Post by radovic on Dec 7, 2007 12:33:55 GMT -5
Mladic arrest 'depends exclusively on EU'
From correspondents in The Hague | December 07, 2007
FUGITIVE Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic will be arrested only if the EU makes his capture a condition for signing a partnership pact with Serbia, war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said overnight.
"It will depend exclusively on the EU if we will have Mladic in The Hague in the next weeks and months," Ms Del Ponte said.
The prosecutor is due to submit her report on Serbia's cooperation with the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to the UN Security Council on December 10, weeks before she steps down from her post.
Ms Del Ponte said Mladic had to be in custody in The Hague by Tuesday "otherwise there will be a negative assessment on (Serbia's) cooperation with the tribunal".
Ms Del Ponte's report to the UN will be closely watched by the EU which has made full cooperation with the ICTY a condition for signing a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Belgrade.
Ms Del Ponte admitted that some countries held a different view on what constitutes full cooperation with the ICTY.
"The definition of full cooperation is not unanimous ... other EU states say full cooperation is progress in cooperation," Ms Del Ponte.
"With me it means Mladic, Mladic in The Hague."
Mladic, the wartime military leader of the Bosnian Serbs, and former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic are wanted on genocide charges for the violent campaign of so-called ethnic cleansing against Muslims and Croats during the 1991-95 war in Bosnia.
The 1995 Srebrenica massacre of nearly 8000 Muslims figures prominently in the indictment against them.
Ms Del Ponte argued that if the EU signed the partnership accord before their arrest, "it will weaken the real (Serbian) intention to give us the fugitives".
On Tuesday the UN Security council will also discus the status of Kosovo because the UN mandate on the Serbian province ends that day. The issue has overshadowed Del Ponte's calls for the arrest of Mladic.
Observers said several EU members are willing to take a softer line on Mladic's arrest in exchange for a deal with Serbia on Kosovo's status.
"The Kosovo issue is unfortunately combined with our request (to the EU)," Ms Del Ponte said.
From correspondents in The Hague | December 07, 2007
FUGITIVE Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic will be arrested only if the EU makes his capture a condition for signing a partnership pact with Serbia, war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said overnight.
"It will depend exclusively on the EU if we will have Mladic in The Hague in the next weeks and months," Ms Del Ponte said.
The prosecutor is due to submit her report on Serbia's cooperation with the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to the UN Security Council on December 10, weeks before she steps down from her post.
Ms Del Ponte said Mladic had to be in custody in The Hague by Tuesday "otherwise there will be a negative assessment on (Serbia's) cooperation with the tribunal".
Ms Del Ponte's report to the UN will be closely watched by the EU which has made full cooperation with the ICTY a condition for signing a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Belgrade.
Ms Del Ponte admitted that some countries held a different view on what constitutes full cooperation with the ICTY.
"The definition of full cooperation is not unanimous ... other EU states say full cooperation is progress in cooperation," Ms Del Ponte.
"With me it means Mladic, Mladic in The Hague."
Mladic, the wartime military leader of the Bosnian Serbs, and former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic are wanted on genocide charges for the violent campaign of so-called ethnic cleansing against Muslims and Croats during the 1991-95 war in Bosnia.
The 1995 Srebrenica massacre of nearly 8000 Muslims figures prominently in the indictment against them.
Ms Del Ponte argued that if the EU signed the partnership accord before their arrest, "it will weaken the real (Serbian) intention to give us the fugitives".
On Tuesday the UN Security council will also discus the status of Kosovo because the UN mandate on the Serbian province ends that day. The issue has overshadowed Del Ponte's calls for the arrest of Mladic.
Observers said several EU members are willing to take a softer line on Mladic's arrest in exchange for a deal with Serbia on Kosovo's status.
"The Kosovo issue is unfortunately combined with our request (to the EU)," Ms Del Ponte said.