Montenegro
May 23, 2006 by Dave Earley
Filed under News
Since the former Yugoslavia broke up, Serbia has maintained several of its provinces and territories. The official name of the state has itself been Serbia and Montenegro. That’s about to change. Montenegro has held a referendum on independence and initial results showed a majority vote for independence from Serbia. The BBC reports final vote counting confirms Montenegro’s independence with 55.5% in approval. Serbia and Montenegro is no more. It wasn’t a state as such for long anyway, but all that is left is for Serbia to lost its remaining territories – Vojvodina and Kosovo – for the complete breakup of the former Yugoslavia to be complete.
The most well-known part of Serbia seeking independence is of course Kosovo. Essentially a UN protectorate for the last five years, it is widely considered to be only a matter of time before Kosovo is officially recognised as an independent state.
Lesser known is Vojvodina. They may not be agitating for independence from Serbia yet, but they have, and continue to demand virtual autonomy from Serbia.
It is perhaps a slap in the face to Serbia, when the other former Yugoslav republics congratulate Montenegro on gaining independence.
