SERBIA's embattled President Slobodan Milosevic partially conceded the opposition's case yesterday that his party lost several local elections in November, but refused to give up control of the capital, Belgrade.
In a letter, described by critics as manipulative and playing for time, his Foreign Minister, Mr Milan Milutinovic, told the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that the Zajedno coalition had won nine of Belgrade's 16 municipalities.
The letter was in response to the former Spanish prime minister, Mr Felipe Gonzalez, who visited Serbia for the OSCE, and concluded that Zajedno had won in Belgrade and Nis, Serbia's second biggest city.
Mr Milutinovic rejected these findings. He said the result in Nis was still under study by the authorities. He also claimed that the ruling Socialist party had won in six other towns which Mr Gonzalez gave to the opposition.
In Belgrade, opposition spokesmen denounced the government's move as an effort to hoodwink western governments, and said the daily protests would go on.
Mr Miroljub Labus, vice-chairman of the Democratic Party, one of the Zajedno coalition partners, said the letter meant that Mr Milosevic "was trying to delay a final decision."
The opposition protests are the biggest challenge to his rule for at least five years. If the opposition were able to take control of Belgrade, it would give them the chance to open alternative radio and TV stations and undercut Mr Milosevic's monopoly over the national broadcast media and the main newspapers. They would also have a say in the election commissions which will oversee republican elections later this year.
Belgrade city council is made up of members delegated from the 16 district councils. Accepting that the opposition won the nine biggest districts ought to mean it would run the overall council.
(The Guardian Service)
Reuter reports from Sarajevo:
Bosnia's inter-ethnic parliament appointed a peacetime cabinet yesterday at its first full session, approving nominations for the ministries which make up the country's weak central government.
The Council of Ministers proposed by Bosnia's collective presidency was unopposed by the 42-member House of Representatives, elected in national polls in September.
The Council of Ministers, or cabinet, is led by two co-chairmen, Mr Haris Silajdzic, a Muslim and former Bosnian prime minister, and Mr Boro Bosic, a Serb. Mr Jadranko Prlic, a Croat who served for a time as Bosnia's foreign minister, kept his post in the new cabinet.