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RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSL RUEHSR RUEHVK
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DE RUEHBW #1030/01 2571454
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 141453Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY BELGRADE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0203
INFO EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BELGRADE 001030 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
DEPT FOR EUR/SCE (P. PETERSON) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL SR
SUBJECT: SERBIA: KRUPANJ A NATIONALIST VESTIGE OF CONTRADICTION AND 
CONFUSION 
 
REF: BELGRADE 258 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Serbia's small western municipality of Krupanj highlights 
how economic destitution and the lack of a national vision have 
spawned a muddled relationship between citizens and nationalist 
parties in local government.  All roads literally end in Krupanj as 
does, apparently, all logic.  Though the local government is led by a 
Serbian Radical Party (SRS)- New Serbia (NS)- Socialist Party of 
Serbia (SPS) coalition, economic hardships blur the relevance of 
party allegiance as citizens struggle to make ends meet.  The 
perception of local Democratic Party (DS) officials as "crooks" and 
confusion about President Tadic's intentions devalue the 
attractiveness of a DS alternative.  Economic woes and the ability of 
even ultranationalist followers to change stripes to suit the 
occasion indicate that local citizens are most apt to follow 
political leadership that they see as tangibly improving their own 
lives.  End Summary. 
 
Impoverished Municipality of Contradictions 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Krupanj, a small municipality not far from the 
Serbia-Bosnia border opposite Zvornik, reflects the political 
confusion in the isolated townships of Serbia wrought by persistent 
economic hardship.  Mayor Savo Doric, a medical doctor and member of 
the NS executive board, explained to the Charge on August 22 that the 
lack of roads and the closure of the local polyester plant severely 
hurt Krupanj's economic potential.  Doric claimed he knew NS 
President Velimir Ilic and explained away some of Ilic's recent 
irrational behavior as the result of Ilic's recent brain hemorrhage 
which kept him from thinking clearly.  Charge reminded Doric about 
Ilic's comments describing the February 21, 2008, attack on the U.S. 
Embassy as a "form of democratic expression," to which Doric 
responded that "Ilic was never rational anyway."  Doric then 
proceeded with what was to become his leitmotif: Krupanj was poor 
because of bad roads.  When Charge asked why Doric never got any 
roads out of Ilic he said, "Ilic makes a lot of promises."  Charge 
asked why DSS was not part of the Krupanj ruling coalition and Doric 
said "personality conflict," and started on his second leitmotif - 
parties don't matter in Krupanj, personalities do. 
 
¶3.     (SBU) In response to Charge's question about what the Radicals 
were up to (the majority of the municipal council), he said they were 
not thinking about politics, but rather how to make ends meet.  He 
seemed to think the Radicals were not thinking about a Serbian 
Progressive Party (SNS) alternative.  After Charge pointed out that 
the SNS successes in Vozdovac, Zemun, and Kosovo and the apparent 
decline of the SRS, he seemed contemplative.  Turning to the 
Socialists, Doric said it was unclear whether the SPS electorate was 
buying off on SPS President Dacic's vision of the "new SPS."  "That's 
a hard sell," he said. 
 
¶4.     (SBU) The mayor then made a pitch for U.S. assistance.  Charge 
outlined the individual projects, non-governmental types people from 
his municipality could apply for, including exchanges, democracy 
commission, humanitarian assistance and possibly USAID 
competitiveness projects, but said it was doubtful the government 
would qualify for assistance as long as the electorate voted in a 
majority party who considered Vojislav Seselj and Ratko Mladic as 
heroes, and who treated Serbian basketball player Miladin Kovacevic 
(reftel) as a Serbian victim.  Charge said she doubted such folks 
would welcome U.S. assistance.  "You're wrong," he said.  "Our 
Radicals are local and they're not anti-American. And besides, they 
would be happy to re-christen themselves into anything in order to 
get assistance." 
 
¶5.     (SBU) In a brief response to Charge's question about why DS 
had lost Krupanj in the last municipal election, the mayor said, 
"they're crooks." 
 
¶6.     (SBU) When Charge asked about Slobodan Milosevic's lasting 
popularity in Krupanj, the mayor agreed folks still considered him a 
hero. Why?  "Ignorance," he responded.  "Our folks here don't read 
the paper much."  He said Krupanj historically had been very 
pro-Partizan and was the site of one of the first uprisings against 
the Nazis.  He said at the beginning royalist "Chetnik" forces and 
Partizans had fought together, but not for long.  Milosevic was able 
to capitalize on somehow being the continuity with the Partizans. 
 
¶7.     (SBU) Doric said people in Krupanj were confused about 
President Tadic.  "He campaigned on a pro-EU platform, but now is in 
 
BELGRADE 00001030  002 OF 003 
 
 
Beijing talking about China being just as important and a few weeks 
ago said the same thinking about the Non-Aligned Movement.  Until 
Tadic makes his message more clear, folks like ours can't understand 
him," the mayor said. 
 
Doing Business in Krupanj 
------------------------- 
 
¶8.    (SBU) Though the mayor complained bitterly about population 
loss due to the lack of economic opportunity, he seemed disinterested 
in three of Krupanj's more successful enterprises-a fruit processing 
plant, the local hotel, and a local priest's charming construction of 
a 15th Century church as an "ethno-village."  Representatives from 
all three enterprises mentioned, even in the mayor's presence, that 
the municipality was not providing enough support.  They later 
alluded to Charge that they were unwilling to give Doric a "cut" of 
their revenues, which explained his disinterest. 
 
¶9.     (SBU) When the mayor and Charge arrived at the USAID-assisted 
fruit processing plant, they mayor seemed unimpressed with what 
appeared to be, by any measure, a wildly successful privatization 
effort.  The company exports frozen raspberries and blackberries, as 
well as prunes and fresh zucchini to European markets.  A massive 
enterprise, with state of the art equipment, receiving fruit from 
over 1000 local farms and employing over 100 in Krupanj alone, the 
factory representative said orders were up and capacity only was 
limited by supply of fruit.  The representative said the firm was 
buying up plots of land from farmers who retired, or opted out of 
agriculture, in order to have more of an economy of scale.  The firm 
also was considering more product lines.  The representative agreed 
with the mayor, however, that better roads would make life easier. 
In contrast, the mayor seemed more interested in showing Charge an 
abandoned Tito-era polyester plant, insisting that textiles were 
Krupanj's future. 
 
¶10.    (SBU) Doric also seemed to think Krupanj could become a 
tourist destination, if the roads were better.  He took Charge up a 
steep winding road to a crossroads he said would link Krupanj to 
Ljubovija, which would make the whole area more accessible to 
Bosnia-Herzegovina and increase trade.  He said that in a pre-WWII 
arrangement, Krupanj had been subordinate to Sarajevo and that 
Sarajevo in some ways was a more natural hub.  In response to 
Charge's question about Krupanj's ethnic structure, Doric said out of 
20,000 residents, 500 were "Muslims," but he was unsure whether they 
were Roma, Slavic Muslims or Turks left over from the closure of the 
local Ottoman fortress in the 19th Century.  "But many of them are 
Radicals," he said and one of them was a Radical municipal council 
member.  "They were even pro-Milosevic during the war," he insisted 
and said there had been little friction during the war.  Doric 
thought he could attract tourists because of this history and 
Krupanj's fresh air, and pointed out a hotel one of his friends was 
building. 
 
¶11.    (SBU) In spite of all the mayor's talk about tourism, the 
local downtown hotel owner had a different story.  Even though her 
hotel provides almost 100% of the city's tourist income from running 
a series of children's sports camps, she said the city treated her 
like an alien because she lived in Novi Sad, Vojvodina.  She bought 
the hotel because her husband was from Krupanj and the air was fresh. 
 She said the town council made it almost impossible for her to do 
business, and she was convinced they burdened her with unnecessary 
paperwork.  The hotel is - by far - the most imposing structure and 
focal point of downtown Krupanj.  Undaunted she said she intended to 
open a wellness center to attract adults, in addition to the 
children's camps.  In response to the hotel owner's complaints, the 
mayor reminded Charge that his own friends wanted to build a hotel. 
 
¶12.     (SBU) Krupanj's most charming tourist attraction, an 
ethno-village centered around a reconstructed 15th Century church, 
also illustrates the problems with getting municipal support if one 
does not play into the mayor's priorities.  The local village priest 
has made construction of the village - including museums, grottos and 
picnic sites - his life's work and said in the mayor's presence that 
he would appreciate more support from the municipality.  The mayor 
did not respond. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶13.     (SBU) Krupanj's problems and contradictions reflect a lack of 
clarity in understanding where President Tadic is taking Serbia. 
Mayor Doric is more a caricature of a corrupt local mayor than a 
representation of an ideological threat to the pro-European 
coalition.  The ability to change stripes and spots to suit the 
 
BELGRADE 00001030  003 OF 003 
 
 
occasion would seem to contribute to the argument that these simple 
folk would follow a direction they could understand as improving 
their lives - if that direction were explained to them clearly.  End 
Comment. 
BRUSH