Nationalism Tugging Apart Yugoslav Unity

To Slovenia’s declaration of sovereignty and independence from Yugoslavia, Serbs respond unemotionally, “Bon voyage.”

But if Croatia decides to leave the crumbling federation, the remaining republics will want to exact a price: rich stretches of Croatian coastline.

In the province of Kosovo, which Serbia has already stripped of political autonomy, troops are poised for an insurrection, and Serbian nationalists are pressing for expulsion of the Albanian majority.

From north to south, Yugoslavia is being pulled apart, and the dwindling forces of unity are plunged into deepening pessimism.

Over the past few weeks of escalating tension, Yugoslavs have switched from wondering if their federation is on the verge of collapse to planning for when the breakup will take place.

Disheartened federal officials who tamed inflation, made the dinar a convertible currency and lowered the foreign debt from $23 billion to $16 billion--all within the past six months--concede that they are stumped by the republics’ refusal to care whether Yugoslavia survives or not.

President Borisav Jovic signaled a new mood of resignation among Belgrade authorities last week when he suggested that the republics vote on whether to stay together in a federation. He acknowledged that secession “is a natural political right of each nationality.”

Mustafa Cengic, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ante Markovic, said: “We had always hoped that resolution of the economic problems would release political tensions among the nationalities, but this has not happened. Each republic is insisting on the priority of its national interests, which is hampering further reforms.

“The situation has been brought to an absurd level. Our federation was established according to the interests of all the nationalities, and it can exist only so long as all the nations want it.”

Few outside the Cabinet are taking up the cause of a united Yugoslavia.

Slovenia’s July 2 announcement that its laws and interests take precedence over those of the federation was viewed in the Serbian-dominated south as an act of saber-rattling to force renegotiation of the alliance. But Slovenia appears to be intent on independence.

The tiny republic of 2 million people was the first to hold multiparty elections in Yugoslavia. The voting, which took place in April, ended more than 40 years of Communist rule and ushered in a new leadership bent on creating the first sovereign state of Slovenia in more than 1,000 years.

Spurred on by a population eager to be free of Yugoslavia’s political chaos and the financial drain of aiding poor republics to the south, Slovenia’s youthful new political leaders are laying the groundwork for secession.

“This declaration represents the unilateral establishment of a confederation with the rest of Yugoslavia,” said Tone Persak, a parliamentary leader and noted Slovenian dramatist. “We do not recognize the existence of a federation anymore.”

In order to negotiate a looser confederation with the other five republics and two provinces that make up Yugoslavia, Slovenia first had to establish its independence, Persak said.

According to Slovenian officials, federal troops in the republic are to be replaced by Slovenes before the end of the year or by the time the new state’s constitution is adopted, likely in January or February.

The Slovenian Parliament has cut payments to the federal government in Belgrade by 50% and plans to cease all contributions after the constitution is approved.

Slovenia, where the living standard is closer to that of Austria than Serbia, has traditionally provided nearly 20% of the federal budget. The loss of even half that would force Belgrade to make significant cuts in federal spending.

To raise more money for the hard transition to independence and a market economy, officials in Ljubljana, the Slovenian capital, have nearly doubled gasoline taxes and imposed highway tolls on previously exempt local residents.

Despite the hardships, opinion polls indicate that 80% of the Slovenes want to press on toward independence.

Ljubljana businessman Bogdan Oblak has printed and circulated colorful new bank notes denominated in lipa, the Slovenian word for the linden trees that abound in the verdant, mountainous republic nestled against Austria and Italy in Yugoslavia’s northwestern corner. Prepared in anticipation of an independent Slovenia, the lipa are accepted as a means of payment in some Slovenian shops and restaurants and can be converted to Yugoslav dinar or foreign currencies.

Slovenia has opened offices in Brussels, Vienna, New York and other cities to serve as trade and information offices, and later as embassies and consulates.

“We have to put Slovenia on the world map,” said Matjaz Sinkovec, head of the Parliament’s international affairs committee. “Our products should be stamped ‘Made in Slovenia,’ not ‘Made in Yugoslavia,’ and we need to encourage foreign governments to open consulates here.”

The product of a California upbringing in the 1960s, when his father was a trade representative in San Francisco, Sinkovec concedes that he is “a secessionist at heart,” but he believes that Slovenia should first pursue confederation with Yugoslavia to show its good intentions toward other nationalities with which it has been bound since 1918.

Slovenia is prepared to pay its share of federal debts, republic officials have said repeatedly, usually noting that Slovenian exports earned at least a quarter of the $8 billion in hard currency the Belgrade government has amassed in recent months.

Slovenia accounts for only about 8% of Yugoslavia’s 24 million people. But foreign sales of its manufactured goods--skis, boats and home appliances, for example--account for as much as 30% of the federation’s hard-currency income.

Yugoslavia’s republics are assessed 16% of their gross national product to cover federal expenses, so the more prosperous regions--Slovenia and Croatia--pay the highest share of the federal budget.

Federal officials have submitted Slovenia’s declaration to the Constitutional Court for a ruling on its legality, but Slovenes said they would not be moved by a negative verdict.

“We know it’s unconstitutional,” Sinkovec said, laughing. “It is also unconstitutional to have multiparty democracy. The constitution was drafted under conditions of totalitarianism.”

The federation’s second-largest republic, Croatia, has also demanded a confederation, to end what it sees as Serbian dominance.

But 530,000 Serbs live in Croatia, and in its coastal resorts are the second homes of hundreds of thousands of others, darkening its prospects for easy independence.

“We have our conditions for a confederation, or the destruction of Yugoslavia,” said Vuk Draskovic, a Serbian nationalist who is expected by many to be the next leader of Yugoslavia’s largest republic.

Draskovic, leader of the unofficial opposition party Serbian Democratic Renewal, says that all territories that belonged to the kingdom of Serbia before 1918, when Yugoslavia was formed, must be returned to Serbia, as well as regions of Bosnia-Hercegovina where Serbs form the majority of the population.

Redrawing of national boundaries raises ancient conflicts among the nationalities and would also be opposed by Western governments--the United States for one--that aided the formation of the Yugoslav federation as a means of overcoming historic Balkan rivalries.

But foreign governments have also been insisting on democracy for all Yugoslavia.

Serbia has resisted multi-party elections, which would oust the Communist leadership of nationalist strongman Slobodan Milosevic and risk returning the historic Serbian heartland of Kosovo to ethnic Albanians, who account for 90% of the province’s 2 million people.

Continued one-party rule in Serbia has thwarted reform and soured relations among the republics, but so far the only result of federal pressure to set a date for free elections has been a further crackdown on opposition forces in Kosovo.

“Kosovo is sacred Serbian territory,” said Serbian Vice President Dusan Mihajlovic, vowing that the province will never be ruled by Albanians, despite their majority. “Those who don’t want to live in Serbia can go where they want. Serbia’s borders have long been open.”

Draskovic, who plans to challenge Milosevic if free elections are held, said the only answer to the Kosovo dilemma is to expel all Albanians who refuse to pledge allegiance to Serbia.

Kosovo has been the scene of recurring violence since March, 1989, when Milosevic restored Serbian rule over the province. The latest crisis was triggered in early July, when Serbia introduced a new republic constitution reducing Kosovo to the status of province.

Kosovo Albanians declared independence from Serbia, prompting Belgrade to disband the provincial parliament and send more troops to put down rioting that has taken 60 lives over the past 16 months.

Serbs have been considerably more absorbed by the Kosovo conflict than the declaration by Slovenia that it has left the Yugoslav fold.

“We don’t see the difference for the international community whether there is one Yugoslavia or three,” Mihajlovic said, referring to what many see as the emergence of separate states of Slovenia, Croatia and a greater Serbia encompassing the rest of Yugoslavia.

A COUNTRY BEING PULLED APART

SLOVENIA--Tiny republic of 2 million was first to hold multiparty elections, has ended 40 years of Communist dominance and announced that its laws take precedence over those of federation. It appears intent on independence.

CROATIA--Second-largest republic is chafing under what it sees as Serbian dominance, seeks a looser confederation with its neighbor republics. But half-million Serbian residents of Croatia complicate matters.

KOSOVO--Its Albanian majority has declared independence from Serbia. Province has been scene of recurring violence since early last year, with 60 killed over 16 months. Federal government has disbanded provincial parliament, sent in troops.

SERBIA--The largest republic has resisted multiparty elections. Its officials consider province of Kosovo “sacred Serbian territory,” and Serbian nationalists are pressing for expulsion of the Albanian majority.