PODGORICA, Yugoslavia -- Montenegro's prime minister warned Friday of possible civil war if the Yugoslav army attempts to place local police forces under military control.
Police in the small republic will "under no circumstances" obey orders from the Yugoslav army to put itself under military command, said moderate Prime Minister Filiup Vujanovic.
Instead, Vujanovic urged the Belgrade regime to accept a Kosovo peace agreement, while calling for an end to the NATO bombing campaign.
"NATO must immediately stop its attacks and international diplomacy should return to political means of solving the Kosovo crisis," Vujanovic told reporters in Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital.
Montenegro is the smaller republic of the Serb-dominated Yugoslav federation and has declared itself neutral in the conflict. The Kosovo conflict has plunged relations between Podgorica and Belgrade to their lowest ebb for generations.
Since the pro-Western government of President Milo Djukanovic took power last year, the republic has been distancing itself from Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
While Djukanovic's government refuses to recognize the authority of the federation, it faces strong opposition from local Milosevic loyalists, led by Milosevic's right-hand man, Momir Bulatovic, a Montenegrin.
At a pro-Milosevic demonstration Thursday in Podgorica, Bulatovic threatened that the Belgrade-commanded Yugoslav army might use force to take control of Montenegro's police, who are loyal to Djukanovic.
"The army headquarters [in Belgrade] ordered for the police force in Montenegro to be put under its control, and that order will be respected," Bulatovic said in a firebrand speech to approximately 10,000 supporters.
The demonstrators sang patriotic Yugoslav songs and chanted anti-NATO slogans at Thursday's rally, which took place amid the heaviest security in Montenegro since the NATO air campaign against Yugoslavia began on March 24. The gathering ended without violence.
Bulatovic, the former president of Montenegro and current leader of the republic's main opposition party, used the rally to attack the local government for not supporting the war effort.
On Friday, Vujanovic accused Bulatovic of instigating "a conflict with the police which could lead to a civil war."
He denied that his government wanted to break links with Serbia.
"We believe that Yugoslavia is the best framework for the two republics ... provided that [they] and their citizens are given the same status," Djukanovic said.
Yugoslav officials in Belgrade said Friday they would forbid foreign humanitarian aid to be delivered to Montenegro by sea. They said the aid must be checked and approved by federal authorities.
Montenegro's health minister, Momir Mugsa, called the decision "another slick manipulation of the federal government, which is trying to damage Montenegro."
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