Yugoslav reservists protest

Reservists were called up during the conflict with Nato

By Jacky Rowland in Belgrade

Army reservists in Serbia are staging another demonstration against new orders calling them up for military service.

The reservists, in the southern town of Kraljevo, say that those who have already seen active service should be exempt from further duty.

It follows a similar demonstration on Monday, when about 200 reservists and their families protested in front of the town hall because of draft notices they had received in the past 10 days.

More than 20,000 men were mobilised from Kraljevo during the conflict with Nato.

The call-ups have come amid increasing anxiety about a possible new conflict in the small Yugoslav republic of Montenegro. Many people in Serbia see the mobilisation of army reservists as an ominous sign.

Show of force

Newspapers in Montenegro say the Yugoslav army has been involved in a show of force, with truckloads of soldiers driving through the streets of the capital.

Meanwhile, the army has started what it describes as regular Spring exercises in southern Serbia near the boundary with Kosovo. Troops and vehicles from the army's Pristina core, which used to be based in Kosovo, have been training near the buffer zone imposed by Nato.

The Nato-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo is planning its own manoeuvres.

In an operation called "Dynamic Response" more than 1,000 extra troops, most of them from Nato countries, will be brought into the province for exercises.

The authorities in Belgrade view these plans as a provocation.