The New York Times

Wednesday, February 16, 2000

New Yugoslav Defense Minister Is an Indicted Serbian General

By REUTERS

BELGRADE, Serbia, Feb. 15 -- Yugoslavia's president, Slobodan Milosevic, appointed a loyal aide today as his new defense minister. He is a Serbian general who has been indicted by a United Nations court for suspected war crimes in Kosovo.

The official Tanjug news agency said Mr. Milosevic issued a decree appointing Gen. Dragoljub Ojdanic, 58, chief of staff of the Yugoslav army, as the new defense minister. He succeeds Pavle Bulatovic, who was shot dead on Feb. 7 by unknown gunmen in a Belgrade restaurant.

Mr. Milosevic also appointed General Nebojsa Pavkovic, commander of Yugoslavia's Third Army, as the new army chief of staff.

The Third Army covers southern Serbia including Kosovo Province. Kosovo is now under de facto international rule after the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces last June after 11 weeks of NATO air strikes.

General Pavkovic, 53, also seen as loyal to Mr. Milosevic, has vowed that the army will return to Kosovo one way or another.

Mr. Milosevic, General Ojdanic and three other Yugoslav officials were indicted last May by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for war crimes in Kosovo Province.

Some local analysts said the appointments signaled a hardening stance by the Yugoslav president.

But a Serbian opposition leader disagreed. Mr. Milosevic "still keeps his personal power garnished with a few obedient people, picking them up from the same small circle and shuffling them from one position to another," said Zoran Djindjic, head of the opposition Democratic Party.

Officials in Montenegro, the Western-leaning Yugoslav republic that forms Yugoslavia with Serbia, warned of worsening relations between the two republics since Mr. Bulatovic, a Montenegrin, was succeeded by General Ojdanic, a Serb.

"Montenegro has lost yet another ministerial post, one of the most important for relations between Montenegro and Serbia," said Ranko Krivokapic, vice president of the Montenegrin Social Democratic Party, which is a member of the ruling coalition.

An adviser to Montenegro's president, Milo Djukanovic, accused Mr. Milosevic of violating constitutional procedure by not consulting Montenegro on his decision.