Europe's Newest Country

This article is definitively exagerating. There is no place for disapointment, as far as I know the albanians of montenegro are just some 9%. And the muslims (including bosnians and others) anyway are not the majority. So i guess even some serbs should have voted indipendence. But as I posted before, this indipendence does not mean separation, is not a farewell or something like that. Both countries will have strong relations (as they should), and in my point of view this will be better for both countries.

I was wrong, as was the article.

Population of Plav city:

Ethnic groups (2003 census):

• Bosniaks (50.73%)
• Albanians (26.26%)
• Serbs (12.64%)
• Muslims by nationality (5.78%)
• Montenegrins (3.66%)

Poll Result Estranges Bosniaks and Serbs

In the ethnically divided north, separatist victory leaves a bitter taste in many Serbs mouths.

By Sead Sadikovic in Bijelo Polje (Balkan Insight, 23 June 06)

At Dzemal Suljevic's caf�, between Bosniak and Serb villages on the border with Serbia , life has undergone a perceptible change since the May 21 referendum.

Ever since the results came through, in the shape of a stinging defeat for pro-unionist forces, Serbs from the village of Unevina have stopped coming to the caf�.

"We are good neighbours though they used to support [Slobodan] Milosevic, while us Bosniaks were against him," said Sulejvic. "But now they have voted for the joint state with Serbia while Bosniaks opted for an independent Montenegro ."

Suljevic's caf� is not alone in suddenly feeling the chill winds of ethnic polarisation. Divisions have sharpened all over the ethnically divided north since the referendum pitted the communities against each other.

Almost all local Bosniaks backed independence, while the more numerous Serbs overwhelmingly opted to keep the State Union with Serbia alive.

The north of Montenegro is ethnically mixed. About 45 per cent of the population in ten municipalities there are Serbs, while Bosniaks make up 38 per cent and Montenegrins come third on 20 per cent.

While most Serbs favour strong ties with Serbia - and most Bosniaks do not - Montenegrins occupy an intermediate position. In areas where they live alongside Bosniaks, most Montenegrins also favour close ties with Serbia . In predominantly Christian districts, Montenegrins tend to opt for independence.

The divisions between the various communities first surfaced in the 1990s, when Slobodan Milosevic was in power in Belgrade and pursuing his hardline Serbian nationalist agenda.

At that time, most Montenegrins sympathised with his warmongering policies, while Bosniaks voiced anti-war sentiments, sympathising with their compatriots then facing Serbian attacks in neighbouring Bosniaand Herzegovina.

When Milo Djukanovic, then Montenegro 's prime minister, turned his back on Milosevic in 1997, almost all Bosniaks rejoiced, while the Serbs of northern Montenegro were dismayed.

Following the collapse of the Milosevic regime in 2000, tensions eased as both unionists and pro-independence supporters expressed willingness to compromise.

But since the May referendum, relations have again become more polarised.

The Serbian People's Party, SNS, has displayed particular hostility towards Bosniaks since the referendum result was announced.

During the campaign, its leader, Andrija Mandic, struck a pacific note, declaring at a rally in Bijelo Polje that "no one will ever again estrange the two friends - Alija and Andrija (euphemisms for Serbs and Bosniaks)".

But after the unionists lost the vote, the SNS changed its tune, leading calls for Serbs to protest, while the party's local leader in Bijelo Polje, Novo Vuckovic, blamed Bosniaks for the outcome. "I am not on speaking terms with any Bosniaks," said Vukovic.

On the other hand, many Bosniaks resent the fact that the Serbs, who hold power in most of northern municipalities, voted against statehood.

Senad Dlakic, head of the local Bosniak Party in Bijelo Polje, said it was ironic that the same people who made up most of the local civil servants were hostile to the Montenegrin state that employed them, whereas Bosniaks felt exceptional loyalty to the idea of statehood, even though they were underrepresented in the state apparatus.

"Divisions will not disappear until the Bosniak community is allowed to fully exercise its constitutional right to proportional representation in schools, courts, municipal and state administration," he said. "Now the Serbs are dominant there, but such a situation must change in a democratic and sovereign Montenegro."

Smajo Cikic, head of the non-government organisation Gajret in Bijelo Polje, which lobbies for Bosniak rights in Montenegro , agrees the controversy over statehood has further polarised Serbs and Bosniaks in the north.

However, Cikic suggested that now the issue was settled, tensions were likely to fade. " Montenegro is a rather stable state," he said. "Post-referendum anxieties and tensions will calm down."

One of then tensest flashpoints has been Berane, the town in which one-third of the local population is Bosniak. When they tried to celebrate the result in the main square alongside pro-independence Montenegrins, an armed conflict almost broke out with unionists mustered outside their party headquarters.

Fortunately, the unionist mayor, Relja Jovancevic, of the Socialist People's Party, SNP, calmed the crowds.

However, Jovancevic says passions are still running high in the town over alleged irregularities in the poll. "The referendum was held in irregular conditions and the government resorted to tricks to win it, which people are unhappy about," he said. "This will remain a source of divisions."

Miladin Joksimovic, vice-president of the unionist Democratic Serb Party, DSS, agreed. "Their motto is 'divide and conquer'," he said of the Podgorica government. "This is why they divided the people, and I am sure they will try to divide our Serbian [Orthodox] Church as well in the future."

Joksimovic was referring to a bitter dispute over the church in Montenegro , which pro-independence Montenegrins would like to see loosen ties to Serbia . Many Serbs fear the newly-formed Montenegrin Orthodox Church, CPC, is a government-backed organisation, which will be granted custody of sites now owned by the Serbian Orthodox Church, SPC.

Zeljko, a local engineer and a staunch follower of the SPC, said he suspected the government would try to "take away our church "and even "convert our descendants to Catholicism".

Zeljko blamed the Bosniak Muslims for helping these plots come to fruition. "They invited their relatives with voting rights to comehome from abroad and vote, while my two brothers living in Serbia could not vote because they are on the Serbian electoral roll," he said. "This is not fair."

Dlakic agreed that up to 15,000 Bosniaks had indeed returned from oversees to vote, but recalled that this was valid under the terms of the poll, overseen by a European-Union-appointed monitor.

"Those Bosniaks have no voting rights in the countries to which they emigrated as guest workers mostly in the 1990s, as the crisis in former Yugoslavia escalated," he said. "Their only homeland is Montenegro and they had a right to take part in deciding its future."

Dlakic said the referendum terms, which set a threshold of 55 per cent for victory, were adopted so that no one could claim that the majority for independence had been too narrow, or that ethnic minorities "won" independence for Montenegro.

"The difference between the pro-independence and unionist camps in the referendum was 45,000 votes," he went on. "In a small country like Montenegro with the total population of only 650,000, this was a convincing victory."

It is precisely because of this large margin that some analysts believe the current tension between the ethnic groups will disappear in time.

Ervin Spahic, a deputy of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, which governs alongside the Democratic Socialist Party, DPS, maintains that the existing divisions in northern Montenegro will be short-lived.

He recalled that this region only joined the Kingdom of Montenegro after the Balkan Wars of 1912-13. "This is why ... the concept of Montenegrin statehood is not particularly popular [there]," he said.

The Bosniaks, he added, saw independence as the best option "having witnessed what happened to Bosnia and perceiving Serbia is a potential threat to themselves".

But Spahic voiced optimism that the current turbulence would fade as all sides moved jointly along the road towards European integration.

"This will help the Serbs in northern Montenegro see they have a place in the state of Montenegro ," he said. "Such a process will help bridge the gap between the two estranged camps."

Caf� owner Dzemal Suljevic agreed that time would be a healer in this part of the world. "Their anger over their referendum defeat will not last long," he said of the Serbs currently boycotting his establishment. "We will get together again, either at the nextcommunal feast or at some sombre occasion, like a funeral."

As if to bear out his words, all the Serbs from Unevina attended the funeral of a respectable Bosniak neighbour from Dobrakovo only ten days after the referendum.

Even politics, it seems, has not destroyed the possibility of good neighbourly relations in northern Montenegro.

Sead Sadikovic is a freelance journalist from Montenegro. Balkan Insight is BIRN's online publication.

Hey the pictures look great, thanks.