Milosevic’s backers abandon negotiations

Associated Press

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia — Allies of Slobodan Milosevic broke off talks Tuesday on handing over what remaining authority they hold, prompting a warning of renewed popular revolt.

The development threatens prospects for a peaceful transfer of power after days of success by newly installed President Vojislav Kostunica in forcing Milosevic appointees from office.

Milosevic’s Socialist Party and its ally, the Serbian Radical Party walked out of talks on forming a new government in Yugoslavia’s larger republic Serbia. They said they would come back only "after the end of riots, violence and lawlessness against the citizens of Serbia."

They were alluding to moves targeting heads of state companies and other institutions still run by the former president’s people. Such incidents included reports of a forceful takeover of the state customs office, major banks and nearly all key companies and factories remaining in pro-Milosevic hands.

The Radicals said people were being "lynched by mobs belonging to the illegal regime of the Democratic Opposition," meaning Kostunica’s alliance.

The walkout provoked a sharp response from a provincial leader who played a key role in mobilizing Thursday’s march on Belgrade, which flared into violence and forced Milosevic to concede electoral defeat to Kostunica.

Velimir Ilic, the mayor of Cacak, told The Associated Press that the "people’s patience is exhausted."

"Serbs are so eager to see changes, and I do not know who and how will protect Socialists if they continue to drag their feet," Ilic said. "Those who lost should go peacefully."

Even before the talks broke down, there were problems. Kostunica’s key aide, Zoran Djindjic, said Milosevic’s cronies were trying to retain control over the police by keeping Serbia’s Interior Ministry. And he said State Security, Serbia’s feared secret service that reported only to Milosevic, is "still closed for us."

Eager to shore up his power base, Kostunica is trying to install his own supporters in the country’s most important institutions, including the police, judiciary, banks and state-run companies.

The breakdown in talks about Serbia’s government dampened euphoria over the peaceful consolidation of authority by allies of Kostunica, who was sworn in Saturday.