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Pro-Milosevic Yugoslav prime minister and Serbian interior minister resign
The Associated Press - October 9, 2000, Monday, BC cycle

By MISHA SAVIC, Associated Press Writer

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia - Yugoslavia's new president pushed aside bastions of Slobodan Milosevic's power base Monday, as the country's federal prime minister and Serbia's interior minister resigned and a tentative date was set for new elections in the dominant republic.

But hardline Milosevic supporters in the Serbian legislature later postponed a decision to dissolve the entire Serbian government until Tuesday. The parliament in Serbia, the larger of Yugoslavia's two republics, insisted it would remain in office until early elections tentatively set for December.

Earlier, sources close to Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica said the Serbian government had definitely resigned Monday.

The resignation of Yugoslav federal Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic and Serbian Interior Minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic came during a day of rapidly unfolding events as Kostunica moved to solidify his power base.

All major Serbian parties agreed to early elections, delivering a severe blow to Milosevic's efforts to keep a foothold in Yugoslavia's institutions and to challenge newly installed Kostunica. Bulatovic and Stojilkovic were close Milosevic allies.

There was still resistance, however, to efforts to dismantle the government of Serbia, which accounts for 90 percent of the country's population of 10 million. Yugoslavia's other republic is Montenegro.

"This is a highway robbery," Vojislav Seselj, Serbia's ultranationalist deputy premier, told the parliament. "You will not get our blessing for a coup." Seselj complained that pro-democracy forces which have moved quickly to assume all levers of power.

Even as the last vestiges of the regime were being cleared away, the European Union lifted economic sanctions against Yugoslavia and offered it $2 billion in aid to help rebuild the country.

Speaking outside an EU foreign ministers meeting, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said they agreed to end an oil embargo, imposed during the Kosovo war in 1999, as well as a ban on commercial flights to and from Serbia by the Yugoslav carrier.

The decision marked a turning point in Yugoslavia's relations with the rest of Europe and was seen as a first step toward integrating the country into the European mainstream.

Pro-democracy leader Zoran Djindjic said that new elections for the Serbian legislature, which is separate from the Yugoslav parliament, will be held in December. Possible dates included Dec. 17 or the Dec. 24.

"We have achieved an important step in trying to create a transitional government, to create condition for free and fair elections," Djindjic said.

If the Serbian government were allowed to remain in place, it would have been in position to block many reforms desired by Kostunica's new government. Kostunica's allies have insisted that the pro-Milosevic authorities in Serbia had lost all legitimacy after a massive triumph by pro-democracy forces in elections last month.

Given the current popular wave of support for the new president, Kostunica is likely to win a strong majority in the republic's new parliament.

The resignation of Bulatovic, the Yugoslav prime minister, means that his government will act only until a new Cabinet is elected.

Serbia's president and parliament are elected separately from federal posts and were not involved in the contentious federal vote Sept. 24. Serbian President Milan Milutinovic and other Serbian government leaders were elected in 1998 to four-year terms.

Djindjic said that a transitional government consisting of economic experts and party leaders will be formed to replace the existing Serbian administration, which is headed by Milosevic's staunch ally, Mirko Marjanovic.

Although the European Union lifted economic sanctions, it left in effect sanctions that target Milosevic and his allies by freezing their assets abroad and banning them from traveling to the 15 EU nations. A ban on arms sales, imposed by the U.N. Security Council, also will remain in effect.

The EU foreign ministers remained silent on the fate of Milosevic, who is wanted for trial before the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. The tribunal indicted Milosevic last year for atrocities committed by his forces in Kosovo.

Meanwhile, Yugoslavia's defense minister attempted Monday to rally opponents of the new government, issuing a last-ditch appeal to Milosevic's shaken supporters not to abandon the ousted leader.

Gen. Dragoljub Ojdanic said that "the disunity among the Serbs is inciting the plans of our proven (foreign) enemies" to occupy the country. Milosevic's allies have consistently referred to Kostunica and his followers as Western lackeys bent on taking over the Serb state.

"If we continue like this, we won't get far ... how can we save the people of Serbia, how can we prevent our extinction?" Ojdanic said, indicating that if the pro-democracy forces prevail in the country, the Serbs would "disappear."

Ojdanic, a close Milosevic ally who has also been indicted for war crimes, has not formally recognized Kostunica as the new Yugoslav president and is not expected to keep his position in the new government. He has no direct control of the military, which has fallen under Kostunica's command.

Still, he retains influence among the military brass, and any call he might make to rally pro-Milosevic forces could be problematic for the new regime.

The military leadership - which consist mostly of Milosevic loyalists - has only grudgingly endorsed Kostunica as the new head of state. The top generals will likely be all replaced as part of a sweeping purge of Milosevic's supporters which many pro-democracy activists and the pro-Western leadership of Montenegro have long been demanding.

Meanwhile, a mob of angry workers attacked Radoman Bozovic, a close Milosevic aide and the director of a major trading corporation. He tried to flee from his car, but he was caught and beaten. His bodyguards snatched him into a nearby building for safety. Later, Bozovic resigned as the head of the export-import company.

In the third largest Serbian city of Nis, workers stormed a state-run textile factory Nitex, demanding the Socialist management be fired. Vladimir Stambuk, a neo-communist official and dean of the School of Political Sciences at Belgrade University was fired Monday.

SECTION: International News