Serbia: Serb ultra-nationalists and allies of ousted leader Slobodan Milosevic threatened to impeach President Boris Tadic yesterday after he urged compatriots in troubled Kosovo to vote in controversial elections later this month.
Mr Tadic won EU and US backing for his appeal, which came as NATO reinforcements parachuted into Kosovo ahead of the vote, but infuriated his political opponents and Serb Orthodox church leaders.
They fear a repeat of March's anti-Serb riots by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, which left 19 people dead and drove thousands from their houses as hundreds of Serb homes were destroyed and centuries-old Orthodox churches were razed.
"Tadic overstepped his authority as president, he had no right to give his personal views precedence over state affairs," said Ms Gordana Pop-Lazic, urging "all self-respecting lawmakers" to back the impeachment motion tabled by her Serb Radical Party.
Mr Ivica Dacic - leader of the Socialist Party that ruled with the Radicals under Mr Milosevic - said yesterday her supporters would probably give the backing necessary to force a parliamentary debate on Mr Tadic's position.
"We fundamentally back our colleagues from the Radical Party," Mr Dacic said. "It's important that the impeachment demand is discussed in parliament."
Though Mr Tadic seems to have enough parliamentary and public support to avoid being ousted, he has deepened long-standing divisions with his televised appeal to Serbs to vote in Kosovo.
"Serbia is at the crossroads, it will either move forward to development and a better life, or it will forever stay in one place," Mr Tadic told the nation.
The speech angered opponents of Mr Tadic's West-leaning Democratic Party, particularly nationalist Prime Minister Mr Vojislav Kostunica, whom the international community has criticised for failing to catch war crimes suspects like Gen Ratko Mladic.
