Serbia rejects split from Montenegro

SERBIA: Serbia bluntly dismissed Montenegro's request for separation yesterday, and insisted their fraught union continue for at least another year.

Montenegro's leaders revealed late on Tuesday that they had sent a letter to their counterparts in Serbia proposing the final, amicable dissolution of their joint state, which has stumbled along since its creation under an EU-brokered deal in 2003.

"The proposal that you have sent me represents a serious breach of the Belgrade accord of 2003," Serbia's Prime Minister, Mr Vojislav Kostunica, wrote to Montenegrin President Mr Filip Vujanovic and Prime Minister Mr Milo Djukanovic. "I remain committed to what we signed."

The two republics stayed together through the wars that dismembered Yugoslavia in the 1990s, but the brief history of the Serbia-Montenegro union has been characterised by discord and growing calls for independence from the smaller partner.

Many Montenegrins see no obvious benefits in the union, and fear their hopes of EU membership are doomed while Montenegro's fate is intertwined with that of Serbia, a country at loggerheads with Brussels, the US and UN over the whereabouts of indicted war criminals.

Montenegro's leaders have urged Mr Kostunica to improve co-operation with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, but he insists that Serbia could be destabilised by the arrest of men who are widely regarded as national heroes.

The EU has repeatedly warned Serbia that it faces years of diplomatic isolation and financial hardship unless it does more to catch suspected war criminals, and could deal a crushing blow to Serbia-Montenegro's chances of EU membership when it delivers its latest feasibility study at the end of March.

Although some wartime Serb generals have recently surrendered to The Hague, Brussels wants more progress, and Montenegro now seems ready to abandon its unhappy marriage rather than continue suffer for Belgrade's perceived sins.

"The current union is dysfunctional, its institutions are slow and inefficient," Mr Djukanovic and Mr Vujanovic wrote, while offering "a new model of relations , . . which would resolve the current shortcomings and ensure lasting, stable and quality co-operation." The new model, they said, would need ratification by respective parliaments of Serbia and of Montenegro, followed by mutual recognition as separate, sovereign states.

After that, the two would forge a loose military alliance, governed by a defence council with representatives from both states.

In an apparent concession to Belgrade, the Montenegrins suggested that Serbia inherit the current Serbia-Montenegro seats in international organisations, while Montenegro would seek membership as a new country.

Mr Djukanovic, a long-time supporter of independence for Montenegro's 650,000 people, has vowed to hold a referendum on the issue next February if Serbia fails to agree to dissolve the union.

Mr Kostunica, however, has always favoured the union, which gives Serbia access to the seaports and resorts that stud Montenegro's spectacular Adriatic coast.

After backing Mr Djukanovic in his opposition of Mr Milosevic, the West cooled towards him after the Serb dictator was toppled, and his drive for independence came to be seen as the potential spark for more Balkan conflict. Officials in his administration were also assailed by accusations of involvement in the trafficking of cigarettes, alcohol and people through Montenegro towards the West.

The EU put considerable pressure on Mr Djukanovic to accept the terms of the Serbia-Montenegro union, which included a ban on all discussion of independence before 2006, the end of a three-year trial period.

On a visit to Belgrade yesterday, Italian foreign minister Mr Gianfranco Fini said he regretted talk of a split between Serbia and Montenegro.

"If you permit me a personal view and counsel, before your union is consigned to history, perhaps it would be better to think well and twice about this, because in the eyes of the international community and Italy, the union has given positive results."