Milosevic concedes defeat, quits

BELGRADE, OCT. 7. The Yugoslav President, Mr. Slobodan Milosevic, bowed to people's pressure and accepted defeat by announcing his resignation in an address broadcast on the state-owned TV station Yu Info on Friday night.

``I congratulate Vojislav Kostounica on his election victory and I wish our nation success over the next term,'' Mr. Milosevic said in a brief recorded statement. ``I've just got official information that Vojislav Kostounica won the elections,'' he said, adding his Socialist Party would be a strong political opponent to the new administration.

``I intend to rest a bit and spend some more time with my family, and after that to help my party gain force and contribute to future prosperity,'' he said.

The statement followed an hour-long meeting between Mr Kostounica, the man hailed by the West as Yugoslavia's new President, and Mr. Milosevic. They were reported to have shaken hands.

It appeared to signal that Mr. Milosevic has abandoned hopes of blocking Mr Kostounica from taking his oath as President, and instead will try to carve out a role in Yugoslav political life.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Milosevic, heavily guarded in his Belgrade villa, greeted the visiting Russian Foreign Minister, Mr. Igor Ivanov, with a confident presidential handshake and indicated ominously that he was intent on maintaining a ``political role''.

Mr. Milosevic, a master of political manipulation, appeared to be playing for time in the hope of turning back, or at least diverting, the revolutionary tide. But his Friday night statement appeared to throw in the towel - though his record of survival suggests he could still be a dangerous player on the political scene. It was an abrupt turn-around as Mr Kostounica strove to consolidate the popular uprising in Belgrade and pre-empt any attempt by Mr. Milosevic to reclaim power.

Yugoslav Television earlier reported a statement from Mr. Milosevic's office denouncing ``the violence and destructive disorder ... endangering the functioning of the state and weakening it, which is only in the interest of its enemies''.

With Belgrade close to anarchy and no police to stop sporadic looting, Opposition leaders tried to establish control of the country.

They held talks with army commanders, who made no attempt to stop thousands of protesters from storming the Federal Parliament on Thursday, to ensure that soldiers remained in their barracks and backed the transfer to power.

The Constitutional Court formalised Mr Kostounica's position by upholding an Opposition complaint that he had won the first round of presidential elections last month.

The European Union has promised to lift most economic sanctions when Foreign Ministers meet in Brussels, while the French President, Mr. Jacques Chirac, invited Mr Kostounica to attend the E.U.'s Biarritz summit next Friday.

- Telegraph Group Limited, London, 2000

Son headed for Moscow

Reuters reports:

Mr. Marko Milosevic, the hated son of Mr. Slobodan Milosevic, boarded a plane for Moscow today along with his wife and child, witnesses at the airport said.

``This morning at 0840 hours (12.10 p.m. IST) Marko Milosevic and his wife and child, left Yugoslavia in a Jat (Yugoslav airlines) plane, he left for Moscow,'' a pilot for the Avio Genex company, said.

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