Milosevic Decides Montenegro Can Leave Yugoslav Federation

In a major policy shift, President Slobodan Milosevic will allow pro-Western Montenegro to leave the Yugoslav federation without bloodshed if the republic decides to do so, Serbian officials said Friday.

“We’ll never resolve the problems that exist between Montenegro and Yugoslavia with force,” Yugoslav Vice Premier Tomislav Nikolic told the independent Palma Plus TV.

Nikolic, an official of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical party, admitted that “nearly all functions” of the Yugoslav government have been frozen in Montenegro, which with Serbia forms the current federation.

And Milosevic’s spokesman, Ivica Dacic, told the Associated Press that the “union of Montenegro and Serbia depends on the citizens of Montenegro.”

Milosevic made the same statement during a recent rally in Serbia.

The government of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic has demanded radical restructuring of the Yugoslav federation, a process that would virtually abolish Milosevic’s control over the small republic. Montenegro plans to hold an independence referendum in case Milosevic rejects its proposal.

Djukanovic’s advisor, Miodrag Vukovic, said Friday that the responsibility for the survival of the joint state depends on Serbia. He said recent statements by Serb officials signal that Milosevic wants to “switch responsibility for the possible breakup of Yugoslavia . . . on Montenegro and its citizens.”

Talks between the two republics’ delegations are scheduled for next week. There have been widespread fears that if the negotiations fail, Milosevic might crack down militarily in Montenegro, Yugoslavia’s only access to the sea.

“We are not ready to negotiate Montenegro’s hegemony over Serbia,” said Dacic, Milosevic’s spokesman. He added, however, that the “Serbian people certainly will never be an obstacle for the Montenegrins to have their own country.”

Montenegro, angered by Milosevic’s autocratic policies and Yugoslavia’s subsequent international isolation, has already taken big steps toward independence. It has been forming its own police force and economy.

Djukanovic confirmed Friday that the government will take steps in the next several days “which will mean monetary independence.” Djukanovic did not specify whether Montenegro will introduce its own currency or legalize the use of the German mark as a parallel currency, as some news outlets reported earlier this week.

Djukanovic added that his government was forced to make such moves because of inflationary policies in the neighboring republic. He recently said that Yugoslavia, in fact, no longer exists.

The United States has been pressing Montenegro to remain in Yugoslavia, hoping it could lead to the eventual ouster of Milosevic.

The latest statements by Milosevic and his allies indicate he would rather let Montenegro leave than be faced with its pro-democracy influence in Serbia. Milosevic used the same strategy with Slovenia, one of former Yugoslavia’s six republics, on the eve of the federation’s bloody breakup in 1991.

While indicating they would let Montenegro secede without bloodshed, Serbian officials have also been warning Montenegrins living in Serbia that the split could make them “foreigners” in Yugoslavia--and thus would require them to apply for residence status. A negative reply would mean they would lose their jobs.

There are some 600,000 Montenegrins living in their republic and just as many in Serbia.

Nikolic said that if Montenegro secedes, Serbs living in Montenegro would come to Serbia.