Tuesday March 18, 11:29 PM [AFP]
Serbia's new prime minister -- a "man of the people" and trusted ally of slain Djindjic
Zoran Zivkovic who took over the helm of the Serbian government, succeeding his assassinated mentor, is a tough-talking politician with what is widely perceived as an unbending will and a desire to cooperate with the West.
Zivkovic, seen as a man of the people and trusted ally of slain prime minister Zoran 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 downfall in October 2000, Zivkovic became the 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.
He headed the DS group in the Nis town council from 1993, often attacking Milosevic's allies and accusing them of "turning the country into a jungle."
"I am not a ruffian, I weigh about 100 kilos (220 pounds), so maybe some people think I am. In fact, I am a true democrat," Zivkovic said at the time.
But he was not ready to compromise with Milosevic's associates. "They are pure evil, and they keep proving it, day in day out," he said: "That's why I'm so aggressive in my approach, because this is the only sensible attitude."
Zivkovic was a key force behind almost three months of daily rallies in Serbia during 1996-1997 in protest at Milosevic's refusal to recognise opposition victories in local elections.
"To live in Serbia is a dangerous thing, and to be active on the political scene is even more hazardous," he said.
During the 1999 NATO air campaign on Serbia, launched to end Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, Zivkovic maintained his local power base in Nis, a city which was severely damaged in the raids.
Along with mayors of about a dozen of other Serbian towns run by Milosevic's foes, Zivkovic helped to create a programme sponsored by the European Union called "Energy for Democracy," to supply fuel in the winter of 1999-2000 to opposition-controlled municipalities.
"If it were up to me to decide whether to be strong and proud or to beg in order to keep 10,000 children in schools, then I'm ready to beg, no matter what people might say," he said.
When Milosevic's security forces tried to block deliveries, Zivkovic, backed by his citizens, organized sit-in protests at border crossings where the fuel was held up.
Although condemning the West for its "bad moves" towards Serbia during Milosevic's rule, Zivkovic has insisted on the need for cooperation with the international community.
"Like it or not, big powers rule the world nowadays," he said.
Married with two children, Zivkovic said he had no "more political vanities." "I entered politics with a goal to enable people to live better, and this goal is yet to be fulfilled," he said.
Speaking at Djindjic's funeral in Belgrade Saturday, Zivkovic vowed those behind the murder -- among them three suspects with the nicknames Fool, Fraud and Rat -- would be caught.
"We will carry out our dream: European, democratic, efficient and rich Serbia, without fools, frauds and rats," Zivkovic said.
As long as Serbia panders away its sovereignty to the highest bidder, it will be nothing but a pipe dream.