Military

DATE=11/04/2000

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-268838

TITLE=Yugoslavia government update(L-only)

BYLINE=Stefan Bos

DATELINE=Budapest

Content=

INTRO: Yugoslavia's federal parliament has approved (late Saturday) the country's first non-communist Government in more than half a century. As Stefan Bos reports despite the political changes, President Vojislav Kostunica has rejected a call from his allies to immediately dismiss the top commanders of police and armed forces.

TEXT: After eight hours of difficult debates, the new Yugoslav government was voted into office by a vote of 136 to 19 by both chambers of Yugoslavia's 178-seat Parliamentary assembly. Twenty-three others were not present for the vote.

The new government replaced a coalition primarily made up of Socialists -the renamed communists of ousted President Slobodan Milosevic - and the neo-communist party of his wife. It was seen as a milestone for this Balkan country. For the first time since World War Two the Yugoslav communist party, founded by Josip Broz Tito, will no longer play a powerful role.

Supporters of President Kostunica have been given the key Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Police, Justice and Telecommunications. Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus, a Kostunica ally and economic expert,will supervise the rebuilding of Yugoslavia's economy after a decade of wars and communist style mismanagement. But new Prime Minister,Zoran Zizic,from Yugoslavia's smallest republic Montenegro,is a supporter of former President Slobodan Milosevic. His Montenegro Socialist People's Party has been given the Defence Ministry.

/// opt /// The Yugoslav contitution stipulated that if the president comes from Serbia, as Mr. Kostunica does, then the prime minister must be Montenegrin and vice versa. /// end opt ///

But despite the approval of the federal Government, President Kostunica expressed his concern about the disputes surrounding the transition of power in the country. In a statement released late Saturday, Mr. Kostunica rejected a call from his allies to immediately replace top police and military commanders. He said the change, in his words, ''would lead to destabilization.''

Socialist members of the Serbian Government have resisted demands by their pro-democracy colleagues to dismiss the chief of Serbia's state security, Rade Markovic, who has been linked to previous assassinations of Milosevic opponents.

Prime Minister Zizic said that one of the priorities of his Government would be restoring diplomatic relations with Western countries. Mr. Zizic stressed that his administration will respect its international obligations, but the Prime Minister made it clear that cooperation with the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal in The Haque was not high on the Government's priority list.

Although ousted President MIlosevic and four of his associated have been indicted by the court for alleged war crimes, government officials fear that their extradition could lead to new tensions in Yugoslavia. (Signed)

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