Mladic on the run alone

2006-05-03 15:58

Belgrade - Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica says his government has done all it can to bring in Bosnian Serb top fugitive Ratko Mladic - who is now deprived of his support network and is on the run alone.

The European Union broke off talks on closer ties with Serbia on Wednesday.

The 25-nation bloc cited Belgrade's failure to hand over Mladic to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, as Kostunica had promised.

On Wednesday, Kostunica said: "In view of the fact that his entire network of helpers has been uncovered, Ratko Mladic is now hiding completely alone. The question now is to discover where he is hiding."

After a briefing with chief UN war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte, European enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn said her assessment of the situation remained negative.

Rehn said: "It is disappointing Belgrade has been unable to locate, arrest and transfer Ratko Mladic to the Hague.

'It is unfair to penalise Serbia'

"The commission therefore has to call off the negotiations on the Stabilisation and Association Agreement."

Kostunica said it was unfair to penalise Serbia when the government was doing its best to capture Mladic: "Since the Serbian government has done everything in its power, I am convinced that it would have been better not to postpone the (EU) talks."

The EU wants Mladic delivered before, it will advance Serbia's hopes of eventual EU membership.

The former general of the Bosnian Serb army has been indicted on charges of genocide related to the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8 000 Bosnian Muslims and the siege of Sarajevo, in which over 10 000 civilians were killed.

The next round of talks, the first stepping stone towards eventual EU membership for Serbia, were due to begin on May 11.

- Reuters