AFP, June 24, 2002
Split confirmed in Milosevic's Yugoslav Socialists
A split was confirmed in Yugoslavia's opposition Socialist Party (SPS) when members seeking to depose Slobodan Milosevic as party chieftain elected a leader of their faction in a major challenge to the authority of the former Yugoslav president.
But the group immediately attempted a reconciliation gesture with Milosevic -- currently on trial before a war crimes tribunal in The Hague -- by deciding to give him a new post of "honorary party president for life."
Branislav Ivkovic, 50, a key figure in negotiating Milosevic's arrest and departure for The Hague, was voted chairman of a group within the party which wants reform and has opposed keeping on Milosevic as party leader despite his present plight.
However, Ivkovic personally paid a fulsome tribute to his mentor in a speech following his election.
The meeting took place despite fierce opposition by a rival faction loyal to Milosevic, which wants him to continue in office.
The unknown factor in the present situation is the balance of power between the competing groups. But Sunday's election confirmed the schism within Yugoslavia's main opposition party.
Milosevic created the SPS in its present form in 1990 out of the old Yugoslav Communist Party.
Since he was handed over to The Hague in June last year, Ivkovic has campaigned for SPS reform and a new leader.
He obtained 1,534 votes of 1,900 delegates present Sunday.
"We have accomplished a great deal today, not only for the SPS but for Yugoslavia and Serbia," he later told delegates. "We have a clear conscience towards Slobodan Milosevic, who is the reason why we all joined the SPS," he added.
"He is the founder of the SPS and he led it in the best way possible under the most difficult conditions," Ivkovic added, stressing the party's "moral support" for the former president.
Ivkovic also called on the Serbian government "to provide guarantees urgently so that Slobodan Milosevic can defend himself as a free accused," before the Hague tribunal.
Milosevic has been trying from his remand cell to maintain his influence on the SPS, which for a decade was the most powerful party in Serbia.
He has denounced Ivkovic as a fifth columnist within the party, and the party's main committee, loyal to Milosevic, carried out his order to expel Ivkovic, accusing him of damaging the party's unity.
But Ivkovic and his backers refused to acknowledge the expulsion and convened a special congress.
Meanwhile the pro-Milosevic group has summoned a sixth, regular party congress for September, at which it intends to re-elect Milosevic.
The Belgrade sports hall hosting the meeting was decorated with party symbols, flags and a Milosevic picture above the main stage.
After being ousted from a decade in power after elections in 2000, the SPS found itself in serious disarray after Milosevic was arrested and handed over to the UN tribunal last year.
Milosevic is currently on trial on more than 60 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity over the conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo that tore apart the Balkans in the 1990s.
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