Thursday April 12 12:25 PM ET
Montenegro Dismisses West's Warning on Secession

By Ljubinka Cagorovic

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Montenegro's rulers on Thursday shrugged off a warning from the major powers not to break away from Yugoslavia and said the republic should not be punished if it voted for independence.

``I do not see a reason that anyone can doubt Montenegro's intentions...and to punish it for respecting democracy and the will of its citizens,'' Miodrag Vukovic, adviser to Montenegrin
President Milo Djukanovic, told Reuters.

Major powers in the six-nation Contact Group issued a thinly veiled threat on Wednesday to deprive Montenegro of political and financial support if it splits from federal Yugoslavia after April 22 elections and a follow-up referendum on independence.

The West fears a Montenegrin breakaway would pour fuel on separatist movements smoldering elsewhere, particularly in Kosovo and Bosnia, and add to instability in the Balkans.

The United States, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Russia said they wanted to see a democratic Montenegro with the larger Serbia in a democratic Yugoslavia.

The latest poll by a U.S.-affiliated Podgorica institute showed 58 percent of Montenegro's population in favor of independence.

Vukovic said Montenegro was well-known for respecting democracy and would continue to do so. He saw no threat to peace in Montenegro after the early parliamentary election.

``Nothing extraordinary will happen in Montenegro, nothing that would violate international standards. I believe... such fears, wherever they come from, are unfounded.''

During the election campaign, Djukanovic's Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) has fine-tuned its plan to break from Serbia if it wins the April ballot.

The DPS says Montenegro, which has a population of just 600,000, will get foreign financial aid even if it leaves Yugoslavia.

Creeping Secession Since 1997

Since Djukanovic's election in 1997, Montenegro has done away with most ties to Serbia, conducting its own foreign policy and replacing Yugoslavia's dinar currency with the German mark.

Its only remaining functioning federal institutions are the army and the air traffic control network.

To the many Montenegrins who live in Serbia, Djukanovic is promising not much will change in Montenegro's relations with the neighboring republic after secession, including a free flow of goods and labor.

Opposition leaders said the Contact Group warning was sent personally to Djukanovic to end his ``adventurous policy.''

``That policy is not about protecting Montenegro's interests as presented by the ruling coalition, it's about irresponsible individuals led by Djukanovic playing with the republic's fate,'' said Predrag Popovic, vice-president of the People's Party.

He said Djukanovic very much resembled ``his ideological father,'' ousted Yugoslav authoritarian nationalist leader Slobodan Milosevic, in defying the whole world.

``The outcome of Milosevic's policy is well known. The Contact Group's message is the last warning to Djukanovic that Milosevic's fate will befall him if he does not stop pursuing irresponsible policies,'' Popovic said.

Djukanovic's coalition partner, the Socialdemocratic Party (SDP), said the world had to accept the reality of independence.

Pro-independence liberals in the coastal republic warned the West against double standards.

``They must apply the same standards that were applied to all new states that emerged from 1989 onward,'' said Miodag Zivkovic, leader of the Liberal Alliance of Montenegro, referring to four Yugoslav republics which seceded in 1991-92 and quickly won international recognition.

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