RIGHTS-YUGOSLAVIA: Want to be Warm? Get Rid of Milosevic

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic Reprint | | Print |

Vesna Peric-Zimonjic

BELGRADE, Nov 26 1999 (IPS) - While Yugoslav customs keep delaying a European Union (EU) heating-oil shipment for two opposition-controlled- Serbian cities, a number of people here feel they are again being unfairly punished by the democratic nations of Europe.

Apparently hoping that the hardships of Serbia’s harsh winter will persuade Yugoslavs to act against president Slobodan Milosevic’s government, the EU launched in October a controversial ‘Energy for Democracy’ programme.

Local analysts warn that the Serbs’ perception is that only ordinary people are penalised, just like in the 1992-95 period of United Nations-led sanctions.

The first EU shipment – 350 tonnes of heating fuel in 14 trucks – for the towns of Nis and Pirot, has been stranded at the border since Wednesday, due to unusually slow customs procedures, Michael Graham, head of the European Commission’s office in Belgrade told a press conference on Friday.

He described the situation as “very worrying”, as he said both towns have heating fuel reserves for just two days. Nis and Pirot are the testing ground for the programme.

“Nothing illegal has been done by the Serbian authorities and custom officials” said Hannu Mantyvaara, Finland’s ambassador to Belgrade. Finland holds the EU rotatory presidency until the end of 1999.

“This country (Yugoslavia) has complex custom laws, open for interpretation and that is why the procedure is taking an unusually long time” he told IPS.

The programme was launched in spite of U.S. objections, as it by-passes the economic embargo adopted by Washington and its European allies. Sanctions include oil and gas, essential in a country where subfreezing winter temperatures last for months.

Serbia’s 15 largest cities, including Belgrade, are run by opposition parties such as the nationalist-monarchist Serbian Renewal Movement or the Democratic Party.

Most opposition parties are engaged in a campaign to oust Milosevic through street protests and demands for early elections. They blame him for the overall economic impoverishment and total isolation of the country.

But some of the opposition leaders do not agree with the selective punishment programme adopted by the EU. They say it is unfair to divide the country in pro and anti-Milosevic sectors.

Zoran Zivkovic, the mayor of Nis and vice chairman of the Democratic Party, told IPS that the EU project should take into account all of Serbia.

“Everybody needs heating and it would be a discrimination to help only those (towns) where the majority of people has voted for the opposition parties” he said.

Aware that within the EU there are discrepancies regarding humanitarian aid for Yugoslavia, Belgrade has not openly rejected the programme.

Yugoslav information minister Goran Matic indicated last week that fuel shipments would not be hindered. “People are people and everybody needs to feel good at home,” he said.

Yet, according to Finnish ambassador Mantyvaara and sources in Belgrade, customs officials in Presevo received “new instructions” to stall the procedure as long as possible.

Red-tape procedures include sending samples of fuel to specialised laboratories in Belgrade to see whether they are compatible with central-heating systems in Nis and Pirot.

By Friday afternoon the samples had not been returned, while Serbia is heading for a long weekend, due to national holidays on Monday and Tuesday.

“That is the worst case scenario” Graham told IPS. “It would mean that heating fuel would not reach Nis and Pirot by next Wednesday or Thursday”.

Serbian domestic production of oil and gas in the northern province of Vojvodina cover only one-fifth of the country’s consumption. Coal was widely used as an alternative in the past, but it is now also unreachable as it was produced in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina – a former Yugoslav republic – demands hard currency for its coal exports, while mines in the nominally Serbian province of Kosovo have not restarted their production.

With subfreezing temperatures already days on, and already covered with snow, Serbia has turned to electricity for heating. This, in turn, has created an overdemand – resulting in power cuts – on a grid severely damaged by NATO air attacks between March and June.

Experts say that in this case it is a blessing that the Serbian industry is at a standstill, due to the bombardments and international sanctions.

“Thanks to this, some 60 percent of the electricity output can go to households for heating”, says Jovan Mandic, an expert in the field. “The same situation occurred in the 1992-95 period. People did not freeze in their homes only thanks to the fact that the industry was not working” he told IPS.

“It is likely that the government will let the EU fuel into Yugoslavia, since blocking it would not be popular among people already suffering extensive power cuts” Radosa Milutinovic, a Belgrade analyst says.

“But it is really unclear how the EU thought that the message conveyed to Serbs is that they are not being punished… Only ordinary people felt the punishment in the 92-95 period, just like now.”