The new president of Yugoslavia, Vojislav Kostunica, has been sworn in at a meeting of the federal parliament. The session was delayed by a political row over whether MPs representing Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist Party in Kosovo should be allowed to sit in the new assembly. Kosovo was believed to be one of the areas where election fraud was greatest.
Mr Milosevic finally conceded last night that he had lost last month's elections. Speaking on the only major television station that remains under his control, Mr Milosevic said that his Socialist Party would be strong in opposition and that he intended to play a part in it. The Yugoslav army pledged its support for Mr Kostunica early today.
Meanwhile, Foreign ministers of the European Union, who meet in Luxembourg on Monday, are expected to discuss the lifting of sanctions against Yugoslavia. The EU's security and foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, has said that the ministers will probably decide on a complete end to the sanctions. He said that the next step would be to consider what economic assistance could be given to the government of Yugoslavia.
In Washington, President Clinton has again insisted that Mr Milosevic must stand trial on war crimes charges. Comparing the events in Belgrade to the collapse of Communist regimes across Europe a decade ago, Mr Clinton said that the rise of democracy had ended a dark era in Yugoslavia's history.
Mr Kostunica wants to make Serbia part of mainstream Europe again but he has said that he would not hand over Slobadon Milosevic to the War Crimes Tribunal. The Chief Prosecutor, Carlo del Ponte, said, however, that Mr Milosevic must be brought to trial in The Hague. The West is nevertheless moving quickly to demonstrate its support for the new leaders in Belgrade. Some EU sanctions will be lifted by Monday if, by then, Mr Kostunica has been sworn in as the new president.
A Russian news agency earlier reported President Vladimir Putin as saying he hoped the situation in Yugoslavia would be settled through legitimate channels within the framework of the law. The agency reported Putin as saying that this would help Yugoslavia not only to end the crisis but also its international isolation. The Russian leader was speaking in Saint Petersburg where he was meeting the president of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn.
