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BELGRADE, Aug 24 (AFP) - Serbian opposition figures who are fighting to oust Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic said they met the new US envoy to the Balkans, James Dobbins, in Montenegro Tuesday.
"We discussed the political situation (in Yugoslavia), the Kosovo issue, and humanitarian and other possible aid for Serbia before winter," Zoran Djindjic, whose Democratic Party dominates the opposition coalition the Alliance for Change, told AFP.
"We reiterated our position that rapid democratic changes can reintegrate the country in the international community," Djindjic said.
The Alliance for Change has been behind a series of street protests against the regime of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic since late June, and plans to continue with the rallies in a bid to oust him from power.
Opposition sources said Dobbins met for two hours with Alliance for Change representatives and three other opposition party leaders not connected with the coalition in the central Montenegrin coastal town of Budva.
Vuk Draskovic of the Serbian Renewal Movement, another prominent Serbian opposition party, told reporters in Belgrade he had not been invited to the meeting.
Djindjic said the talks focused on the fate of the estimated 170,000 Serbs who have fled Kosovo since the withdrawal of Belgrade troops and the arrival of NATO-led KFOR peacekeepers in mid-June.
"The international community should be more interested in the fate of Kosovo Serbs ... a special programme and status for them is necessary," Djindjic said.
Dobbins was also told that "the international community should immediately establish a crisis fund for aid to Serbia ahead of next winter."
Such aid would be used for heating fuel and reconstruction of houses damaged or destroyed in the 11-week long NATO bombing campaign, he added.
"The moment for that is mid-October -- after that will be too late," Djindjic said.
He added that Dobbins "took notice" of this demand, "considering it as reasonable."
Dobbins has replaced Robert Gelbard in the post of special advisor on the Balkans to US President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
Gelbard, who has been named US ambassador to Indonesia, met Serbian opposition figures in Montenegro several times over the past few months.
Montenegro is Serbia's junior partner in the Yugoslav federation.