'Mladic still hiding in Serbia'

2004-10-04 19:13

Belgrade, Serbia-Montenegro - Bosnian Serb wartime commander General Ratko Mladic is hiding in Serbia, the chief UN prosecutor insisted on Monday as she pressed Serbian officials to hand over Mladic and other top war crimes fugitives.

"My personal opinion is that he is still here," Carla del Ponte said after talks with government leaders in Belgrade.

Mladic has been on the run since 1995, when he was indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands for his role in the 1992-95 war in neighbouring Bosnia.

Mladic lived openly in Serbia until his wartime political mentor, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, lost power to a democratic leadership in 2000. Milosevic was extradited to The Hague in 2001, but Mladic remains at large.

The current government insists Mladic's whereabouts are unknown and that several attempts to apprehend the elusive general have failed.

"It is extremely important that Belgrade starts to cooperate again," del Ponte insisted. "It has to be a full co-operation - first of all (the) arrest of the indictees and transfer to The Hague."

She spoke after meeting Serbia-Montenegro's foreign minister, Vuk Draskovic, who conceded that "justice must be respected ... our prime obligation is to fully co-operate with The Hague court".

Del Ponte's visit comes amid intense pressure from the United States and other Western powers on Serbia to hand over the suspects or risk international isolation, including the blocking of US political and financial support for the impoverished Balkan republic.

Hard-liners loyal to Milosevic made strong gains in weekend municipal elections, a sign that many Serbs remain opposed to the extradition of suspects they view as national heroes.

Last week, US under-secretary of state Marc Grossman told Serbian leaders there can be no more excuses to let Mladic and other Serb fugitives remain at large.

Del Ponte also met with Serbia's president, Boris Tadic, but suggested that the focus of her extradition requests remain on Serbia's chief executive: Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.

Conservative and moderately nationalist, Kostunica has been reluctant to go after the fugitives and has repeatedly questioned the impartiality of the UN court, accusing it of an anti-Serb slant.

The other most-wanted Serbs include four generals indicted for alleged atrocities in the southern province of Kosovo, where Serbian security troops battled ethnic Albanian separatists until Nato intervened in 1999, forcing Serbia to relinquish control over Kosovo.

Mladic is charged with genocide and crimes against humanity in the 1995 massacre of 8 000 Muslim men and boys in eastern Bosnia. He was indicted along with Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic, who is believed to be hiding in Bosnia.

- AP