RFE/RL BALKAN REPORT, Vol. 4, No. 80, 27 October 2000
A NEW BEGINNING? KOSTUNICA VISITS MONTENEGRO AND BOSNIA. Just
two weeks after taking office, Yugoslavia's new president,
Vojislav Kostunica, visited Montenegro last weekend in a bid
to reach agreement on a new Yugoslav government. Kostunica
also traveled to Bosnia where he announced the imminent
establishment of diplomatic relations between Sarajevo and
Belgrade - pending the formation of the new Yugoslav
government.
Vojislav Kostunica, hailed by many in the West as the
savior of democracy in Serbia, wants to preserve the common
state of Serbia and Montenegro, though he concedes the name
Yugoslavia may have to be sacrificed.
But certain problems need to be resolved first. The
Yugoslav federal constitution requires the federal prime
minister to be a Montenegrin in the event that the president
is a Serb. But the Montenegrin government, led by President
Milo Djukanovic's Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS),
boycotted last month's federal presidential and parliamentary
elections.
They claimed that the ballot was unlawful because the
constitutional changes that enabled the elections to be held
and diminished Montenegro's role in the federal parliament
were enacted without the participation of Montenegro. For
this reason, the Djukanovic government does not consider
Kostunica to be the legitimate president of Yugoslavia.
Djukanovic and his party also object to serving together with
pro-Milosevic politicians in a new cabinet.
Montenegro's main opposition party, the pro-Milosevic
Socialist People's Party (SNP), won the parliamentary
elections in Montenegro and has agreed to participate in
forming a coalition government. Their nominee, Zoran Zizic,
is slated to become federal prime minister.
Kostunica agrees to Zizic's appointment and says that
he is making every effort to ensure that the federal
government will composed of experts with as wide a
representation of parties as possible. Nonetheless, the
government's core structure will consist of two parties, his
Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) and the SNP. Kostunica
believes that the cabinet will be approved by the Yugoslav
parliament by the beginning of next week at the latest.
Noting the absence of the Montenegrin ruling parties in
the government, Kostunica stated said that "at the moment we
are forging a government out of the parties that took part in
the federal elections." But he added that both the DOS and
Zizic's party would welcome Montenegro's ruling parties into
the federal government. Last week, Zizic said that the reason
his party had to be represented in the new government was to
ensure that Slobodan Milosevic would not be extradited to the
UN tribunal at The Hague, where the former president is
indicted for war crimes.
Before visiting Montenegro on Sunday, Kostunica traveled
to Bosnia-Herzegovina, the first visit by a Yugoslav leader
since Milosevic came in 1993.
Kostunica went to Trebinje in the southernmost corner of
the Bosnian-Serb entity to attend the reburial of a Serbian
poet and Yugoslav diplomat, Jovan Ducic, who died in exile in
the United States in 1943. Trebinje is a long-time chetnik
and monarchist stronghold. Kostunica had decided to
participate long before he was even nominated to run for
president. The Bosnian Foreign Ministry initially expressed
outrage at Kostunica's participation, but its anger
dissipated once the international community intervened.
An RFE/RL correspondent reported from Trebinje that the
participants greeted Kostunica with "stormy applause,"
although he did not address the gathering. The entire Bosnian
Serb leadership was present as were the leaders of Bosnia's
religious communities and Liljana Karadzic, the wife of
former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic whom The Hague
tribunal has also indicted for war crimes. (Radovan Karadzic
once won a prize for poetry named after Ducic.)
The head of the United Nations mission in Bosnia, former
U.S. General Jacques Klein, escorted Kostunica from Trebinje
to Sarajevo in a UN helicopter for hastily arranged talks
with the Bosnian leadership at Sarajevo airport. Kostunica
told reporters afterwards that Yugoslavia's recognition of
Bosnia-Herzegovina is "the issue of the day."
"Our meeting today represents a very serious normalization of
diplomatic relations between Bosnia-Herzegovina and the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. I'm convinced it will be
realized at the moment when the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia forms its new, democratic, federal government."
Kostunica also called for full compliance with the
nearly five-year-old Dayton peace accords, including their
references to the existence of the Bosnian Serb entity, the
Republika Srpska.
The current president of the Bosnian presidency, Zivko
Radisic, a Serb, also expressed support for the renewal of
diplomatic relations between Belgrade and Sarajevo, while
respecting the continued existence of the separate Bosnian
Serb and Muslim-Croat entities.
"This was an opportunity and we are expressing our
readiness and willingness to establish and develop relations
with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia [while] respecting
the existing territorial integrity and sovereignty of our
country and state," Radisic said.
The new Muslim member of the presidency, Halid Genjac,
said he expects both sides to agree on specific steps to
improve relations.
After meeting Kostunica at the airport, Bosnia's Foreign
Minister Jadranko Prlic, a moderate Croat, said: "We support
Yugoslavia in its effort to reach an association agreement
with the European Union, but on condition that Yugoslavia
undergoes the same procedure for acceptance into European
integration as all other countries."
Klein called the meeting "historic." He added: "We all
know that we cannot change the past, but if we work together
we can build a better future." As Klein then put it, "today
is the beginning of the future." (Jolyon Naegele)
STARTING 'EM YOUNG. In today's interdependent age of
globalization, it's never too early for young people to start
pursuing excellence and being their best with a career in the
information field. Two young men who "get it" are Nikola
Seselj and Marko Poplasen, both of whom are on the payroll of
Zemun's information systems office (ZIPS). Zemun is the
Belgrade suburb that until recently was run by the Radicals
of Vojislav Seselj, who happens to be the father of Nikola,
who happens to be 15. "Vesti" of 24 October did not mention
photographer Marko's age when it reported the story, but it
did note that he is the son of former Republika Srpska
President Nikola Poplasen. It is not clear whether the young
men received any stock options. (Patrick Moore)
Copyright (c) 2000. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
http://www.rferl.org
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