Yugoslavia slid into turmoil last night as the aftershocks of Mr Slobodan Milosevic's extradition to The Hague brought down the federal government and opened the way for elections which could split the federation.
Yugoslavia technically ceased to exist, said some analysts, after its prime minister, Mr Zoran Zizic, led his Montenegrin allies out of the government in protest at Thursday's spiriting of Mr Milosevic to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
The prime minister resigned as riot police mobilised in Belgrade for thousands of demonstrators expected to vent their rage at the extradition, which western leaders praised for securing Yugoslavia's return to the European family. A new, fuller indictment delivered to Mr Milosevic in his cell detailed his alleged involvement in atrocities in Kosovo during the 1999 war. Ms Carla del Ponte, chief United Nations war crimes prosecutor, said other indictments for crimes in Bosnia and Croatia were being prepared. She did not rule out charging him with genocide.
Thanking the United States, Britain, France and Germany for clinching the extradition, Ms del Ponte said the trial would probably begin in a few months and would be presided over by three judges. Mr Carl Bildt, the UN special envoy for the Balkans said he expected Bosnian Serb wartime leaders Mr Karadzic and Gen Mladic to be arrested "fairly soon".
Early elections are likely to be held which could give Montenegro's separatists the chance to realise their long-held desire to quit the remnants of a federation forged by Tito after the second World War.
The crisis also engulfed the Serbian government by exploding into the open a power struggle between President Vojislav Kostunica, who wanted his predecessor tried in Belgrade, and Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, who engineered the handover in defiance of a constitutional court ruling.
As the federation moves closer to oblivion, Mr Kostunica risks becoming redundant so he is expected to try to become the president of Serbia, a job which could soon be vacated by Mr Milan Milutinovic, who is wanted in The Hague for war crimes.
His rival, Mr Djindjic, has emerged strengthened by delivering western aid to the devastated economy. Those infuriated by the extradition loathed him already.
However Russia condemned the extradition as a dangerous move which could inflame separatism in Kosovo and Montenegro.
Amid the tumult, one of the calmest players appeared to be Mr Milosevic himself. When told in his Belgrade cell that he was to be transferred to the Hague he asked: "Already?" before putting on on fresh socks, packing his slippers and entering a police van without protest.
When read a summarised indictment by a Hague prosecutor in front of a helicopter, he said: "I don't recognise your court."
His wife Ms Mira Markovic and daughter Marija reportedly applied for a visa to visit the Netherlands. Their dismay, said to border on the hysterical, has preoccupied Mr Milosevic. "He feels more for his family than himself. He was trying to calm them down," said Mr Branimir Gugl, one of his lawyers.
"He said that he doesn't feel guilty because his policy was to protect the interests of the Serbian people and he said he would do the same again," said Mr Gugl.