World

West: Milosevic Era Over

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

September 25, 2000 / 8:08 PM EDT / CBS

Western governments declared on Monday that a popular election is achieving what a 78-day bombing campaign could not: driving Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic from power.

Even before disputed official results are tallied, the U.S. and other governments that opposed Milosevic in the Kosovo war annouced that the Serbian strongman had lost the election and should go.

Germany and Britain both said reliable evidence pointed to a massive win in Sunday's poll for opposition challenger Vojislav Kostunica. Italy warned of "devastating consequences" if Milosevic claimed victory and clung to power. Canada called on him to respect the will of the people and move aside.

But opposition politicians in Yugoslavia sought to keep the West at arms length because Milosevic has a history of using Western criticism to rally Serbs to his cause, reports CBS News Correspondent Allen Pizzey.

The U.S. pledged Monday to lift sanctions against Yugoslavia once President Slobodan Milosevic accepts defeat in his bid for re-election and gives way to a successor.

Other governments are apt to lift the sanctions as well, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

"If the democratic change occurs, we will take steps to lift sanctions," he said. "We've made that clear."
The sanctions include blocking international bank loans to Yugoslavia, an oil embargo and denying visas to Yugoslav officials.

Eager for the end of Milosevic's rule, the White House and State Department said it appeared he was defeated in balloting on Sunday, but questioned whether he would accept the results.

"The popular vote was a vote for democracy," Boucher said. "The question is whether Milosevic will recognize the will of the people."

Boucher repeated allegations that "there was a massive unprecedented effort at fraud by the authorities."

Milosevic's allies refused to concede defeat, suggesting in Belgrade that he might accept a runoff with his chief challenger, Vojislav Kostunica.

Boucher declined to say whether the Clinton administration was opposed to a runoff.

But he said "the democratically committed forces of the opposition" appeared to be on their way to a convincing victory. Presumably, that would mean at least 50 percent of the vote, which would rule out a runoff.

"What is clear is that things have changed in Belgrade, things have changed in Yugoslavia," Boucher said. "The Yugoslav people have had a chance to stand up and say what they want."

And that, the spokesman said, is "the path of democracy and reintegration into Europe."

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told a joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow that the two leaders "agreed."

"It looks as though Serbia and Yugoslavia have decided in favor of democratic change," Schroeder said.

But Russia, Serbia's main international ally, parted company with the West in saying the voing had been fair and declining to prejudge the outcome of the most serious electoral challenge to Milosevic's 13-year rule.

The 15-nation European Union said in a statement: "According to all available information, it is clear that any attempt by Milosevic to declare himself the victor would be fraudulent."

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook went a step further, declaring: "All the reliable evidence we have suggests the people voted Milosevic out by a massive majority."

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said Kostunica appeared to have won outright on the first round.

French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine sought to portray the opposition tide as irreversible. "Nothing will be the same as before, something has started that will not stop," he said.

Western governments, eager to oust Milosevic, trod a fine line between charging the election was shamelessly rigged and hailing an opposition victory against the odds.

Diplomats said Western strategy was to pile pressure on Milosevic and create a climate where any official result other than a victory for Kostunica would be widely derided as a sham.

The chorus of comments was also intended to give heart to Yugoslav opposition activists planning street protests to demand the fruits of their self-proclaimed victory.

Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini told reporters that in the light of results coming in from the presidential and parliamentary elections, any move by Milosevic to stay in power would be "fraudulent behaviour."

Yugoslav Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic said last week that Milosevic would serve out his term until mid-2001, whatever the result of the election.

Western leaders were keen to enlist Russia's cooperation in ensuring a democratic transition in Belgrade.

But Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov was quoted as saying reports from those international observers invited by Belgrade showed "the polls passed without major violations."

Moscow joined Western powers, including the United States, in calling this month for a democratic Yugoslavia and warning Belgrade against violence at home or against Montenegro, the pro-Western junior partner in the Yugoslav federation.