Montenegro voted by a slim margin to secede from Serbia and form
a separate nation, erasing the last vestiges of the former
Yugoslavia, according to the results Monday of its referendum.
With nearly all ballots counted, 55.4 percent of voters chose to
dissolve Montenegro's 88-year union with its much larger and
sometimes overbearing Balkan neighbor. That is just over the 55
percent threshold needed to validate Sunday's referendum under
rules set by the European Union.
Hours before the official results were announced, independence
supporters flooded streets of the capital Podgorica and other
towns, even though their victory did not appear at all certain at
that point.
"I congratulate you on your state," said the pro-independence
prime minister, Milo Djukanovic. "Today, the citizens of Montenegro
voted to restore their statehood."
In Podgorica, people fired celebratory shots in the air and
drove up and down the main street, honking and waving the
eagle-emblazoned flag used when Montenegro last enjoyed
independence, from 1878-1918.
In Belgrade, the Serbian capital, officials urged calm. Ethnic
Serbs make up 30 percent of the population and many strongly oppose
separation from Serbia. Serbia did not want separation, but has
said it will respect the decision.
The Serbia-Montenegro union is the last shred of the federation
of Yugoslavia that began its blood-drenched breakup in the early
1990s. Both former Yugoslav republics are largely Orthodox
Christian, and share the same language and traditions.
But the division between anti- and pro-independence groups is
deeply rooted in Montenegro's history, and some had feared violence
no matter what the outcome.
In the former Yugoslavia's recent history, referendum results
have sometimes led to major clashes and outbursts of nationalism.
The Bosnian war started on the day that former republic voted for
independence in early 1992, when its minority Serbs rebelled
against the pro-independence government.
The State Electoral Commission said 88 percent of Montenegro's
485,000 voters cast ballots in the referendum, the highest turnout
since the first democratic elections in the 1990s.
Montenegro's pro-independence camp argued the impoverished but
spectacular country of soaring mountains and stunning Adriatic
coastline was being stifled by Serbia.
The ruling group said breaking away would boost the economy and
speed the country's path to joining Slovenia, also a former
Yugoslav republic, in the prosperous European Union.
The pro-Serbian camp said Montenegro, with a population of
620,000, is too small to be viable on its own.
Once an independent kingdom, Montenegro was erased from the map
after World War I and merged into the newly formed Yugoslavia. Many
Montenegrins resisted and a seven-year guerrilla war followed.
After World War II, the six-republic Yugoslavia became
communist.
During the federation's violent breakup in the 1990s,
Montenegro's leaders sided with Serbian President Slobodan
Milosevic, who died recently while on trial before a UN war crimes
tribunal.
But relations soured, and the EU brokered a deal in 2002 to keep
Serbia and Montenegro together.
EU spokesman Amadeu Altafaj Tardio said the European Commission
was still awaiting final confirmation of the results from
international vote observers, but welcomed that the referendum "was
carried out in a calm manner and with high turnout, which is
important for the legitimacy of the vote."
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn called on "all Montenegrin
parties and citizens to preserve their unity and to build a
consensus on the unity of the republic, on the basis of European
values and standards."
Altafaj Tardio said that once the results of the independence
vote had been confirmed, the commission would move to draft a
proposal to start talks on a separate aid and trade pact with
Montenegro.
Talks on a so-called stability and association agreement, meant
to ready non-EU countries for possible EU membership, began last
year with Serbia-Montenegro.
(Chinadaily.com via agencies May 23, 2006)
