Serbia's Orthodox Church yesterday called for the resignation of the Yugoslav President, Mr Slobodan Milosevic, and the federal government, the independent news agency, Beta, reported.
"We demand that the federal president and his government resign in the interest and the salvation of the people, so that new officials, acceptable at home and abroad, can take responsibility for the people and their future as a national salvation government," Beta quoted the church's holy synod as saying in a statement.
The church expressed deep concern over developments in Kosovo, especially the exodus of Serbs. It called on international peacekeeping forces to provide equal protection for Serbs and ethnic Albanians and asked for the protection of Orthodox monasteries and holy sites.
It urged Serbs in Kosovo not to leave. "We also appeal to our brothers in Kosovo to stay in their homes and not to leave their relics, convinced in the truth of Jesus Christ's words that, `Those who endure till the end will be saved'."
The church's last major statement was issued on the eve of NATO's bombing campaign. In a March 23rd statement, it warned that NATO bombs would not end fighting between Serbs and ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
The main opposition, Alliance for Change, an umbrella group of opposition parties and non-governmental organisations, has already urged Mr Milosevic to resign.
The moderate opposition leader, Mr Vuk Draskovic, said yesterday that Mr Milosevic should limit himself to the ceremonial role envisaged for the head of state by the federal constitution.
"The president is a nominal president with less power than the British queen," said Mr Draskovic, head of the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO). "If [the rulers] are not ready to accept these democratic reforms, if they continue with erroneous policies that have led the Serbian nation and state into disaster, neither I nor my party will allow that."
Mr Draskovic, fired as deputy Yugoslav prime minister in April for criticising Kosovo policies, said Yugoslavia should immediately restore ties with NATO countries.
"One cannot leave Kosovo to an international force and call it an enemy; one cannot co-operate with the West and not re-establish diplomatic ties."
He denied speculation that his party could join Mr Milosevic's ruling socialists and the Yugoslav left in the Serbian cabinet. "The SPO will never join the socialist party or any other party. We can only think about joint implementation of a democratic programme in Serbia."
Meanwhile, Mr Milosevic yesterday said Serbia would soon be reconciled with the world and join with Europe as it emerged from its conflict with NATO.
"We will rebuild our country successfully, open up to the whole world and join all integration processes in our region and all of Europe, creating useful and equal relations," he was quoted by Tanjug news agency as telling several thousand people in Aleksinac, central Serbia.
He said, without elaborating, that it would be easiest to restore ties with the "democratic and progressive part of the world".
"[I hope] that our country never again experiences another war, that our country can be developed, happy and free . . . because peace and freedom and democracy cannot be separated."
Serbia's electricity power supply company said yesterday that damage to the national grid after nearly three months of NATO bombing amounted to around $160 million.
The company said it had begun repairing destroyed power installations and that reconstruction of the grid was seen as vital in rebuilding the rest of industrial installations in Serbia.
NATO bombed Serbia's power distribution system both with soft, carbon-fibre bombs, which knocked out supplies temporarily by, in effect, short-circuiting the grid, and with cruise missiles, which, if targeted correctly, destroyed equipment.