Aleksandar, scion of the Yugoslav Karadjordjevic dynasty, prefers to be
addressed as His Royal Highness Aleksandar, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia. With
increasing frequency, he has been raising his British-accented voice from
his home in London, calling for democracy and equal rights for all in
Yugoslavia. In a telephone interview with RFE/RL correspondent Don Hill, the
prince says he believes a constitutional monarchy -- with himself at the
head -- could be the answer for Yugoslavia. 

Prague, 14 December 1999 (RFE/RL) -- The man who calls himself His Royal
Highness Aleksandar, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia, has been sounding more and
more like the Czech Republic's Vaclav Havel recently. 

From his home in London, Prince Aleksandar has been issuing gentlemanly,
moderate calls for democracy, equal rights, and a civil society in
Yugoslavia. 

In a telephone interview, Aleksandar tells RFE/RL that he believes most of
the Yugoslav people of Serbia and Montenegro are ready to embrace democracy
and international values. They are thwarted, he says, by a regime that has
created madness. Aleksandar: 

"I find that the [Yugoslav] people in general -- out of the population of
approximately ten and one-half million -- are very much in favor of coming
into the world, as one might say. It's the regime in the last 10 years that
has created madness. And also we have a vicious propaganda machine at work,
which is labeling anybody who wants to do good and bring democracy as a
traitor to the state. So we still sit back somewhere in the Stone Age and
the people are the ones that are the recipients of the suffering owing to
this total madness. But I see this cycle coming to an end." 

Aleksandar says also that what he calls "mistakes by the West" -- including
NATO's "disastrous bombing" in the Kosovo war -- set back prospects for
democracy in Yugoslavia. He says he believes, however, that the West will
aid and invest in Yugoslavia once the nation demonstrates that it has
effective political leaders and can govern itself. 

Aleksandar says he bases his assessment of the mood of the Yugoslav populace
on three factors. The first is the results of a visit he made to Belgrade in
1991. He says he was besieged by, in his phrase, "a huge turnout of people"
who begged him to return democracy to Yugoslavia. 

The second was a conference he organized last month in Budapest of various
representatives of the Serbian opposition. Despite communication
difficulties imposed by the Yugoslav regime, he says, he assembled a number
of opposition leaders. He says he believes they heeded his call to set aside
differences and to rally against the Milosevic government. 

Aleksandar says the third factor is what he describes as the frantic
maneuverings of Milosevic and followers. They stirred up, as he puts it,
"negative nationalism" in Kosovo and elsewhere and now are turning on
Montenegro. He says the regime is exhausting the supply of areas, in his
words, "to fire up and use." The descendant of nearly two centuries of
Balkan kings says this: 

"Over the years, I have maintained my very firm policy and belief in
democracy and respect for all and their human rights. I brought together the
opposition in Budapest in November. My intention is to continue this and to
be the meeting point." 

Prince Aleksandar doesn't compare himself to Havel, although he says he's an
ardent admirer of the Czech president and his accomplishments. Yugoslavia
has a long distance to travel before it can catch up to the Czech Republic,
Aleksandar says. But when he speaks of creating a civil society in
Yugoslavia, he defines the phrase in Havelian terms. 

It requires, he says, a constitution and legal structure, an independent
judiciary, an army answerable to the people, a democratic parliament, and
economic reform. Aleksandar: 

"I would highly recommend that we remove the Berlin Walls, as one might say,
that the regime has created -- and the internal walls -- and that the area
be revived economically." 

In addition, Aleksandar says, he would not be averse to developing a
constitutional monarchy in Yugoslavia as a successor to Milosevic's rule,
with himself, naturally, being the monarch. After all, he says, half the
countries of Europe enjoy this form of governance. 

He says, in what evidently is a carefully polished phrase, "The important
thing is to crown democracy." His part, he says is to serve as a rallying
point, affiliated with no party although irrevocably inimical to the
Milosevic regime and anyone connected with it. 

A constitutional monarchy has much to contribute to the state, Aleksandar
says. Yugoslavia's future head of state, he says, must be someone who
remains unconnected with any party. It must be someone who can work with all
sides except the current regime, someone who serves as a point where people
of diffused views can meet. That's just the way the Yugoslav prince has been
describing himself.