U.S. Applauds Calm Ahead of Montenegro Independence Vote

Citizens of Adriatic republic will hold referendum May 21

A senior U.S. diplomat has welcomed "the general calm" in Montenegro as the Adriatic republic prepares for a historic referendum May 21 on whether to declare independence from Serbia.

Nearly 480,000 Montenegrins are eligible to vote out of a population of 650,000, and hundreds of U.S. and international observers plan to monitor polling stations, according to Julie Finley, U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

"We applaud the general calm that has prevailed in Montenegro throughout the referendum campaign," Finley told the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, Austria, on May 18. (See related article.)

"The United States encourages all Montenegrins to refrain from inflammatory rhetoric and negative campaigning in these remaining few days before Sunday's vote," Finley said.

Serbia and Montenegro are the two surviving republics of the former Yugoslavia, which violently broke apart in the 1990s under the authoritarian leadership of former president Slobodan Milosevic, who died March 11 in The Hague, Netherlands, while on trial for war crimes. (See related article.)

Both republics of the Serbia-Montenegro federation have expressed strong interest in NATO and European Union membership. The European Union negotiated the terms of the Montenegro referendum and said it will recognize Montenegro as a sovereign state if 50 percent of voters participate in the referendum and 55 percent of those participating vote for self-rule. Serbian President Boris Tadic said in January that Serbia is prepared to accept the results of the Montenegro independence referendum if more than half of the voting population participates in the process.

Neither the United States nor the European Union has a formal opinion on whether the republic should gain independence. However, the United States has urged a transparent, free and fair voting process.

In her statement to the OSCE, Finley said, "A high voter turnout will add legitimacy to the outcome" and also would add credibility to the voting process and be "a clear indication of the success of a democracy."

In November 2005, R. Nicholas Burns, U.S. under secretary of state for political affairs, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee "the United States will support whatever solution the two republics agree on through democratic means, whether that is union or independence." (See related article.)

Montenegro was annexed by Serbia during political upheavals at the end of World War I. Eventually Serbia and Montenegro were incorporated into the larger Yugoslav federation. Beginning in 1991, four of Yugoslavia's six republics seceded - Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia - and all have been recognized as independent states.

Kosovo, an autonomous province of Serbia, also seeks independence and has been administered by the United Nations since the NATO-led 1999 war that drove out the Yugoslav Serb military following widespread human rights abuses. The United Nations is sponsoring separate negotiations in 2006, known as final-status talks, to determine whether Kosovo will achieve independence or remain linked to Serbia, which has deep historic and cultural links to the province. (See related article.)

Source: U.S. Department of State

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