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By Jeffrey T. Kuhner
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Serbia's deputy prime minister says a recent
agreement allowing Montenegro to hold a referendum on independence could trigger
further disintegration and instability in the
Balkans.
"I am concerned about the
agreements relating to a new Union of Serbia and Montenegro," said Nebojsa Covic
in an interview Friday at the Embassy of Yugoslavia. The two republics are the
only remaining members of what was once a six-republic Yugoslav
federation.
"If we allow this precedent to take
place, secessionist referendums will spread throughout the region. The Albanians
in Kosovo will want to hold a referendum. So will the Croats and Serbs in
Bosnia. There will be no end to the process of
disintegration.
"We therefore need to be
cautious and careful in order to promote regional stability and security," Mr.
Covic said.
The comments were the latest sign
of a split in the ruling coalition between Serbia's Prime Minister Zoran
Djindjic and Yugoslav President Vojislav
Kostunica.
Mr. Kostunica has criticized Mr.
Djindjic's government for agreeing to hand over suspected war criminals —
including former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic — to the U.N. tribunal at The
Hague, which is prosecuting those charged with having committed atrocities
during the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia in the
1990s.
In a bid to prevent more ethnic
violence, Mr. Kostunica brokered an agreement on March 14 in which Serbia and
Montenegro would restructure their ties and formally drop the name Yugoslavia.
The pact would create a new Union of Serbia and Montenegro joining the two
republics in a loose confederation.
The
agreement allows Montenegro to hold a referendum on secession three years after
the accord is adopted by the parliaments of both republics — satisfying the
demands of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, who left home yesterday for a
visit to Washington.
Mr. Djukanovic, who seeks
to eventually forge an independent state, is expected to discuss his republic's
relationship with Serbia during talks with Secretary of State Colin L. Powell
today. Mr. Djukanovic's prime minister resigned last week in a dispute over the
independence issue.
Mr. Covic warned that the
referendum arrangement could lead to further instability in the
Balkans.
"We must stop the disintegration
process in the region. Under Milosevic it was understandable that the other
republics wanted to get away and secede but now any partition or secession will
be done under democracy in Belgrade," said the 44-year-old former mayor of
Belgrade.
Mr. Covic said he hoped the agreement
would persuade Montenegrin secessionists to call off their demands for a
referendum, saying the three-year interval following the pact's implementation
"will allow the separatists to see that the disintegration of their country will
not make sense."
However, Belgrade is facing
secessionist threats not only from Montenegro, but also its southern province of
Kosovo. Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova has called on the world to
recognize the territory of more than 2 million as an independent
state.
Kosovo legally remains part of
Yugoslavia but has been a de facto international protectorate since June 1999,
when NATO bombing ended oppression of its ethnic Albanian majority by Mr.
Milosevic's nationalist regime.
Mr. Covic said
that his government is "strongly opposed to a change in Kosovo's borders,"
adding that the 226,000 ethnic Serbs and 40,000 Gypsies who were expelled from
the province after NATO's bombing campaign have not been allowed to return to
their homes.
To grant the province independence
"would lead to the creation of ethnically clean states that would threaten
regional stability," he said.
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20020429-96813308.htm
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