Montenegro: trepidation growing after vote for independence

"We have waited for this for so long," says shopworker Snezana Tutic. "Now what?"

Photo: Montenegro: trepidation growing after vote for independence

Montenegro: trepidation growing after vote for independence

Sitting in a cafe in this city of about 150,000 people, Zorka Bogetic, a 35-year-old economist, says she voted for independence in the hope that statehood would help improve lives. She hopes the country will now "fulfill all the hopes."

"We are now on our own. It's over, and back to reality ... we are left with our tiny little lives," Bogetic said.

Sunday's referendum - in which fewer than 500,000 voters were choosing whether to split from much larger Serbia or remain in the Serbia-Montenegro union - was a highly emotional and tense event.

For weeks, the referendum dominated daily life, with both camps flooding the country with posters, TV adverts and rallies.

With the average monthly salary about US$250 (Ђ195) and unemployment of about 30 percent, Montenegro is one of the poorest of the former Yugoslav republics. For decades, it largely depended on Serbia both economically and politically.

Slowly, Montenegro's pro-independence authorities have loosened ties with Belgrade. Some say Serbia has stifled Montenegro's development, the AP reports.

But many are struggling to digest the new reality that Serbia will now be a foreign country.

Some with relatives in Serbia fear that relations between the sister republics could take a turn for the worse.