Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 19, 1991 TAG: 9103190190
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DUSAN STOJANOVIC/ ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA LENGTH: Medium
But the authoritarian president of Yugoslavia's largest republic is not about to retire meekly, and appears intent on taking his country down with him.
By using force against his own Serbian people on March 9, when two anti-Communist demonstrators died and 120 were injured in Belgrade street clashes, Milosevic has undermined his previously unchallenged rule.
Increasingly desperate, Milosevic said Saturday he no longer recognized federal authority after the collective presidential body rejected his appeal for a state of emergency.
The Serbian opposition, Croatia and its non-Communist ally Slovenia have said Milosevic wanted army intervention to protect his influence in Yugoslavia and hold on to power in Serbia.
Milosevic "wants to provoke Croatian authorities by all means in order to trigger war or impose emergency measures in Yugoslavia," said Vesna Pesic of the opposition Yugoslav Union for Democratic Initiative.
Demands for Milosevic's resignation are multiplying.
According to a poll published Monday by the independent news weekly Vreme, Milosevic's Serbian Socialist Party would win only 23 percent in elections now, and the opposition 75 percent.
That is a stark reversal of Milosevic's electoral triumph just three months ago, when his renamed party took 194 of 250 seats in the Serbian parliament.
Some charge Milosevic bought that triumph by simply printing money to pay workers who have gone without pay since. Serbia faces its deepest economic crisis in decades, and unhappy workers threaten to take to the streets.
While probably sympathetic to his plight, the army has so far failed to move in to save Milosevic. Senior generals are reportedly badly split about whether to intervene.
by CNB