MONTENEGRO: PAVLE BULATOVIC FUNERAL

Описание: (10 Feb 2000) Natural Sound

Yugoslavia gave its slain defense minister, Pavle Bulatovic, a funeral with the highest military honors in his native Montenegro.

The ceremony was held as a high-ranking army commander on Thursday warned against testing President Slobodan Milosevic's army.

Bulatovic was gunned down in a Belgrade restaurant on Monday evening.

The assassination struck at the highest echelons of Milosevic's power base and sent shock waves through the country.

An army convoy escorted the hearse bearing Bulatovic's coffin to his home village of Gornji Rovci, high atop a snowcapped mountain in northern Montenegro.

Several hundred people attended the ceremony on the windswept mountain.

Three days after the assassination no new details have emerged of the shooting.

But in a eulogy to the slain defense minister, General Milorad Obradovic - in charge of the military in Montenegro - warned against testing Yugoslavia's army.

In Belgrade, another Milosevic ally and Ultra-nationalist leader claimed the assassination was an act of state terrorism by the United States and the West, aimed against Yugoslavia.

But in Montenegro, it's uncertain whether Bulatovic's killing could increase existing rifts with Milosevic's government in Belgrade.

The small republic is deeply divided into two camps: those who want it to remain in the Yugoslav federation with Serbia and those seeking independence.

Montenegran President, Milo Djukanovic, is pro-Western and a bitter opponent of Milosevic.

He did not attend Bulatovic's funeral but sent condolences to the family Wednesday.

Djukanovic split with Milosevic in 1996 and has since been making moves toward independence from Yugoslavia.

Montenegro's president has complained of the federation's international isolation under Milosevic's rule.

But the reformist leader has also been cautious in calls for independence, fearing possible intervention by Milosevic or a clash within Montenegro.

Serbian opposition parties have demanded the resignation of top officials over Bulatovic's killing and other unresolved high-profile murders in the past decade of Milosevic's rule.

Bulatovic's death comes less then a month after Zeljko Raznatovic, the underworld figure and Serbian warlord known as Arkan, was shot and killed in Belgrade.

Arkan, indicted by the U-N war crimes tribunal, was rumoured to have high government links.

But in Pavle Bulatovic's home village, those concerns seemed far removed.

The slain defense minister was awarded the highest military honors.

At the local cemetery, a platoon lined up to fire farewell salvoes during the traditional Orthodox Christian funeral.

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