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The battle line in Yugoslavia's on-again, off-again civil war runs straight through this village in eastern Croatia, where ethnic Serbs who have been a minority for centuries have recently come to resent their role.
Croatian flags with checkerboard shields whip from public buildings along the main street, and political posters of the Croatian Democratic Union-the ruling party in post-Communist Croatia-implore Sotin residents to seek independence from the Yugoslav union that binds them to Serbia.
Violence bred by nationalism has already killed at least 19 people in ethnically mixed regions of Croatia, including a young Serbian militant gunned down in Sotin two weeks ago by armed Croatian civilians who say they thought he shot first.
Tensions have been running high since the shooting, and a referendum Sunday on Croatian independence provided fresh ground on which the two sides could clash.
Ethnic Serbs, who account for about one-third of Sotin's 2,000 residents and at least 11% of Croatia's 5 million population, boycotted Sunday's balloting, which asked voters to decide between a free Croatian state or continued federal rule by Belgrade.
The Croatian referendum commission announced early today that with 70% of the vote counted, more than 94% of Croats supported sovereignty.
Serbs say they fear persecution in an independent Croatia, pointing to the barbaric treatment of minorities during the World War II-era Ustasha regime that was Croatia's only previous period of independence. Croats say the fears are groundless, but the flag-waving makes...