Montenegro votes for independence
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 21 May 2026
⏱️ 10 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
Montenegro achieving independence from Serbia in 2006 was the final part of the break-up of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Montenegro and Serbia had been joined since the end of the First World War, but after other Yugoslav countries broke away in the 1990s, an independence movement began to grow.
In 2006, the people of the small European nation went to the polls and narrowly voted to become an independent country.
Ivan Vujovic campaigned for independence in Montenegro with the Social Democratic Party. He speaks to Tim O’Callaghan.
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(Photo: Pro-independence supporters celebrate the result of the referendum in 2006. Credit: Reuters/ Stevo Vasiljevic)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:10.3 | Hello and welcome to witness history from the BBC World Service with me, Tim O'Callaghan. |
| 0:16.4 | If this is already one of your favourite podcasts, feel free to skip ahead to get to today's programme. But if this is your first time listening to us, here's what you need to know. |
| 0:25.8 | Witness history tells moments from history through the memories of the people who were there |
| 0:29.7 | to see it, as well as with amazing archive interviews. New episodes come out every weekday and |
| 0:35.8 | they're just nine minutes long. So if that feels like something that should be part of your daily listening, |
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| 0:46.9 | So you never miss an episode. |
| 0:49.7 | 20 years ago on the 21st of May 2006, a small European nation achieved independence. |
| 0:57.2 | There are signs tonight that the people of Montenegro have voted for independence from Serbia. |
| 1:02.7 | If the exit polls are correct, it will be the final chapter in the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. |
| 1:08.0 | I mean, I personally and all the other people who were involved in that, |
| 1:12.6 | we knew that we managed to achieve something that is huge, |
| 1:17.6 | something that is historical. |
| 1:19.6 | Ivan Vyjovic was part of the Social Democratic Party who campaigned for Montenegrin independence. |
| 1:26.6 | The country is in the Western Balkans in the south of Europe on the Adriatic coast, |
| 1:31.7 | and has a population of just over 600,000. |
| 1:35.3 | It was one of the six republics in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia |
| 1:39.4 | between 1945 and 1992. |
| 1:42.6 | But Montenegro's independence wasn't achieved through the war and violence |
| 1:46.6 | which mired the region during the 1990s. Good evening. Britain and America both warned |
| 1:53.4 | tonight that events in Yugoslavia are sliding out of control towards civil war. Columns of |
... |
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