EVENTS IN SERBIA HAVE BEEN EXPECTED - SAYS MESIC

EVENTS IN SERBIA HAVE BEEN EXPECTED - SAYS MESIC MADRID, Oct 5 (Hina) - The events rocking Serbia, where the people led by opposition has started subverting the regime's institutions, have been expected, Croatian President Stipe Mesic said in Madrid on Thursday. He was asked to comment on the latest developments in Belgrade during a visit to the Croatian Embassy in the Spanish capital.#L# "It could have been expected," said Mesic, adding the energy of the people's dissatisfaction had reached a critical level. "Serbia is undergoing the Romanian syndrome," he said. Asked to forecast what would happen to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, Mesic said he did not have much choice. "Milosevic's sand clock has run out." Milosevic can no longer find a safe place but has to save his skin, the Croatian president said. "He is fighting for his life." According to Mesic, if Milosevic crosses the border he will end at The Hague, before UN's war crimes tribunal, and if he stays, his people wait for him to render accounts. Asked to comment on the course of events in the neighbouring state, Mesic said Serbia's future path would be determined by the new authorities. "Which way Serbia goes will depend on those who will assume power." Asked whose side the armed forces would take, Mesic said the armed forces were an "expensive mechanism." They were by Milosevic when they were sure his regime would finance them, but now they will certainly turn towards those guaranteeing them security, he said. (hina) ha