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Church leader meets Milosevic's opponents

After the Belgrade meeting, two of the most prominent opposition leaders, Vuk Draskovic and Zoran Djindjic, said they would work together with the church to stage the opposition rally - to be held in Belgrade on 19 August.

BBC Belgrade Correspondent Jacky Rowland says the Orthodox Church is emerging as an important player in the opposition movement, which has so far been marked by disunity.

The Patriarch has made a number of strong statements against Mr Milosevic, including the charge that the president is not a Christian.

Correspondents say the meeting is the first time since pro-democracy protests in 1996-97 that rival opposition figures have set aside differences to meet face-to-face.

But while they agreed on the need for Milosevic's removal and democratic changes in Serbia - including a transitional government - they remain at odds over how to achieve those goals.

'Beginning of the end'

Serbian opposition leader Zoran Djindjic said the rally would herald the beginning of the end of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's time in office.

"It is great that we have reached an agreement regarding 19 August. It has to be held in a peaceful, yet resolute manner," he said on independent radio station B92.

"After that Milosevic has to understand that his time is up. The day of 19 August is the day when we shall start a kind of countdown." he added.

In a swift official reaction, the state Tanjug news agency denounced the meeting, saying opposition leaders "are practically inducing the church to violate the constitution".

The state-run Borba daily said the meeting represented a "precedent in the history of Serbs and their church", because religious leaders sided with those who are "calling for a civil war, riots, amnesty of the (Nato) aggression and the destabilization of the whole country".

Last week, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic dismissed protests against his regime as a continuation of Nato's bombing campaign against Serbia.

Speaking for the first time after almost daily demands for his resignation, Mr Milosevic said Nato was being helped by corrupt local politicians.

He said Nato was "trying to undermine our stability from within and to realise in this manner the aims it failed to do with 22,000 tonnes of bombs fired on our country

Relevant Stories

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Serb opposition leader in court (28 Jul 99 | Europe)
Analysis: Opposition has some way to go (19 Jul 99 | Europe)

Internet Links

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