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===== AIM Morning NEWS for Tuesday, September 26, 2000 =====
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FEC TO ANNOUNCE RESULTS BEFORE THE DEADLINE
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BELGRADE, September 25, 2000 (I-Net)

Federal Election Commission still did not publish any data
regarding the elections in FR Yugoslavia. President of the Federal
Election Commission Borivoje Vukicevic said Federal Election
Commission will announce results of the elections until the legal
deadline and estimated that they will be in accordance to the
people's will.


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DOS ELECTORAL REPORT
====================

BELGRADE, September 25, 2000 (I-Net)

Serbian Democratic Opposition (DOS) candidate for FRY president
Vojislav Kostunica lead related to the president of FRY and left
coalition candidate Slobodan Milosevic with 55,30% to 34,37%, it was
said today in DOS. Chief of the DOS Election Committee Cedomir
Jovanovic said last night that this relation was based on about 65%
of all votes, which makes 3.395.359 votes.


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LEFT COALITION ELECTORAL REPORT
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BELGRADE, September 25, 2000 (Tanjug)

Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) Secretary-General Gorica Gajevic
said in Belgrade on Monday at a joint press conference of the SPS,
Yugoslav Left (JUL), and Socialist People's Party (SNP) of
Montenegro, that the election coalition's presidential candidate
Slobodan Milosevic won 1,383,660 votes in Serbia and Montenegro,
based on data from 37 percent processed ballots. At these polling
stations, 45 percent of the voters were for Milosevic and 40 percent
for Vojislav Kostunica, or 1,268,636 voters. Gajevic specified that
she was optimistic about other forthcoming results, and said she
hoped Milosevic would win in the first round.

She said leftist parties had lost local authorities in certain
municipalities in Serbia, judging from the preliminary results from
37 percent of the ballots.

SNP President Momir Bulatovic expressed satisfaction with the
results of the federal elections and said the SPS-JUL-SNP would be
able to form a federal government from a coalition of leftist
parties. The election results of the SNP in Montenegro will
contribute to this significantly, Bulatovic said, since preliminary
results show that the SNP will have 28 of the 30 seats for Montenegro
in the Chamber of Citizens and 19 of the 20 seats for Montenegro in
the Chamber of Republics.


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SNP ELECTORAL REPORT
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PODGORICA, September 25, 2000 (Blic)

Zoran Zizic and Predrag Bulatovic, vice-presidents of Socialist
Peoples Party(SNP) of Montenegro said at yesterday's press conference
that about 130,000 people voted in Montenegro and that 90 percent of
them voted for Slobodan Milosevic. They also said that this party
would have in the House of the Republics 19 and in the House of the
Citizens at least 28 deputies.


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KOSTUNICA: WE MUST AVOID INTERNATIONAL INTERVENTION
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BELGRADE, September 25, 2000 (Blic)

"Victory of DOS at presidential, federal and local levels is
victory of people and truth" said Vojislav Kostunica yesterday
claiming victory in the Yugoslav elections. "We shall defend election
results in all possible ways that are not violent and that do not
jeopardize peace and cause conflicts. We want to believe that reason
shall prevail on the other side, too. We should try together to calm
down passions in our people in order to avoid any trouble resembling
even slightly something that can be called international
intervention", Kostunica said at first post-elections press
conference. "Protests and demonstrations are legal and legitimate way
for defense of election results".

When journalists asked him to comment the statement by federal
Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic that Slobodan Milosevic would remain
president of Yugoslavia till June next year regardless of election
results, Kostunica replied: "That is not possible".

"In this case, the Law that applies is the one concerning
election of deputies for the House of the Republics and not the Law
on election of the president of Yugoslavia. When election results
from all polling stations are known, Federal election commission has
to proclaim official election results within 24 hours. After 15 days,
commission has to issue certificate about winner of the elections",
Kostunica said and added that as early as this autumn, he shall
"swear to federal deputies as the president of Yugoslavia".


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YUGOSLAV ELECTIONS WERE DEMOCRATIC, FOREIGN OBSERVERS SAY
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BELGRADE, September 25, 2000 (Tanjug)

Representatives of political structures of Hungary, Italy, and
the Russian federation who were in Yugoslavia on Sunday as foreign
observers for the presidential, parliamentary and local elections,
said in statements to Tanjug on Monday that they were certain the
elections had been democratic and regular.


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DRASKOVIC ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION
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BELGRADE, September 25, 2000 (BETA)

Vuk Draskovic, president of the Serbian Renewal Movement
announced tonight that he would be resigning from his position
because of the bad SPO results in the elections on Sunday. Draskovic
told the Montenegrin state television that the SPO had "misjudged"
the decision to run individually in the federal elections.

He added that the votes the SPO received were also "votes for
democracy and against the Belgrade regime". "I am very satisfied that
more than 75% of the citizens of Montenegro boycotted the elections.
They voted against the Belgrade regime, for a democratic Serbia and
Yugoslavia in which Montenegro and Serbia would be equals", said
Draskovic.


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SERBIAN RADICAL PARTY'S SESELJ, NIKOLIC TENDER RESIGNATIONS
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BELGRADE, September 25, 2000 (Tanjug)

Serbian Radical Party (SRS) leader Vojislav Seselj and
presidential candidate Tomislav Nikolic have tendered resignations
over the party's poor showing in Sunday's Yugoslav presidential and
parliamentary elections.

The SRS is not satisfied with its performance in the Sunday
polls, but it will nevertheless respect the will of the Yugoslav
people and once again show its democratic nature, the party said in a
statement on Monday. The statement said Seselj and Nikolic have
accepted responsibility for the poor election results and tendered
their resignations to all offices they hold in the party to the
party's Central National Administration.


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US: YUGOSLAV OPPOSITION WINNING
===============================

WASHINGTON, USA, September 25, 2000 (BBC)

The United States says it has "clear evidence" that the main
opposition candidate for the presidency, Vojislav Kostunica, has won
a convincing victory. A State Department spokesman said it would be
"very hard for President Milosovic to make any credible claim of
victory - the question now was whether he was willing to accept the
voice of the Yugoslav people". Other Western governments have called
on President Slobodan Milosevic to accept the results in the Yugoslav
elections and step down.


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UNITED STATES PLEDGE TO LIFT SANCTIONS
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WASHINGTON, USA, September 25, 2000 (Associated Press)

The United States pledged Monday to lift sanctions against
Yugoslavia once President Slobodan Milosevic accepts the election
results and gives way to a successor. Other governments are apt to
lift the sanctions as well, State Department spokesman Richard
Boucher said. The sanctions include blocking international bank loans
to Yugoslavia, an oil embargo and denying visas to Yugoslav
officials.


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BARAK, ARAFAT HOLD FIRST TALKS SINCE CAMP DAVID
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JERUSALEM, Israel, September 25, 2000 (Deutsche Welle)

Israel's Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat held
their first talks in two months on Monday. The Israeli prime
minister's office said the talks were "conducted in a very good
atmosphere and in a positive spirit" at Barak's private residence in
central Israel. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are expected in
the United States by Tuesday evening for talks with U.S. officials on
the Middle East peace process, diplomatic sources said on Monday.


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PRAGUE BRACED FOR DISRUPTION
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PRAGUE, Czechoslovakia, September 25, 2000 (BBC)

Anti-globalization protesters from around the world are planning
a day of direct action on Tuesday. Demonstrations are likely in many
world financial centers, including London and New York, but the focus
will be in Prague where the World Bank and the International Monetary
Fund are holding their annual meetings. Protest organizers have vowed
to blockade the venue for Tuesday's meeting, preventing delegates
from leaving, despite a police ban on the demonstration.

They say their aim is the abolition of the two institutions,
which they blame for growing poverty, inequality and environmental
deterioration around the world. Hundreds of Czech police have ringed
the Congress Center, determined to prevent the protesters from
reaching the delegates.


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OIL CRISIS DEEPENS
==================

BEIRUT, Libya, September 25, 2000 (Deutsche Welle)

Libyan Oil Minister Abdallah el-Badri said on Monday the United
States had acted too soon in releasing strategic oil reserves and he
was worried about the effect on prices. Oil prices fell on Monday
after the United States decided to tap national strategic reserves in
a bid to avert a winter fuel crisis. By late afternoon, London Brent
futures had dipped 75 cents to 30.52 dollars a barrel. That came on
top of a 1.48-dollar-decline on Friday in anticipation of the
release, which will add a million barrels a day to US supplies for a
month. The European Commission in Brussels said European Union
finance ministers would discuss the possibility of using mandatory EU
reserves as part of wider talks on oil prices when they meet on
Friday.


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WEAPONS DEADLINE IN WEST TIMOR
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JAKARTA, Indonesia, September 25, 2000 (Deutsche Welle)

Indonesia has given pro-Jakarta militia gangs in West Timor
until Wednesday to hand over their weapons or police and soldiers
will take them by force. A government official said that after the
deadline, anyone in possession of weapons would face legal sanctions.
Some East Timorese militiamen have handed over weapons, a move
Jakarta hopes will help calm international anger over the murder of
three foreign UN aid workers three weeks ago in the West Timor
border-town of Atambua. The UN Security Council has demanded the
militias be disarmed and disbanded, while the United States has
warned that desperately needed aid could be at risk unless Jakarta
brings the gangs under control.


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THE NEWS
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Morning news edited by Vukasin Stojkov

AIM, Belgrade, September 26, 2000 12:30


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