Hague Prosecutor To Assess Serb Hunt For Mladic

U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte arrived in Belgrade on Monday to meet Serbia's new government.

U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte arrived in Belgrade on Monday to meet Serbia's new government and assess its cooperation with the Hague tribunal, the key to European Union membership prospects.

Her visit, due to last four days, follows the arrest and handover last week of general Zdravko Tolimir, an aide to the tribunal's most wanted man, Bosnian Serb wartime commander Ratko Mladic. Mladic and Tolimir are indicted for genocide in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said Belgrade's renewed "clear commitment to full cooperation" after a year of inaction would merit the resumption of stalled talks later this month, once del Ponte reports back.

But while Serbia can expect to resume negotiations on a Stability and Association Agreement (SAA) which the EU froze last May because of non-cooperation, it is unlikely to be able to sign the agreement until Mladic himself is in detention.

"No one can promise del Ponte a deadline by when Mladic and other fugitives will be in The Hague," said Rasim Ljajic, who heads the National Council for Cooperation with the tribunal.

"But we must restore confidence, and a series of activities undertaken and planned will be proof of our will to resolve this issue," he told Sunday's Blic newspaper in an interview.

It was "hard to believe" Serbia would sign the SAA without Mladic in the Hague, he said, as so far the EU insisted on it.

Del Ponte will meet familiar faces in the new government lineup: Vojislav Kostunica remains prime minister and Boris Tadic is still president. But their rival parties are now partners in a coalition expected to produce results.

"I think that President Tadic will now have control over the security services and full insight into what they are doing. The most important thing is to have coordination between BIA and VBA (police and military security services)," Ljajic said.

Del Ponte says hardline renegades in the army and security services have helped Mladic stay one step ahead of the law, with insufficient readiness to intervene on the part of Kostunica's last government, which relied on nationalist support.

But Ljajic said not to expect any sudden breakthroughs.

"It is true that General Tolimir used to organise the hiding of Mladic and they used to hide together. But for quite some time they have not been together, so this arrest need not necessarily mean we are a step closer to Mladic," Ljajic said.

Now was the "moment to surrender" for fugitives Stojan Zupljanin and Goran Hadzic, he said, so "their families get financial support and they themselves get legal assistance".

"The Tolimir case showed them no one can hide for ever," Ljajic said. "As for Mladic, I doubt he intends to surrender".

He said nothing was known of the whereabouts of the other top fugitive, wartime Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic.