Montenegro Sets Independence Referendum For 30 April

Miodrag Vlahovic (file photo) (AFP) 12 February 2006 -- Montenegro will hold a referendum on 30 April to decide whether to break away from its larger federation partner Serbia.

Foreign Minister Miodrag Vlahovic said on 11 February that the date is formally to be decided by parliament, but he said the referendum will take place on the last Sunday in April.

Serbia and Montenegro are the only two former Yugoslav republics that stayed together after the federation broke up in the early 1990s, but their relations have since deteriorated.

There are no plans for a similar referendum in Serbia.

(AP, AFP)