Serbian uprising: Milosevic: the end?

New Internationalist, Jan-Feb, 2001

FOR YEARS IT SEEMED SERBIAN President Slobodan Milosevic was unassailable -- managing, with a mix of brutality and cunning, to hold on to political power despite four lost wars, bombing by NATO, economic sanctions and international isolation.

So it came as a surprise that he could be toppled by ordinary people -- albeit thousands of them -- such as Ljubisav Djokic. According to Djokic, an unemployed construction worker: `I had been protesting for ten years. I would get beaten, swallow lots of teargas and then come back home without achieving anything. This time I decided that I might be more successful if I took my bulldozer.'

Djokic drove the vehicle up to the Federal Parliament. `The police fired bullets at me but I protected myself by raising the bulldozer's bucket. In the end, my bulldozer forced open the door of the state television building. I shouted to the protesters and everyone rushed in.'

Milosevic's refusal to accept the results of the 24 September presidential election in which former law professor Vojislav Kostunica claimed victory with 52.4 per cent of the vote, proved the last straw for most Serbians. Many went on strike -- including, most crucially, the miners. And after a week of protests on the streets of Belgrade, thousands stormed the Federal Parliament, forcing Milosevic into hiding.

But after the people's putsch was over and a transitional Government was formed by Kostunica, many wondered what would become of Milosevic's system of control. Ominously, Branko Djuric -- the Belgrade police chief who advised police to put up only minimal resistance when demonstrators stormed the Federal Parliament -- was abducted a few days later. A question mark still hung over which side the police and army would back.

Also watching closely were the people of Kosovo: the now-infamous photograph of Kostunica holding a Kalashnikov surrounded by Serb paramilitaries in Kosovo in 1998 had been published in several Albanian newspapers. But Kostunica said he would respect UN Resolution 1244 -- an international ruling many Kosovars see as helping to pave the way to an independent state. He also set about mending relationships torn apart by war. In November he visited Macedonia and attended a summit of Balkan leaders meeting officials from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Romania. Turkey, Bosnia and Croatia.

In the transitional government Milosevic's Socialists retained the post of Prime Minister -- with the proviso that all decisions be made in consultation with two deputies from the reformist camp. But in the December elections Zoran Djindjic became Prime Minister after a two-thirds majority win for his Democratic Opposition of Serbia Party. He immediately announced that the new Serbian authorities would seek to prosecute Slobodan Milosevic. President Kostunica showed similar determination in purging the army of 14 of Milosevic's top brass. But to bring peace to the region, Serbia will need to reform itself radically and break long-established links between police and criminal gangs. And Milosevic, who was re-elected head of his party in November, may not be off the scene quite yet.