World News 12-10-2000 Milosevic Allies Bite Back who: Slobodan Milosevic`s Socialist Party what: Threatens to retain control over government where: Belgrade when: Yesterday snippet: Allies of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic refused to surrender control of the Serbian government yesterday, accusing supporters of newly-elected president Vojislav Kostunica of violence and illegal acts. "A Serbian government statement announced that Mirko Marjanovic, Serbian Prime Minister and a Milosevic ally, would retake control of the police and security forces," reports Micha Glenny in The Times. "The Yugoslav Army also warned Mr Kostunica not to tamper with the military leadership". "The Serbian government will go on ruling the republic since it was elected on a four-year mandate and it is the only body which can make legal decisions," said Branislav Ivkovic, a senior official in Mr Milosevic`s Socialist Party. "It is the most dramatic act of defiance since Mr Milosevic was forced by street protests last week to end his effort to steal September`s election," writes Jonathan Steele in The Guardian. Meanwhile, the ex-president sweats out the crisis "in his home in the well-to-do suburb of Dedinje behind a high metal fence". [... more]

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