Dialogue urged in Montenegro

Cook and Djukanovic: Dialogue over Montenegro's future

PODGORICA Yugoslavia -- Britain's foreign secretary has warned the Montenegrin leadership against rushing to leave the federation of Yugoslavia.

Robin Cook visited Montenegro on Wednesday, following a narrow election victory by Montenegro's pro-independence forces, led by President Milo Djukanovic.

After talks with Djukanovic, Cook said that the West would not impose solutions on Montenegro and its federation partner, Serbia, and he was satisfied there would be dialogue on any change in relations.

"I leave confident that the approach to constitutional change will follow the European route of dialogue to reach agreement and support through democratic consent," he said.

The United States and European governments have warned against further reshaping of Balkan borders, fearing it could trigger more bloodshed by encouraging ethnic Albanian separatists in Serbia's province of Kosovo and in Macedonia.

But indicating that his independence drive will continue, Djukanovic told the joint press conference that there must be "respect of the will of the majority in Montenegro."

Djukanovic said "political differences are deep in Montenegro, and every responsible leadership must take this into account."

But he added: "It is of strategic importance that we seek common ground with Serbia."

Aides to Djukanovic said on Tuesday that he would push for a referendum on independence between June 30 and July 13, the day Montenegro first won international recognition in 1878.

But British officials said Montenegro had indicated to them that they now favoured a delay.

Bulatovic: Would call for referendum boycott

"There was a fairly clear steer from the foreign minister and prime minister that (July) was not the timetable they were aiming at," a British official said.

On Tuesday, Swedish diplomat Sven-Olaf Petersson, who led an EU delegation in talks with Montenegrin officials on both sides of the debate, said the election's close result -- with a margin of victory of less than 5,000 votes -- was not a mandate for change.

"The elections have shown one thing very clearly -- that Montenegrin society is split pretty much down the middle," said Petersson. "These close results do not provide a green light for those in a hurry to call for a referendum."

Djukanovic's "Victory is Montenegro's" coalition took 36 seats in the 77-member parliament against 33 for the "Together for Yugoslavia" bloc, according to provisional final results issued by the electoral commission late on Tuesday night.

The Liberals were shown to have won six seats, and pro-independence ethnic Albanian parties two, bringing the number of seat controlled by independence-minded groups to 44 -- although voting is to be repeated at three polling stations due to irregularities.

But Djukanovic, who says Montenegro can achieve democracy and prosperity more quickly without its dominant partner, dismissed suggestions that the failure of his coalition to win the overwhelming victory should affect the referendum plan.

He told the Montena television station on Tuesday: "There is no dilemma -- our strategy is not going to change. The election results don't direct us to make any changes. We won."

The leader of the pro-Yugoslavia faction, Predrag Bulatovic, has warned against further moves to secession, saying: "Pressing on with the referendum could have grave consequences for stability."

Bulatovic said the anti-independence camp would boycott a referendum, making it virtually impossible for the results to be valid because the law requires turnout to be more than 50 percent of eligible voters.

The Yugoslav federation was originally made up of six republics -- Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Slovenia -- before the other four seceded in the early 1990s, a process accompanied in most cases by bloody ethnic conflict.

Of the two remaining partners, Serbia has a population of nine million people and Montenegro just 600,000.

EU urges restraint in Montenegro
April 24, 2001
Montenegro: no strong mandate
April 23, 2001
Slim win for Montenegro president
April 23, 2001
Polls close in Montenegro
April 22, 2001
Montenegro election facts
April 22, 2001
Montenegro warned against secession
April 20, 2001

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