Serb opposition leader hints at return

Draskovic: "I am ready to go to Serbia"

In this story: Boycott threat lifted Mysterious killings RELATED STORIES, SITES

By Douglas Herbert, CNN.com writer

LONDON (CNN) -- Maverick Serbian opposition leader Vuk Draskovic says he may end his self-imposed exile and return to his native country to lead his party in upcoming elections against Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

Draskovic, leader of Serbia's largest opposition party but currently based in Montenegro, the Yugoslav federation's junior partner, says he is torn between heeding his supporters' warnings about possible assassination attempts and acting on his own instincts.

He told CNN.com: "I am ready to go to Serbia right now, but my supporters won't allow me. They are telling me Milosevic's terrorists are ready to kill me at any moment."

Draskovic's opposition Serbian Renewal Movement has decided to field its own candidate for the September 24 presidential ballot rather than unite with a 15-party group that observers say has a better chance of defeating Milosevic.

In June, gunmen attacked Draskovic in his holiday home in Montenegro -- an assault which he claimed was an assassination attempt. Last year, the politician survived a car crash in which four of his colleagues died.

No concrete evidence has emerged implicating Milosevic or his police in the events, which came within 10 months of one another.

Draskovic, who led anti-government street protests in Belgrade in 1996 and 1997 with opposition colleague Zoran Djindjic, with whom he subsequently fell out, spoke on Thursday about those "beautiful days when we were together."

He also expressed frustration at being absent from the political frontline at such a crucial time.

A recent survey suggests that Vojislav Kostunica, the candidate of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia bloc, has 35 percent support for the presidency post, compared with 25 percent for Milosevic.

The candidate of Draskovic's party, Belgrade Mayor Vojislav Mihajlovic, polled only five percent, a level matched at the other end of the political spectrum by Tomislav Nikolic, an ultra-nationalist allied with the government.

Draskovic said: "I'm listening to my advisers... but it's difficult for me... I can't believe I could stay away from the battle.

"My wish is to go to Serbia to lead my party in the election campaign. My heart, all of me, tells me that probably I must do that as soon as possible. They are waiting to kill me, but what can I do, what can I do?"

Asked whether that meant he was planning an imminent return to Belgrade, the Yugoslav capital, Draskovic said: "If I stay here, it will be very difficult for me to watch from here the battle of my party against the regime."

Draskovic's comments followed an announcement by his party earlier in the day that it would take part in parliamentary elections, which it had threatened to boycott.

The decision means the Serbian Renewal party now intends to participate in all three votes -- local, federal presidential and parliamentary -- in the Yugoslav elections.

Montenegro's pro-Western leadership has refused to take part in the elections, saying that doing so would lend legitimacy to what it sees as Milosevic's autocratic ways.

Milosevic recently amended the country's constitution to allow him to run for a second, four-year term. The constitutional changes also downgraded Montenegro's status in the federation and defined new voting procedures under which a president is elected by a majority in a popular vote, regardless of turnout at the polls.

Draskovic insisted on Thursday that poll numbers showing his party lagging way behind the democratic bloc were unrepresentative of true Serbian public opinion.

He suggested that his party's real rating was closer to 20 percent -- and that the poll numbers reflected efforts by his political opponents in the opposition to marginalise him and his party.

He said: "The Serbian Renewal Movement is a victim of both the regime and, unfortunately, of the rest of the opposition.

"The regime is trying to eliminate me physically and some parties in the opposition are trying to capitalise on this by attacking my party, the biggest (opposition) party in the last 10 years."

Draskovic also took aim his one-time political colleagues for failing to denounce Milosevic more vehemently.

He said: "I would like to have Mr. Kostunica and the rest of the opposition attacking very strongly Mr. Milosevic....I would like to have a domestic indictment against Mr. Milosevic and to blame him for state terror."

The attack on Draskovic in June followed a spate of mysterious killings in Belgrade of underworld figures and officials.

Earlier that month, a security adviser to Djukanovic, the western-leaning Montenegrin president, was gunned down outside his home in Montenegro's capital, Podgorica.

In January, Zeljko Raznatovic, Serbia's most notorious warlord, was killed in Belgrade. A month later, the country's Defence Minister was shot dead in a restaurant in the capital.

Milosevic's government has denied any part in the killings, calling them the work of Western agents bent on occupying and destroying the country. Milosevic has also accused Draskovic and other members of the opposition of "terrorism."

Milosevic criticised as poll puts opposition ahead
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August 21, 2000
Divided opposition set to contest Yugoslav presidential election
August 7, 2000

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Official Web Site
Serbian Renewal Movement
Socialist Party of Serbia

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