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BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) - Serbia's top opposition leaders have met U.S. envoy Robert Gelbard in an attempt to form a joint front against President Slobodan Milosevic, opposition officials said Wednesday.
Gelbard, Washington's Balkan envoy, met on Tuesday with Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic, Social Democratic Party president Vuk Obradovic and Civic Alliance head Vesna Pesic.
Party officials, who demanded anonymity, confirmed the meeting in Montenegro, the smaller republic which with dominant Serbia forms Yugoslavia. But they refused to reveal details. Gelbard was unavailable for comment.
The United States has blamed Milosevic of causing Balkan bloodshed and of maintaining a dictatorship in Serbia. The U.S. has demanded Milosevic's ouster before it provides reconstruction aid in the wake of NATO's devastating bombing of Yugoslavia.
Serb opposition leaders have also organized dozens of rallies to demand that Milosevic's resign. They blame him for the country's deep economic troubles and the de facto loss of Kosovo, which many Serbs consider sacred ground, in the recent conflict with NATO. The peacekeepers were deployed to maintain order in Kosovo after NATO's 78-day war to free the region's ethnic Albanians of an oppressive and murderous Serb regime.
Aside from the Serbian opposition's common goal to oust Milosevic, the opposition remains fractured and plagued by bitter personal rivalries. Gelbard has held a series of meetings among opposition officials, reportedly to try to unite them.
Gelbard's visit came amid an intensified state media campaign accusing the United States of trying to conquer Serbia by putting Milosevic's opponents in power.
Independent opposition leaders on Monday called for a transitional government to replace Milosevic.
On Wednesday, Serbian Premier Mirko Marjanovic consulted with party heads on the government reshuffle. But opposition group Serbian Renewal Movement said it would not join the new government, which is likely to remain dominated by Milosevic's neo-communists.
Also on Wednesday, a university student group called Resistance issued a ``Declaration for the Future of Serbia,'' which calls for Milosevic's removal and for free and fair elections controlled by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Opposition leader Vuk Draskovic, of the Serbian Renewal Movement, also demanded Wednesday that NATO and the rest of the international community do more to stop attacks on Serbs remaining in Kosovo. He said the safety of Kosovo Serbs is a higher priority in his country than democratic reforms.