BELGRADE, Yugoslavia — Slobodan Milosevic's party announced leadership changes Thursday as it struggled to stem the steady erosion of its power and influence to the newly elected president, Vojislav Kostunica.
In a gesture of Washington's support for Kostunica, President Clinton began lifting U.S. trade and economic sanctions against Yugoslavia on Thursday.
The Socialists, meanwhile, said their hard-line secretary-general, Gorica Gajevic, had been replaced by the more moderate Zoran Andjelkovic, head of the Serb-run Kosovo government.
Serbian President Milan Milutinovic was named the party's vice president. Milosevic apparently remained at the helm despite losing the presidency in the Sept. 24 elections.
The Beta news agency later quoted Miloje Mihajlovic, a Socialist deputy in the Serbian parliament, as saying Milosevic would resign "because of the members and supporters" and that further changes in the party were "necessary." The Socialists called a party congress for Nov. 25.
There were also signs of a rift between the Socialists and their neo-communist allies, the Yugoslav Left, the party of Milosevic's influential wife, Mirjana Markovic. Both parties said unlike in last month's elections, their candidates would run independently in the next Serbian elections.
The shake-up could mean Milosevic is trying to consolidate his followers after their ouster from power so he can remain a political player.
Analyst Bratislav Grubacic, however, suggested Milutinovic might be trying to take over the party by sacking its staunchest hard-liners. "The final showdown with Milosevic will be at the party congress," Grubacic said.
Allies of the current and ousted president are locked in a power struggle as Kostunica seeks to dismantle the last vestiges of Milosevic's authoritarian regime and open ties to the West.
Kostunica's camp gave Milosevic loyalists until Friday to agree to call early elections for Serbia in December and form a transitional government to rule until then. Serbia is Yugoslavia's dominant republic, and Milosevic's allies hold majority in the republic's parliament.
Zoran Djindjic, a Kostunica adviser, said Thursday that pro-democracy groups have established contact with the Socialists on reopening talks about the elections and transitional government.
The deadline to the Socialists followed attempts by Milosevic officials to reclaim control over the 100,000-strong Serbian police and government posts the ousted president's followers still hold.
Serbia's deputy premier, ultranationalist Vojislav Seselj, insisted Thursday that the government will not resign unless the Kostunica camp stops the ongoing takeover of Serbia's institutions.
"The coup leaders are taking control of one institution after another. That's a criminal act," Seselj declared. "We as the government in fact do not exist; we exist only formally."
But Seselj also warned "they will have to execute or mob us" if an agreement is not reached. He urged Kostunica to name the federal prime minister as soon as possible and "bring things back into the institutions."
The army resisted efforts Wednesday by Kostunica to replace its pro-Milosevic top brass. The general staff has officially endorsed the new president, but Milosevic's loyalists retain chief posts.
Milosevic's Socialists said the "lawlessness and violence" inspired by the pro-democracy forces must end before they continue negotiations on elections and Serbia's government.
The threats from pro-Milosevic forces appeared to have little support, and there was no sign of any unusual police movement. A senior police official said orders from the group would be ignored.
Kostunica said despite "disruptive factors," the transition of power would go on and that the "tensions and difficulties that exist in this society will be removed."
The United States and the European Union have rushed to give their support to Kostunica, offering Yugoslavia a chance to end international isolation imposed during the Balkan wars of the past decade.
In Washington, Clinton said Thursday he had directed the immediate lifting of an oil embargo and a flight ban to Yugoslavia, part of a package of sanctions imposed in 1998.
"The victory of freedom in Serbia is one of the most hopeful developments in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall," he said. "It ended a dictatorship and it can liberate an entire region from the nagging fear that ethnic differences can again be exploited to start wars and shift borders."
Clinton's adviser on the Balkans, James O'Brien, met Thursday with Kostunica in Belgrade, the highest-level meeting between Yugoslav and U.S. officials since the break of diplomatic relations on the eve of NATO airstrikes last year.
The U.S. military played a key role in the bombing campaign aimed at forcing Milosevic to end a crackdown on independence-minded ethnic Albanians in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo.
O'Brien said he felt the meeting was the first step toward renewing diplomatic ties.
"We also talked about relations between our two countries and I think our open and warm discussions of the issues that have intruded on our relationship set a good tone," he added. O'Brien said only technical issues remain obstacles to the full reestablishment of the relations.
Kostunica also said the talks went well and stressed it was important that both sides agreed on two international accords, the Dayton agreement and the U.N. resolution about Kosovo.
"We hope our relations will normalize. ... It's now different," Kostunica said.