Yugoslavia is no more.

Byline: The Register-Guard

NOTHING COMES easily in the Balkans. Not even the demise of what once was Yugoslavia, which has now been divided - yet again - into the Union of Serbia and Montenegro. The name Yugoslavia has slipped into history.

This new division - Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia proclaimed their independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 - is unlikely to last; both the Serbs and the Montenegrins want independent countries of their own.

The agreement to replace Yugoslavia with the new union was brokered by a European Union commission. Its intent is that Serbia and Montenegro will be bound together for three years, after which they would be free to part company - as seems almost certain.

Significantly, the new arrangement was brought about by a democratic vote in the former Yugoslavia's parliament in Belgrade. It came at a time when former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic is on trial for war crimes in The Hague. News of the new union no doubt further diminishes whatever stature Milosevic might have left on the world stage.

The history of Yugoslavia in the 20th century was violent, eventful and instructive.

The Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was founded in 1918, and renamed Yugoslavia in 1929. The country was the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting in World War II, and at war's end in 1945 was renamed the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia by Marshal Tito. After Tito's death in 1980, long-suppressed tensions erupted as various ethnic groups sought a greater voice in the federation's future. Milosevic was elected president of Serbia in 1990, and a decade of violence and disintegration began.

Of the republics that broke away from Yugoslavia following the end of the Cold War, only Slovenia escaped significant bloodshed. The wars in the Balkans were the most savage Europe had seen since World War II, and added the chilling term "ethnic cleansing" to the lexicon of modern barbarity. The United States brokered a peace between Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia in 1994, and led NATO forces in an air war against Serbia in 1999 to prevent genocide in the autonomous region of Kosovo. In October 2000, Milosevic was ousted as Yugoslav president.

Given the region's violent history, it's difficult to predict peace and harmony for the Balkans. But the seeds may have been sown with the internal diplomacy - helped along by external pressures - that led to the cessation of fighting. Yugoslavia's constituent parts never blended, and when they came apart the result was tragic. The future of the former federation's separate, independent parts may be a brighter than their past together.