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BELGRADE (AFP) - Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica renewed talks Wednesday to form a federal government with officials from the Socialist party of ousted leader Slobodan Milosevic.
The move came a day after Montenegro, its junior partner in the Yugoslav republic, politely rebuffed his efforts to draw it into an administration. Kostunica met a Socialist party (SPS) delegation at 4:00 pm (1400 GMT), his office said. Serbian Prime Minister Milan Milutinovic, a staunch Milosevic loyalist, and new SPS general secretary Zoran Andjelkovic, entered Kostunica's office without speaking to reporters. The meeting came after Montenegro's pro-Western President Milo Djukanovic reiterated that he would not join a federal government based on elections that his political allies and some 80% of the republic's population had boycotted. But divisions seemed to be appearing among Milosevic supporters after a report that the former president's Montenegrin allies, the minority Socialist People's Party (SNP), were considering dropping demands that the Socialists be included in the federal government. The SNP, which profited from the Djukanovic's boycott to take Montenegro's seats in the federal assembly, have been wooed by Kostunica's Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), which won most seats but did not gain a majority. Quoting sources close to the SNP leadership, the Beta news agency said the party would not "insist" on Milosevic's Socialists being involved in the future cabinet, and would accept a coalition government with the DOS. SNP leader and outgoing Yugoslav Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic was due to persuade SPS officials in Belgrade Wednesday "to accept the possibility of not being represented in the government," the unnamed sources told the agency. An official SNP decision will be made at a meeting of its leadership on Saturday, the agency said. The development came a day after a thaw in ties between Serbia and Montenegro during a meeting in Podgorica between Kostunica and Djukanvic. After the talks, Djukanovic's office referred to Kostunica for the first time as Yugoslav president. Podgorica had previously only acknowledged the moderate nationalist as leader of Serbia's democratic movement. Kostunica said he was "very satisfied" with the talks. Talks were encouraging, "not only over the federal government but more over the issues of relations between Serbia and Montenegro," he added. Serbia and Montenegro have been partners in the Yugoslav federation since 1992. Kostunica has said since coming to power that he would support a referendum on independence in Montenegro, a move already considered by the republic's leadership during Milosevic's rule. Djukanovic has balked at the prospect of the SNP holding the federal prime minister's job, which under the constitution should go to the strongest Montenegrin party in the federal assembly. DOS leader Zoran Djindjic announced that after early polls in Serbia, to be held on December 23rd under an accord reached with Milosevic's backers in the republic, "talks over future relations between the two federal partners will start." Top SNP official Predrag Bulatovic, not related to the outgoing federal premier, rejected any possibility of a federal government being formed by Milosevic's Socialists and the SNP alone, Belgrade radio B292 reported. The Montenegrin daily Vijesti said Wednesday that the two Bulatovics "were in a strong conflict... which could lead to an emergency party congress and dismissals at the top leadership of the party." |
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