Belgrade - The new Yugoslav Prime Minister, Mr Momir Bulatovic, took office yesterday, spoiling for a fight with reformist leaders of the Montenegrin republic who vowed to boycott his government.
Mr Bulatovic, a close ally of Yugoslavia's socialist President, Mr Slobodan Milosevic, was ratified without opposition in the two federal parliament chambers, but his Montenegrin opponents were absent when they voted.
Montenegrin reformers led by the republican President, Mr Milo Djukanovic, warned that Mr Bulatovic's appointment put Serbia and Montenegro on a collision course that could destroy the Yugoslav federation, in which the two republics are supposed to be equal partners.