Western governments rejoiced yesterday at the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic and welcomed the new leader in Belgrade. The West pledged aid and an end to sanctions and world leaders stepped forward to welcome opposition leader Dr Vojislav Kostunica as one of their number.
President Jacques Chirac said he had invited Dr Kostunica to attend an informal EU summit in Biarritz next week.
The US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, described as "great news" and possibly decisive the fact that the Russian Foreign Minister, Mr Igor Ivanov, had offered Moscow's congratulations to Dr Kostunica on his victory during talks in Belgrade.
"I cannot tell you how important it is and how important it is to the Yugoslav people," she said of Moscow's change in tack to accept Mr Milosevic's defeat in the September 24th election.
The US declared its opposition to any role in politics for Mr Milosevic in Yugoslavia or to granting him asylum abroad. Seeking to hasten Mr Milosevic's departure, the White House said it looked forward to working with Dr Kostunica.
Mr Chirac said Mr Milosevic must account for a decade of crimes.
In Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, expressed delight at developments in Belgrade and said human rights violations should be punished.
Mr Carl Bildt, special UN envoy to the Balkans and former Bosnian peace mediator, welcomed "the collapse of the Milosevic regime".
Mr Bildt said he expected Dr Kostunica to initiate talks with Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic on a "new relationship" between the two states. "This is key to the emergence of a truly democratic new Yugoslavia," he said.
The UN refugee director, Mr Sadako Ogata, said it was too soon to predict how the "positive, democratic turn" would affect some 700,000 refugees and internally-displaced persons living in Serbia, Europe's largest refugee population.
About 200,000 people who fled Kosovo remain in Serbia and Montenegro.
Romanian President Emil Constantinescu echoed relief around the Balkans as he hailed Mr Milosevic's defeat and compared it to the 1989 fall of Romanian communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
Only China, one of Mr Milosevic's staunchest supporters during his 13-year reign, expressed doubts.
"China is seriously concerned about the situation in Yugoslavia and appeals for restoration of stability in that country," the official Xinhua news agency quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying.
Belarus, which has relatively good relations with Mr Milosevic, said it would consider any asylum application.
The UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, welcomed the "momentous change" in Yugoslavia and called on the people to rally behind President-elect Kostunica.
Dr Bernard Kouchner, the top UN official running Kosovo, spoke of his "joy and relief" at the news.