Yugoslav president assails his generals ° 2-j"19, 7K TH-E- Z/lf*>[ _ . . „ _ STIPE MESIC, the Croat who is Yugo- the chief of staff, a Serb whose family and Croatia, and Serbia is, in effect, first when Tito, the late leader of Yugoslavia, slavia's new , said yesterday was wiped out by Croatian fascists in the From Tony Barber in Belgrade among equals in the federation. suppressed a Croatian nationalist move- that the military leaders who launched Second World War and who was press- Mr Mesic, 57, became Croatia's Prime ment known as Maspok and sent police last week's crackdown in ing for a military state of emergency to representative from each of Yugoslavia's that was hoped for by the European Minister last year after the CDU swept and troops into Zagreb. After his re- should step down. His remarks seemed be declared in Yugoslavia as early as last six republics and two provinces, Mr Me- Community. to victory over the Communists in the re- lease, he was prevented from finding certain to rekindle tension between Ser- March. sic is now the nominal leader of the Mr Mesic also has a very different vi- public's first free elections since the war. work for three years. bian and Croatian politicians since most Mr Mesic, a former political prisoner country's armed forces. He pledged yes- sion of Yugoslavia's future to that of He should have succeeded to the Yugo- He makes little secret of his belief in of the officers responsible for the action and member of Croatia's ruling party, terday to send home reservists who were Slobodan Milosevic, Serbia's Commu- slav presidency on 15 May when it was Croatia's right to self-determination or were Serbs. the right-wing Croatian Democratic mobilised during last week's fighting. nist President. "We will not be secure Croatia's turn to take over the leader- of his dislike for military interference in "A certain section of the military lead- Union (CDU), was appointed head of But if he tries to purge General Adzic unless we have a union of sovereign and ship for one year. Just before Serbia politics. But he struck a more concilia- ership must reassess its position in the state on Sunday night after Serbia and and other Serbian Communist generals, equal states," he said. This contrasts blocked this, he said: "The only way to tory note yesterday, saying: "There is no light of the war in Slovenia," Mr Mesic its allies lifted the veto they had applied he will almost certainly meet bitter resis- with Mr Milosevic's desire for a more prevent me taking office is to shoot at need for internal war now or in the fu- told reporters in Belgrade. "We must since May. He is the first non-Commu- tance not only from the army but from centralised Yugoslavia in which all Serbs my car while I'm in it." • ture. What happened in the past is his- have an inquiry as to whether they ex- nist since 1945. the Communist leadership of Serbia. His remain within one state, Serbia's indus- Mr Mesic, a trained lawyer, was im- tory." Tensions had eased since Sunday, ceeded their responsibilities." He spe- As the head of the eight-member col- appointment may therefore not be quite tries continue to be subsidised by the prisoned for one year in 1971 on charges he said, adding that Yugoslavia could cifically named General Blagoje Adzic, lective presidency, which groups one the breakthrough in Yugoslavia's crisis more prosperous republics of Slovenia of fomenting "hostile propaganda" now "sail into calmer political waters" Troops stay on alert as hopes of peace fade HOPES of a peace settlement in Slovenia were fading yesterday, From Marcus Tanner after the breakaway republic in claimed army helicopters shot at civilian targets, and army leaders they will abandon us to our own accused Slovenia of firing on sol- fate and to war." Mr Kucan said diers with dum-dum bullets. he doubted whether Mr Mesic Janes Jansa, the Slovene De- could re-establish civilian control fence Minister, saidlfieTSderal air over the military. force helicopters shot civilian tar- In one of his first statements as gets near the army base at President of Yugoslavia, Mr Me- Vrhnika, wounding one person. sic said that army leaders respon- He also said the Yugoslav army sible for the war in Slovenia "must was transporting munitions into be brought to account". A sticking Slovenia and had mobilised point may be Slovenia's demand 200,000 reservists, mainly in Ser- that the army hand back control of bia, for action against Slovenia. international border crossings The army issued a shrill state- seized in three days of fighting. ment accusing Slovenia of firing The precise mechanism of the on soldiers with dum-dum bullets army's withdrawal to barracks has and taking hostages among the yet to be worked out. Slovene families of army personnel sta- leaders said it will depend on local tioned in the republic. agreements being forged between Earlier, Slovene leaders cast army units and units of the Slo- doubt on the success of the EC vene Territorial Defence working troika's peace plan, as it failed to under the auspices of a specially- address the key issue of the army's appointed commission. The com- withdrawal to barracks. They said mission will contain Slovene and the plan would collapse, unless federal representatives. international military and civilian There were no signs yesterday observers came to Slovenia to of army units yielding the posi- monitor the army's retreat. The tions which they occupy on Slove- peace plan proposed by Italy, Lux- nia's roads, around airports and at embourg and the Netherlands, frontier crossings. A tank trapped by a Slovene road block lies abandoned by its crew of soldiers from the Yugoslav federal forces called on Slovenia and Croatia to At Brnik, near Ljubljana, the suspend the declarations of inde- airport was still surrounded by pendence from Yugoslavia for army tanks secreted in the woods three months. around the airfield. Barricades of Serbia was urged to lift a six- lorries and buses, set up by the System of defence will aid breakaway forces week-long veto on the election of Slovene defence forces, still block Stipe Mesic, a Croat, as President almost all main roads and inter- YUGOSLAVIA'S armed forces defence thinking after 1968, but ular Yugoslav army numbered lyst specialising in Eastern Eu- of Yugoslavia. The election of Mr sections. Thousands of members have been shaped by history and where Nicolae Ceausescu insisted By Christopher Bellamy 138,000, including 93,000 con- rope, these internal security Mesic as President late on Sunday of the Slovene Territorial Defence geography in such a way that they on maintaining a tight grip on the Defence Correspondent scripts. The navy numbered 10,000 troops amount to "a riot squad", night appeared to fulfil the condi- force remained vigilantly on the can easily break away under the command structure. and the air force 32,000. These and would be less effective in sup- tions for a ceasefire, but Milan beat, ready to shoot at a moment's command of separatist republics. The rebel groups are likely to nantly manned by the dominant were backed up by a 1.5 million- pressing revolt than the regular Kucan, the President of Slovenia, notice. Experts believe that if the have plenty of expertise at their group — Serbs — comparable strong Territorial Defence Force, army, for whom there is "a degree said the army's withdrawal re- Trapped between the road ceasefire fails, the breakaway re- disposal because this command with the predominantly Slav So- or militia, mainly with obsolete of residual respect". The rebels mained the key to the crisis. blocks, without food or supplies, gions will have more chance of and control system has been dis- viet airborne forces, for example. equipment. might also be reluctant to fire on Appearing at a press confer- under the constant surveillance surviving a contest with the cen- persed and because so many have About 60 per cent of the army of- In addition there is a force of the army because Croats and Slo- ence surrounded by youths wield- from the Slovene forces moving tral government than anywhere served in the armed forces. This ficers are Serb, but in the navy Ministry of Defence Frontier venes are still serving in it. ing sub-machine-guns, Mr Kucan stealthily through the countryside, else in Eastern or Central Europe. policy also resulted in arms being there is a higher proportion of Guards, and the Milicja - police Asked if he thought the repeated claims that the army was many tank crews are reported to The reason goes back to Tito's dispersed throughout the popula- Croats. — who, like their Soviet and other ceasefire would hold, Mr Isby out of control. be in a desperate state. doctrine of "Total People's De- tion, enabling the breakaway re- As in the Soviet Union, there Eastern European equivalents, said: "It could be a 90 days' armi- The Slovene leader repeated Most Slovene people remain fence", which envisaged guerrilla publics to arm themselves fairly was an effort to ensure that con- are relatively well armed, with re- stice, with people digging holes his demands for international deeply suspicious of the Yugoslav war and a decentralised command easily. scripts did not serve in the military connaissance vehicles and ar- and filling sandbags in the in- observers to monitor the ceasefire army and distrustful of any peace structure. Because Belgrade was The system was primarily devel- region from which they came. The moured vehicles. But they lack the terim." There have also been ru- and the army's withdrawal. "If the accord. extremely vulnerable to attack oped to defeat a Soviet invasion. fact that the Serbs are now form- formidable character of the Soviet mours of former East German Yugoslav response is positive, The poor performance of the from the north, command was del- The only question is whether it ing their own military units — as Ministry of Internal Affairs Stasi secret policemen trying to they are ready to send observers Yugoslav army in the fighting has egated to Yugoslavia's four mili- has been eroded in recent years as distinct from the federal army - (MVD) divisions, which are al- join the Croatian forces. "Wheth- from the Conference on Security boosted Slovene self-confidence tary regions. This approach dif- the external threat has lessened. is an indicator that Serbian con- most as well armed as the army. er the stories are anything more and Co-operation in Europe," he and fuelled demands for complete fered from that of Romania, Nor do the Yugoslav federal trol was far from ensured. According to David Isby, a than Serbian fantasy I don't said. "If the answer is negative, independence from Yugoslavia. which began to emulate Yugoslav forces have 61ite units predomi- Before the recent crisis, the reg- Washington-based defence -ana- know."