The long road back for Yugoslavia

With the revolutionary fervor subsiding, new President Vojislav Kostunica must now figure out how to govern a country where Slobodan Milosevic is still a political force.

By Laura Rozen

Oct 9, 2000 | Lingering just beneath the surface euphoria of Belgrade in the wake of the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic, a distinct uneasiness prevails. Though its nature is not easy for people here to explain, a visceral sense of nervousness, uncertainty and unspent anger flickers here, in part fueled by Milosevic's vow to remain on the scene as the leader of his political party.

"Milosevic can't stay here," Marija Djukic, a video producer, said Saturday while sitting at a downtown cafe, hungover from the previous two nights' massive, ecstatic celebrations. "He and his family must leave Serbia, for somewhere. We can't live with them here."

"I have very mixed feelings," Petar Janjatovic, a Belgrade rock critic and independent broadcaster said Sunday. The opposition "should have thrown a lot of people in jail the first night [after Milosevic stepped down]. The worst collaborators with this regime, including some of the top presenters from Radio TV Serbia, should be thrown out. But I guess the opposition was busy these first nights worrying about the police and army."

"Don't be too happy yet," cautioned dark-bearded independent Serbian journalist Zoran Nikolic on Saturday evening, as journalists waited in the dim foyer of Belgrade's glass and steel Sava Center for the new president, Vojislav Kostunica, to be inaugurated. "It's not all settled yet. Somehow his people are still strong," he said, referring to Milosevic's associates.

Indeed, the scene at Sava Center Saturday night at times more resembled a Mafia turf war than a political event. A long line of dark Mercedes and Audis were parked outside, with gangs of thuggish, armed, leather-jacketed men, each loyal to a different political leader, who just days ago were preparing to face off in a near civil war, stared each other down as they lurked in the hallways outside the Parliament assembly.

Next Page: Kostunica's street cred

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