Persistent rift between Serbian opposition groups

In a setback to efforts to unseat Slobodan Milosevic, an opposition leader denounced rivals in the movement and said his followers would boycott joint rallies aimed at forcing the Yugoslav president to step down.

Vuk Draskovic, head of the Serbian Renewal Movement, accused another opposition group led by Zoran Djindjic of pushing the country to civil war by refusing offers of early elections to end the political crisis that followed the 78-day NATO bombing campaign. Draskovic, a former deputy prime minister, dismissed Djindjic's Democratic Party as ``gentlemen who do not want elections, who do not seek a political agreement, who prefer to count rifles and dead Serbs instead of ballots.'' He made the comment in an interview with a provincial television station.

Djindjic rejected Draskovic's accusations and hinted that Draskovic may not be serious in demanding that Milosevic go. "We are not seeking cooperation with the Serbian Renewal Movement (alone) but with all those who want Milosevic to leave," he said in a statement carried by Beta. "Those who want Milosevic to leave should tell the people so outright," Djindjic said. "And if they don't want him to leave, they should say so as well."

Source: Free Serbia

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