SERBIA:THE UNITED States and top EU officials urged Serbs to follow the political path of pro-western former prime minister Zoran Djindjic yesterday as the deeply divided nation marked five years since his assassination by ultra-nationalists.
Thousands of Serbs marched though Belgrade in honour of Djindjic, who was lionised by western leaders and his liberal compatriots but loathed by the many Serbs who supported Slobodan Milosevic and distrusted Brussels and Washington.
Memorials took place in a febrile political atmosphere, two months before a likely election showdown between Djindic's successors, who want Serbia to join the EU, and nationalists who want to cut ties with the bloc over its support for Kosovo's independence.
"Serbia is again at a crossroads," the US embassy in Belgrade said in a statement released five years after Djindjic was shot dead outside the Serb government building by a sniper hired by Milosevic loyalists and gangsters.
"One path - Djindjic's path - leads to integration with Europe and western institutions," the embassy said. "The other path is an angry retreat to a brooding past, where harmful rhetoric and empty phrases substitute for national greatness."
In an opinion article in a Serb newspaper, Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt and his French counterpart, Bernard Kouchner, recalled Djindjic's determination to move Serbia towards EU membership.
"Serbia is going through another difficult period. We know the shock Serbia feels at Kosovo's loss," they said. "In our view it is certain that Serbia will soon be a member of the EU, because there is no alternative," the two foreign ministers wrote. "This is in tune with the flow of history."
Nationalist prime minister Vojislav Kostunica has vowed not to negotiate with the EU until it rejects Kosovo's sovereignty, a position shared by the ultra-nationalist Radicals - Serbia's strongest political party - and the Socialists, formerly led by Milosevic.
Their view is opposed by the Democrats of president Boris Tadic, who say their opposition to Kosovo's independence should not stop Serbia pursuing EU accession.
A coalition between Mr Kostunica's party and the Democrats collapsed this week over their conflicting views on relations with Brussels, and a snap election is expected to be called for May 11th.
Mr Kostunica laid a wreath yesterday at the place Djindjic was killed, while Mr Tadic lit a candle at his grave.
A poster on the cemetery wall underlined the stark split in Serb society, however, by congratulating fugitive war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic on his birthday - the same date as that of Djindjic's murder. "Happy birthday general!" the poster read. "Thank you for keeping us away from European integration."
At the United Nations, Serbia demanded that the EU scrap plans to oversee Kosovo's independence; in the fledgling state itself, meanwhile, Nato peacekeepers have carried out major manoeuvres in Serb-dominated areas after Serb mobs razed two border posts.
