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Change Your Life! |
Milosevic concedes the inevitable defeat at last |
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October 8, 2000
BELGRADE (AP) - With the army behind him and Slobodan Milosevic wishing him well, President-elect Vojislav Kostunica appears free to take his oath of office and begin leading Yugoslavia out of a decade of war and turmoil and into a welcoming Europe. Kostunica focused on efforts Saturday to build a new democracy in this beleaguered Balkan country, sidestepping questions about the outgoing president's future plans. "For now, it is more than enough that Milosevic congratulated me," Kostunica said. "Difficult times are behind us, but the days ahead also hold many trials." Kostunica made the comments after talks with Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, the first Western official who arrived here to congratulate and offer the new Yugoslav president support. Papandreou expressed his admiration for the peaceful transition that the Yugoslavs accomplished and said that it was now time for Europe to respond by lifting economic sanctions. The European Union may lift sanctions as early as Monday. "The priority today is to the democratic transition in Yugoslavia, to help this country consolidate its democracy," Papandreou told reporters. Kostunica's official inauguration was scheduled to follow a session of the newly elected Yugoslav parliament Saturday in Belgrade's modernistic Sava Center, after the parliament building was gutted and ransacked in riots Thursday that toppled Milosevic. The Yugoslav strongman addressed the Yugoslav people in a televised speech late Friday, conceding he had lost the Sept. 24 presidential elections. Milosevic congratulated Kostunica on his electoral victory and wished all Yugoslavs luck, signaling the autocratic ruler had abandoned hopes of preventing his successor from being sworn in. Hours after Milosevic's address, the army's chief of staff, Nebojsa Pavkovic, also congratulated Kostunica, and indicated the military would obey the new political authority. Yugoslavia's high court had also named Kostunica the election winner, and powerful Yugoslav ally Russia offered its support. In his speech, Milosevic said he wanted to take a break before restarting an active political life. As an indicted war criminal, he has little chance of seeking asylum abroad and has no choice but to try to reach an accommodation with the new government. "I intend to rest a bit and spend some more time with my family and especially with my grandson, Marko, and after that to help my party gain force and contribute to future prosperity," he said. The concession prompted bursts of gunfire and wild honking of car horns in the streets of Belgrade, where tens of thousands kept up celebrations that began Thursday in the wake of a tumultuous uprising against 13 years of Milosevic's autocratic rule. Norway's foreign minister, Thorbjoern Jagland, was due to follow in his Greek counterpart's footsteps and arrive in Belgrade later Saturday, in a further show of support for Kostunica. Also confirming Kostunica's position, the speaker of the Serbian parliament, Dragan Tomic, addressed Kostunica as president in a letter Friday - the first such recognition by a high official from Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia. An anti-Milosevic leader, Zoran Djindjic, although initially distrustful of Milosevic's remarks, said on Saturday that Milosevic no longer had any control over the police or army troops. "We can breathe a sigh or relief now," Djindjic told independent B2-92 radio. Milosevic's son departed for Russia early Saturday with wife and infant son, the independent Beta news agency reported. Marko Milosevic, his wife Zorica and son Marko Jr., boarded a Yugoslav Airlines flight for Moscow, Beta said. Milosevic is blamed by the West for starting - and then losing - four Balkan wars that broke out in the last decade when parts of Yugoslavia began to seek independence. Those conflicts were marked by horrific acts of violence against civilians, which prompted Western governments to impose sanctions and isolate the government in Belgrade. Some of those controls were eased after Milosevic signed the 1995 agreement to end the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. However, other sanctions were imposed again in 1998 after Milosevic launched a brutal crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. Kostunica said Saturday that he will seek contact with the U.N. administrator in Kosovo to urge the return of thousands of Serb refugees to the majority ethnic Albanian province. In the past days, both the United States and the European Union have said they will begin to lift sanctions as the new democratic administration takes the reins. But returning Yugoslavia to normal footing may pose its own dilemmas - the sanctions and years of Balkan warfare have left the economy in ruins and last year's 78-day NATO bombardment hammered an already creaky transportation and utility network.
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