Crisis hits Yugoslavia after Milosevic extradition
The Yugoslav prime minister and his Montenegrin allies in the government have resigned and the Cabinet has collapsed after Slobodan Milosevic's extradition.
The move by Zoran Zizic and other former Milosevic's allies is expected to lead to early elections on the federal level.
Meanwhile, an official says Serbia's president, who was indicted along with Milosevic by the UN war crimes tribunal, may surrender to the court.
Milan Milutinovic is "considering" giving himself up now that Milosevic is in The Hague to face trial on charges of crimes against humanity, an Interior Ministry official has stated.
It is not immediately clear whether Milutinovic will offer to testify against Milosevic. Both men face charges in connection with alleged atrocities committed by Serb troops in Kosovo against ethnic Albanians during the 1998-99 war in the Yugoslav province.
Commentators say the resignations from the government may even hasten a split between Serbia and much smaller Montenegro in the existing Yugoslav federation.
The federal government is made up of Serbia's pro-democracy officials and ministers from Montenegro who turned their backs on Milosevic after he was ousted.
The Montenegrin officials, who met in the republic's capital Podgorica, said in a statement that Milosevic's extradition to The Hague-based tribunal was "illegal and unconstitutional." They said it "jeopardizes the functioning of Yugoslavia and its existence"
Milosevic was handed over to The Hague tribunal on Thursday by the Serbian government, which ignored a federal Constitutional Court ruling that banned his extradition.
