Kostunica pledges dialogue with Montenegro

PODGORICA, Yugoslavia (Reuters) -- New Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica visited Montenegro on Tuesday, and agreed with leaders of the small republic that problems in its partnership with Serbia would be resolved peacefully.

Making his first visit to the coastal republic since taking office less than two weeks ago, Kostunica pronounced himself satisfied with his discussions with Montenegro's pro-Western President Milo Djukanovic and other local leaders.

Serbia and Montenegro followed increasingly different political paths while the authoritarian Slobodan Milosevic was Yugoslav president and pulled the strings in Serbia, the Yugoslav federation's dominant republic and seat of its capital.

Until a mass uprising forced Milosevic to admit defeat in presidential elections, Western officials often voiced fears he could provoke a military conflict in Montenegro.

But the Montenegrin president's office in the capital Podgorica said Kostunica and Djukanovic had agreed that problems between Montenegro and Serbia would be solved through talks.

"The parties reached mutual consent on having all disputes that burdened our relations resolved through dialogue," a statement said, suggesting that working groups be set up to examine contentious issues.

Kostunica said he was encouraged by the fact that he and Montenegrin leaders were talking to each other.

"I am satisfied with the talks I had with Djukanovic and other officials in Podgorica, and when these talks become fruitful, you will be informed," he said in brief remarks to reporters in Cetinje, Montenegro's historic former capital.

Kostunica, a 56-year-old Serbian constitutional lawyer, said they had also discussed the formation of a new federal government -- a process in which Montenegrins have a key role.

Under the Yugoslav constitution, the government must be headed by a Montenegrin if the president is a Serb.

But Djukanovic's party boycotted the September elections, meaning that the premier would come from the pro-Milosevic Socialist People's Party (SNP) who is in opposition in Montenegro, an idea rejected by Djukanovic.

The SNP upped the ante this week by insisting a member of Milosevic's own Serbian Socialists should be part of the government. That prompted Kostunica's camp to warn they would find ways to bypass the federal government if necessary.

"We are not in a situation where we have to form a federal government at all costs and there is no reason why we should give in to blackmail," Zoran Djindjic, leader of the Democratic Party, told the Beta news agency Tuesday.

Kostunica has opened his country up to the West with remarkable speed, receiving a stream of international officials and attending an EU summit, after a decade of international isolation and four Balkan wars under Milosevic.

He pledged on taking power that his first priority would be to restore relations with Montenegro, the last remaining part of the old Yugoslav federation along with Serbia.

He declared initially that there was no question of independence for Montenegro or for Serbia's southern province Kosovo, populated mainly by ethnic Albanians and now under United Nations and NATO control.

But since then, he has said that if the 640,000 inhabitants of Montenegro want to break from Yugoslavia, their wish will be respected.

To stay in the federation, Montenegro is insisting that Serbia dismantle Milosevic's power machine and establish new federal structures giving it equal status.

As Kostunica arrived in the southern republic, which provides Serbia's access to the Adriatic sea, Prime Minister Filip Vujanovic said Montenegro's patience was not unlimited.

Vujanovic was quoted by the daily Pobjeda as saying during a trip to the Hague that European leaders, who are pressing for Montenegro to stay within Yugoslavia, had urged him to bide his time.

"But we can't be patient forever, and if it shows that we can't reach agreement in discussions, then Montenegro has to continue along the road to independence."

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