Serbia finds replacement PM

2003-03-16 18:12

Belgrade - Zoran Zivkovic, a tough-talking politician with what is widely perceived as an unbending will and a desire to cooperate with the West, as been designated to replace slain Serbian PM Zoran Djindjic.

Zivkovic, seen as a man of the people and trusted ally of Djindjic, has said a politician "must be either black or white, by no means gray, people will have no confidence in such a figure."

Born in Nis, Serbia's third largest town, in 1960, Zivkovic joined Djindjic's Democratic party (DS) in the early 1990s at the very start of the Serbian opposition's decade-long fight to oust former president Slobodan Milosevic.

In 2000, when Milosevic's opponents finally joined ranks to force him from power, Zivkovic was a key figure in the growing movement.

"Either Milosevic will kill us if we do not oust him from power, or the people, who expect us to succeed, will do that," he said.

After Milosevic's departure in October 2000, Zivkovic became number two in the DS hierarchy and later federal interior minister.

An economist by training, Zivkovic enjoys overwhelming popularity in his home town Nis, which twice elected him mayor in 1996 and 2000.

- AFX