Communist President Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia, widely regarded as mainly responsible for the violent disintegration of former Yugoslavia, Monday was sworn in to another five-year term at the opening session of the republic's newly elected assembly.
The 51-year-old Serbian strongman vowed to protect "the sovereignty and integrity of Serbia," and in a brief speech said his priorities would be "peace, economic development andMilosevic named Nikola Sainovic, a veteran communist industrial enterprise manager, as his new prime minister and asked him to consult will leaders of all the parties in the legislature before forming a new government.
Milosevic retained his post in early elections on Dec. 20 that also included races for the republic assembly, the legislature and presidency of Montenegro, as well as the federal Parliament of the Serb-dominated remnants of former Yugoslavia.
The election was shrouded by irregularities and condemned as fraudulent and unfair by opposition leaders and Western governments.
In the republic chamber, the SPS party won 101 seats, followed by the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRP) with 73, and the Democratic Movement of Serbia with 50.
The SRP is a Milosevic-nutured organization led by a suspected war criminal, Vojislav Seselj, who heads a paramilitary group accused by international human rights groups of commiting atrocities against non-Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia.
Before Milosevic's swearing-in, the assembly met to verify the results of the Dec. 20 elections and
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