AFP
Milo Djukanovic, champion of Montenegro's independence

PODGORICA, April 20 -- Montenegro's President Milo Djukanovic, a key opponent of Yugoslavia's hardline former leader Slobodan Milosevic, has carved out a position as a firm partisan of independence for this tiny republic.

"There is no longer a federal republic of Yugoslavia and the two states that comprise it, Montenegro and Serbia, are practically independent," said Djukanovic, 39 in a recent interview with AFP.

Djukanovic's coalition, which groups his Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and the Social Democrats, faces the "For Yugoslavia" alliance of the pro-Belgrade Socialist People's Party (SNP) and former SNP allies in Sunday's general elections for Montenegro's parliament.

If, as polls predict, Djukanovic's ruling coalition and its allies carry a majority of the 77 seats in parliament, a referendum on Montenegrin independence will be organized toward the end of June, 45 days after the constitutive meeting of the new assembly.

Djukanovic, 39, stepped into the limelight in 1997, when he openly distanced himself from Milosevic and his allies in power in Serbia and Yugoslavia, accusing them of keeping the federation in international isolation.

After taking office in January 1998 from Milosevic ally Momir Bulatovic, Djukanovic slowly steered the mountainous republic away from the former strongman's control.

Dynamic and efficient, this young economist started his political career under communism, just like Milosevic and Bulatovic.

He rose fast, becoming a leader of the young communists who advocated an "anti-bureaucratic revolution" that managed to win over old-time party members loyal to former Yugoslav leader Tito.

In February 1991, Djukanovic became Montenegro's prime minister at only 29. He held the post until his election as president.

This ambitious young man, slender, elegant and frank, quickly dropped communist ideology for a pragmatic approach that opened Montenegro up to the outside world. The approach won him wide-ranging favor, and he was soon seen as a serious threat to Milosevic's iron grip on Yugoslavia.

"Milosevic is an out-of-date politician, incapable of drawing up any strategy," Djukanovic said, calling the Yugoslav strongman an autocrat who was leading the joint federation towards "political and economic catastrophe."

Ever since, he has been demanding a redefinition of relations between Serbia and Montenegro, demanding equal status for the Adriatic republic, whose population of 650,000 is dwarfed by Serbia's 10 million.

Such bold and daring criticism of the former strongman could not go unpunished, and the Milosevic-controlled media in Serbia carried out an aggressive anti-Djukanovic campaign.

Djukanovic boycotted Yugoslav elections in September 2000, describing them as "Milosevic manipulation".

After Milosevic lost the polls to reformist forces grouped around moderate nationalist Vojislav Kostunica, it appeared that relations between the two uneasy bedfellows would improve.

But Djukanovic and his allies, who had been pushing for independence from Belgrade for three years, could not suddenly change course, with the population already strongly divided over the sensitive issue.

He said he aimed to develop new relations with Belgrade "in the framework of a union of two independent countries".

Djukanovic said a new politics of "cohabitation" between Serbia and Montenegro should be developed based on free trade and the free movement of people -- "no more passports, no more visas" -- that could serve as an example for the entire Balkans region.

But the international community, which supported Podgorica's moves during Milosevic's rule, now sought to maintain the status quo, pushing instead for a "democratic Montenegro within democratic Yugoslavia."