Assassination stuns Serbia

Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, a key leader of the revolt that overthrew Slobodan Milosevic, was assassinated in Belgrade Wednesday, throwing the country into a fresh political crisis amid bitter complaints about the power wielded by criminal overlords.

Mr. Djindjic, an enthusastically pro-Western leader, was shot dead as he entered government headquarters. Police said they had arrested two men in connection with the killing, but they were not sure they were the gunmen.

The future of democratic reforms was uncertain following the prime minister's death.

Speculation was rife as to who was behind the murder, but political leaders and observers said that shadowy mafia groups linked to former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's regime were most likely responsible.

The killing was "a warning to look ourselves in the eye and ask how much crime has permeated all the pores of society," former president Vojislav Kostunica told B-92 radio.

"We all knew this was a disorganized country with a well organized mafia, but this is too much" said Nenad Stefanovic, a political analyst with the news weekly Vreme.

Djindjic had made many powerful enemies in Serbia. He pushed free-market economic reform, and cooperated with the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which is currently trying Mr. Milosevic for war crimes and has indicted a number of other leading Serb politicians.

He recently promised that he would try to arrest Gen. Ratko Mladic, wanted by the tribunal for war crimes in Bosnia, who is believed to be hiding in Serbia.

Some of Djindjic's political opponents have suggested that the prime minister made a deal with senior Milosevic-era security officials, promising to leave them alone if they did not block the opposition's effort to overthrow Milosevic himself.

"It could be that some of them felt betrayed by Djindjic," Mr. Stefanovic suggested.

The silver-haired prime minister, nicknamed "the manager" for his efficiency (and "little Slobo" for authoritarian tendencies that reminded his critics of Mr. Milosevic), had emerged in recent months as the undisputed leader of Serbia after a long tussle with other former opposition leaders, primarily Mr. Kostunica.

Djindjic was born in 1952, into the family of a Yugoslav army officer in a town near the Bosnian border.

Smart, charismatic, and pragmatic, but with a ruthless streak, Djindjic came to prominence when he returned from philosophy studies in Germany to found the Democratic party in opposition to Milosevic.

His death leaves a power vacuum at the head of a country already struggling with difficulties on many fronts.

Serbia became part of a new country only weeks ago, when it formed an uneasy confederation with neighboring independence-minded Montenegro.

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