Blackjacking a Constitution

Slobodan Milosevic, with his presidency due to end next year, took pen in hand last week and rewrote the Yugoslav constitution to give himself another term or two. An obedient parliament promptly approved the change. But what appeared to be a bold stroke may in the end shatter what little is left of the Yugoslav federation. The government of Montenegro, which with Serbia is the last remnant of Marshal Tito’s once formidable Balkan state, has rejected Milosevic’s virtual coup against his own regime. Montenegro’s president has stopped just short of calling for independence, and its parliament last Saturday declared Milosevic’s constitution “illegal and illegitimate.”

The embattled Serbian president, who remains in office despite his indictment by an international war crimes tribunal, is playing a game dangerous to all factions in Yugoslavia and to neighboring states as well. It puts heavy pressure within the Yugoslav federation on Montenegro and its West-leaning President Milo Djukanovic. Already gone from Milosevic’s control are Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Yugoslav province of Kosovo also is now beyond his authority, under international military supervision.

But Milosevic hangs on, with the Serbs divided. Democratic opponents hold rallies demanding the president’s ouster, but rallies have never deterred Milosevic. He will use military force against his constituents at the first sign of rebellion. But even for such a leader the act of personally rewriting the country’s constitution to his advantage is beyond the pale.

Nevertheless, there he stands, a hero to most Serbs for his brutal repression of Slovenes, Bosnians, Croats and Kosovars. But whose country suffered most? Whose infrastructure was bombed into rubble by NATO air power? It’s the man who has attempted to further his reign by tampering with a constitution.