Embattled Milosevic calls on army to defend country

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- President Slobodan Milosevic attempted to rally his military troops as opposition parties threatened to paralyse the country with strikes.

Tensions rose in Yugoslavia with demonstrations taking place across the country in an effort to budge Milosevic from power following last week's elections in which opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica won 48 percent of the vote.

IN-DEPTH Yugoslavia Decides 2000   • Overview   • The road ahead   • Key players   • Party profiles   • Shrinking of Yugoslavia   • Maps/At-a-glance

VIDEO CNN's Nic Robertson interviews Milo Djukanovic, President of Montenegro Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Alessio Vinci reports on protests in Yugoslavia Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Browse the video archive of CNN's Yugoslavia election coverage     IMAGE GALLERY Images from the historic vote     AUDIO What will the opposition do now? CNN's Alessio Vinci reports. 810K/37 sec. WAV sound     MESSAGE BOARD Peace in the Balkans     RESOURCES Yugoslavia election information

Russian President Vladimir Putin told U.S. President Bill Clinton during a 35-minute telephone conversation on Saturday that Milosevic had rejected the idea of mediation, the official said.

They also agreed that Milosevic should "respect the will of the Serbian people," he added.

Putin offered to send his Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov to mediate on the crisis but U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the only message that needs to be delivered is that Milosevic "is finished."

Putin revealed Milosevic had later turned down the offer, according to U.S. National Security Council spokesman P.J. Crowley.

Milosevic, in a rare public appearance after picking up only 38.62 percent of the vote in the September 24 elections, addressed army graduates at a ceremony on Saturday.

He congratulated the newly commissioned officers for serving "at a time of great temptation for our people and state."

He reminded them of their military duty to defend "our freedom and the independence of our country" in the face of alleged interference from the West.

"Since a foreign military intervention or a war are out of the question, other means of destruction of Yugoslavia are being mentioned -- psychological, media and political pressure," he added.

Milosevic, who has been accused of rigging the elections and forcing a runoff on October 8, looked to be further isolated when a leading ally called for the electoral body to double check its results.

Yugoslavia's Federal Election Commission has rejected all complaints of voting irregularities in last Sunday's presidential election lodged by the opposition, opposition officials said on Saturday.

"All our complaints have been rejected," said Nebojsa Bakarec, a member of the opposition party led by Vojislav Kostunica, Slobodan Milosevic's rival for the Yugoslav presidency.

"The key explanation was that no one can gauge the right of the ethnic Albanians to vote," he said, referring to the opposition's charge that ballot boxes were stuffed with the votes of Kosovo Albanians who boycotted the poll to inflate the voter list and pull the vote for Kostunica below 50 percent.

This was a "ridiculous explanation," he said. "The next legal step is to file a complaint with the Constitutional Court," Bakarec said.

Zoran Zizic, a Milosevic supporter in Montenegro, told the newspaper Vijesti: "In the current circumstances, the results released by the Federal Election Commission should not be accepted as final."

"There are no reasons not compare the commission's results with the results given by (opposition) participants in the elections."

The opposition says it won 51.34 percent of the vote compared with Milosevic's 36.22 percent -- enough not to have to go through a second round.

The opposition has called for five days of general strikes to take affect from Monday in an attempt to force Milosevic to go after 13 years of power.

Demonstrations have already taken place in Yugoslavia in response to opposition leaders urging their followers to join a civil disobedience campaign to drive Milosevic from power.

Although 200,000 turned out in Belgrade on Wednesday, numbers have fallen off since and fell short of the 100,000 demanded by Kostunica.

Two protests in the capital's main Republic Square drew about 50,000 people while 20,000 gathered in Kragujevac and 10,000 in Kraljevo in central Serbia.

Walkouts by shopkeepers and company employees were staged in a dozen other cities and towns across Serbia, including the opposition strongholds of Cacak and Sabac.

More than 7,000 coal miners stopped work in Kolubara, 25 miles south of Belgrade, while students walked out of schools in a string of towns run by the opposition and taxi drivers blocked traffic.

Russia's Putin, who has not taken sides in the struggles, said he was prepared to send Ivanov to Belgrade for consultations with all participants in the political process. In Reykjavik, Iceland, Albright insisted the Russians must tell Milosevic it was time to give up power and that she would convey that message to Ivanov by telephone.

She added: "I think the Russians need to make clear that they understand that this has been a procedure where the opposition has won.

"The Russians need to understand that Milosevic lost in this round. He is finished."

Meanwhile, Greece has said it is also willing to help broker a solution to the political crisis and would send observers to recount votes if asked.

"We are ready to take any necessary initiative in close co-operation with all parties concerned in Yugoslavia and also with our (European Union) partners," said Greek foreign ministry spokesman Panos Beglitis.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

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Yugoslav State-run TV announces opposition lead
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Chronology of Milosevic rule in Yugoslavia
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Serbian Ministry of Information
Democratic Opposition of Serbia
Socialist Party of Serbia
United Nations Mission in Kosovo
Yugoslavia's Government

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