World Notes YUGOSLAVIA

Months of deepening tension between its bitterly divided national republics and ethnic groups have brought Yugoslavia dangerously close to civil war. In the autonomous province of Kosovo, striking ethnic Albanian lead and zinc miners protesting a strident campaign by Serbians to tighten their grip touched off a wave of demonstrations. Tens of thousands of ethnic Albanians joined the strike, forcing the resignations of provincial Communist Party boss Rahman Morina and other officials considered to be puppets of Serbia.

In Belgrade half a million resentful Serbs chanting "Kosovo is Serbian!" demanded a drastic expansion of their control over the province and stiff retaliatory measures against the ethnic Albanian majority. The spiraling unrest drove Raif Dizdarevic , leader of Yugoslavia's collective presidency, to dispatch paramilitary units and tanks into Kosovo while banning all public gatherings. The unrest also exacerbated the rift between Serbia and the republic of Slovenia.