Lawmakers Back State of Serbia and Montenegro
The Yugoslav parliament voted overwhelmingly for a plan to abolish the Balkan federation and replace it with a looser union between its two remaining members, Serbia and Montenegro.
The move clears the way for experts to flesh out a new constitution from the blueprint. The West is keen to head off a Montenegrin drive for independence, which it fears would destabilize a region that saw a decade of bloodshed when the six republics that then made up Yugoslavia began to break apart in 1991.
Analysts and diplomats still expect protracted battles over the details of the new state, to be called Serbia and Montenegro.
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