Milosevic extradition law in jeopardy because of Montenegrin opposition

The passing of a law that will allow extradition of Slobodan Milosevic to the UN war crimes court is in doubt.

Montenegrin lawmakers have declared they will vote against it in parliament.

The Yugoslav Government passed the law last week, but for it to become valid, it still has to be adopted by a majority vote at a federal parliament session scheduled for Thursday.

"All (Montenegrin) deputies will vote against the law," a ranking Montenegrin official, Dragan Koprivica, said after a meeting of the lawmakers in the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica.

"This ends all speculations on where our votes will go."

The Montenegrin lawmakers, who were allied with Milosevic but switched sides after his October ouster, adamantly oppose extradition of Yugoslav citizens to the war crimes court based in The Hague, Netherlands, which they consider biased.

Milosevic's Socialist Party - which with the Montenegrins has a majority in the parliament - has demanded that the law be retracted from the parliamentary procedure, saying "no one has the right to hand over Yugoslav citizens" to the tribunal.

Passage of the legislation in the 178-member parliament requires Montenegrin support because Serbia's pro-democracy officials lack the necessary majority on their own. Yugoslavia is made up of Serbia and much smaller Montenegro.

Differences between Serbian and Montenegrin coalition partners over the new law have unleashed the most serious government crisis since Milosevic was ousted. The rift between the two blocs has threatened the very existence of Yugoslavia, as the Serbian officials warned they would not allow themselves to become "hostage of the Montenegrin blackmail" and call for the split-up of the country.