 |  |  |
| Return to: Left History: a digital archive | Return to: Say no to imperialist wars! | Return to: NATO-Yugoslav War Internet Resources |
| | |
| Return to: Left History: a digital archive | Return to: Say no to imperialist wars! | Return to: NATO-Yugoslav War Internet Resources |
BELGRADE, Oct 26 (AFP) - Serbian state-controlled media have launched a fierce attack on opposition leader Milan Panic, accusing him of calling for a "bloodshed Panama scenario for Serbia."
Belgrade's pro-government daily Politika, quoting an editorial by the state news agency Tanjug, attacked Panic for his reported call for US military intervention against Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic similar to that against Panamanian President Manuel Noriega in 1990.
Panic, "with no principles and no morals, openly suggests that the last remaining super-power perform an illegal and criminal act: to attack a sovereign country in order to oust its legally elected political leadership," the editorial said.
"Serbia and Yugoslavia are not Panama," the editorial said, claiming that Noriega was, at the beginning of his rule, backed by the US.
Noriega was ousted from power in a 1989 US invasion and is now serving a 40-year prison term in the United States for drug trafficking.
Panic was quoted by the Belgrade press as saying that "if the Americans want Milosevic out of power then (they should) get him."
He reportedly added that "the American troops are closer to Milosevic's home than they were to Noriega's home."
Panic is one of the leaders of the Alliance for Change, an opposition coalition that has launched a campaign demanding Milosevic's resignation.
Reacting to the editorial, Panic, a Serbian-born US businessman who was Yugoslav premier briefly in 1992 before being sacked by Milosevic, said the attack on him was a move by "desperate losers" whose "story has ended."
"The regime has tried to present my views like I want a bloodshed outcome in Serbia. That is really a bad humour," Panic said in a written statement faxed to AFP on Tuesday.
He warned that Milosevic's regime "has very strong repressive structures," which the opposition "can hardly overcome."
Adding that his "recent public statements were addressed mainly to the world and the Americans," Panic said that, if the international community "want to help" Serbia "they should help Milosevic's ouster."
"We should not doubt in their ability to do so, since they are experienced in that, and this would not be the first time," Panic said.
The United States should "do what is neccessary and stop forcing poor people in Serbia to finish the job with the dictator," Panic said.
The Alliance for Change has organised a daily series of anti-Milosevic protests, but turnout has been steadily dwindling.