BELGRADE: ASSASSINATED SERBIAN PREMIER ZORAN DJINDJIC BURIED

BELGRADE, March 15 (Hina) - Serbian Premier Zoran Djindjic, assassinated on Wednesday, was buried at the Alley of the Great Men at Belgrade's New Cemetery on Saturday. #L# The assassinated premier was accompanied "on his last walk through Belgrade" by hundreds of thousands of Belgrade residents and citizens of Serbia, who threw flowers on the streets down which the funeral parade proceeded on its way to the cemetery. The chairman of the European Union's Council of Ministers, Georgios Papandreou, bid the Serbian premier farewell on behalf of more than 70 foreign delegations. Papandreou said that he, statesmen and nations in the whole world shared the grief of the premier's family and the people of Serbia and Montenegro, and would remain committed to the vision of a modern Serbia and Balkans. The EU chairman said the world would continue supporting Serbian forces fighting for peace, democracy, security and development and striving towards the common goal - a united Europe. Speaking on behalf of the Serbian government, Justice Minister Vladan Batic bid Djindjic farewell, calling him "a symbol of the 21st century" and a "lighthouse" on the road towards a better life and integration with the international community on which he had taken Serbia. Serbian Finance Minister Bozidar Djelic promised the government would "entirely carry out Djindjic's ideas". "This is the end of the last walk we have taken together, never has it gathered more people, not even on October 5. It was a strange walk, you even succeeded in bringing the police and the army together. And everybody was silent and crying and knew that the walk would end here," a vice-president of Djindjic's Democratic Party, Zoran Zivkovic, said in an emotional farewell speech. At the end of the funeral, the honorary platoon of the Serbian and Montenegrin army fired a three-gun salute, a funeral march being played as the flag which covered the premier's casket was handed to his wife. The farewell ceremony started at the capital's St. Sava's church with a service conducted by the head of the Serb Orthodox Church, Patriarch Pavle, and numerous Orthodox religious dignitaries. Numerous domestic and foreign delegations paid their last respects to the assassinated premier and offered condolences to his family, the Democratic Party and the state leadership. Croatia's delegation was headed by Prime Minister Ivica Racan and Foreign Minister Tonino Picula, Slovenia's by Premier Antun Rop, Macedonia's by Premier Branko Crvenkovski, Romania's by Premier Adrian Nastase and Albania's by Premier Fatos Nano. The Greek delegation was headed by Foreign Minister Georgios Papandreou, the German by Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and the British by the head of the Queen's Council, Robin Cook. The High Representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Paddy Ashdown, a European Commission delegation led by Romano Prodi, the chairman of the OSCE, Dutch Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, and many others also paid tribute to the late premier. Present at the funeral were also the head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia and Montenegro, Maurizio Massaro, the Finnish premier's envoy Elizabeth Rehn, and the head of the U.N. Mission in Kosovo, Michael Steiner, in his capacity as an envoy of the U.N. Secretary- General. They all expressed support for Serbia to continue implementing reforms and stregthening democracy. (hina) rml sb