September 24, 2000 – Momentous day on the world stage – voters in unprecedented numbers lined up at polling places all over Yugoslavia to vote what many considered to be a referendum on the government of Slobodan Milosevic. Voting was also going on in Montenegro, where turnout was expected to be light, as observers noted and as the government was urging a boycott to the elections – only about a third of eligible voters were expected to show up, most of them supporters of Slobodan Milosevic. Meanwhile, IMF Policy makers as well as members of the sister organization The World Bank, were scheduled to meet in Prague. Demonstrators were turning out to demand cancellation of debts for the world’s poorest countries. But despite optimism, there was no prospect the meeting would result in what the protestors wanted, but there had been signs the organizations were sensitive to criticism of the Enhanced Debt Relief initiative it launched with The World Bank in 1999. The improvement were intended to provide more debt relief to more countries more quickly. The countries concerned were the most debt-burdened nations, mainly in Africa and Latin America. Spokespeople for both the IMF and The World Bank said they were trying to make debt relief a success, but none of it was music to the ears of the debt-relief group Jubilee 2000, which was organizing the protest. It wanted outright debt cancellation. The IMF and The World Bank were only offering debit reduction. And Police in Indonesia arrested some 25 suspects in overnight raids in their hunt for terrorists who attacked Jakarta’s Stock Exchange over the previous two months. A police spokesman said one of the suspects had admitted to planning a bombing attack on the U.S. Embassy next. Police said all those arrested were Indonesian citizens and none were members of the armed forces.
And that’s just a little of what happened this September 24, 2000 as reported by World Briefing from The BBC World Service.
