Cook warns against Montenegro secession

Chris Burford cburford at gn.apc.org
Wed Apr 25 16:45:13 PDT 2001


The following news item shows that the policy of international finance capital in former Yugoslavia, once its financial dominance has been assured, is not to promote separatism but integration on the basis of mitigating ethnic divisions.

This is consistent with NATO still not challenging that Kosovo is legally a part of Serbia, and consistent with their interventionist war which did not base western strategy on a struggle by Albanians for total independence in Kosovo.

Chris Burford

London

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Wednesday April 25, 5:40 PM

UK's Cook Urges Montenegro Not To Rush To Independence

PODGORICA Yugoslavia (AP)--Britain's Foreign Secretary Robin Cook met Wednesday top leaders of Montenegro, cautioning them not to rush to the small republic's independence from Yugoslavia.

Cook's visit came in the wake of a narrow election victory by Montenegro's pro-independence forces, led by President Milo Djukanovic, over a grouping striving for Montenegro's continued union with Serbia in what is left of Yugoslavia.

Diplomats traveling with Cook said that during his talks with all sides in Montenegro he will urge them against any unilateral moves toward independence to ensure that whatever happens in the future, any changes should be negotiated democratically and transparently.

The European Union's position has been that it favors "integration rather than fragmentation" in the region, but diplomatic sources stressed that Cook wouldn't be seeking to lay down a preconceived solution.

The pro-Yugoslavia opposition in Montenegro did better than expected, trailing only 2% behind Djukanovic's alliance. That has nourished hopes both abroad and in Serbia that Djukanovic will back away from plans to call an independence referendum this summer.

The U.S. and European governments have warned against any additional reshaping of borders in the Balkans, fearing it could trigger more bloodshed by encouraging ethnic Albanian separatists in Serbia's province of Kosovo and in Macedonia.



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