister of Information Goran Matic said Spider had plotted to kill Milosevic. The group was also accused of spying for the French, committing crimes in Kosovo and Srebrenica, and being complicit in assassinations in Belgium, Algeria, and Zaire. The affair reached a climax at the beginning of January, when state-run television broadcast a statement given to the police by Jugoslav Petrusic, the alleged leader of Spider. Among other things, Petrusic admitted that he was a French agent. He also said that Vuk Draskovic had secretly contacted high French officials and that he too works for the French secret service. In early December police arrested several members of the Serbian Liberation Army (OSA, which means "wasp" in Serbian) whose aim is to overthrow the existing regime and to reinstate the Serbian monarchy. State media reported that the group had confessed to organizing the attempt on Draskovic's life. Many interpreted the situation as officials' attempt to convince people that foreign countries are trying to destabilize Serbia using specially trained terrorist groups, while establishing themselves as patriots defending their country. Tufegdzic, of Blic, thinks that the link is obvious. "All of this happened to us in just three months. The scandals confirm that dramatic changes are taking place within the regime's ranks. The killing of Arkan shows that getting rid of people who know too much and who could do too much has started," says Tufegdzic. The police and the army have no money or even basic equipment for daily work, while members of the secret service are full of money, with the best cars and glamorous girlfriends. "Young officers were involved in conflicts they didn't want. They went to wars and they returned as losers, but not because they were beaten by the enemy, but because their government betrayed them," says Tufegdzic. "They don't want to defend the regime, they just want to be professionals and to do their work. They have big psychological problems because when people see them on the street, they think that they are members of the regime, and they are trying not to be that." The problems in Milosevic's army and police, combined with the general public's discontent over the current situation, indicate that it is only a matter of time before the regime loses power. It is known that Milosevic can function only in crisis situations and will not hesitate to create new phantom enemies and new conspiracies. Such brutal executions are undoubtedly aimed at spreading fear and insecurity among people. The main question is who will be next on the hit list: independent journalists, judges, opposition leaders, or ordinary people that do not support the government. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Milorad Ivanovic is deputy editor of the Foreign Desk in Blic daily and editor of the Balkans section of the Blic News magazine. |