The former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic was handed over to the UN War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague last Thursday. Milosevic has been indicted by the court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the 1998-1999 Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

However, following a rather short period of relative stability, Yugoslavia is now facing another political crisis. On Friday, thousands of Milosevic's angry supporters staged a protest rally in front of the Parliament building in Belgrade. And the Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, a senior member of the Socialist People's Party from Montenegro (SNP), resigned from his post in protest against the transfer of Milosevic to The Hague, which he described as contrary to the Constitution.

The Socialist People's Party from Montenegro (SNP) is a key party allied with Serbia's ruling coalition at federal level. It would bring the survival of Yugoslavia into question if it breaks the coalition. This party had refused to back the ruling coalition's decision last week to go ahead with a decree formalizing cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

The resignation of Djindjic from the federal government of Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica has created a very difficult situation for the president and all those who are in favor of keeping Montenegro in the federation.

If President Kostunica does not succeed in encouraging the SNP, a close ally of Milosevic, to resume its cooperation with the federal government, the separatist president of Montenegro will find another opportunity to pursue his independence-seeking objectives.

The political situation in Serbia is also very tense. It is true that the supporters of Milosevic are not so large in number as to be able to bring about a change in the balance of power in Belgrade, but if they get involved in acts of violence, new crises will be in store for the Serbian government.