Serbia assures UN prosecutor of Mladic hunt, but losing EU hope

(BELGRADE) - The UN's top war crimes prosecutor wrapped up a Balkans tour Tuesday by pressing Belgrade for the arrest of ex-general Ratko Mladic over genocide, a move crucial to Serbia's hopes of joining the EU.

The prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, held talks with President Boris Tadic and other senior leaders to assess Belgrade's cooperation with the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), an important precondition for Serbia's integration with the European Union.

His visit comes amid deepening pessimism within government ranks about the impact of the failure to track down Mladic, the most senior war-time leader still at large after the capture in July of his former boss Radovan Karadzic.

On the run from the ICTY since it indicted him in 1995 for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, Mladic, 66, is widely thought to be hiding in Serbia with the help of small, tight-knit networks of loyalists.

As well as Tadic, Brammertz also held discussions in Belgrade with Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic and Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic.

He made no public comment, but a Serbian source close to the talks told AFP he was "pretty satisfied" with Belgrade's latest efforts to find Mladic and the only other remaining fugitive, ex-Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic.

Tadic's office said that during their meeting, the president pointed out that "Serbia's state agencies were fully cooperating with the war crimes tribunal (and were) intensively searching for the remaining fugitives."

"Brammertz underlined the very good cooperation in the past few months with Serbia's institutions," said a statement from Cvetkovic's cabinet.

But sections of Serbia's pro-Western government remain doubtful a bi-annual report he is to submit soon to the United Nations Security Council will be enough to unfreeze an EU trade and aid accord.

"The report cannot be positive because Mladic still isn't in The Hague, but nor can it be negative, because Brammertz is convinced about the credibility of our actions and political will," Rasim Ljajic, the minister in charge of Serbia's ICTY cooperation, told reporters on Tuesday.

Serbia's war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic, who met with Brammertz on Monday, told reporters he was expecting "a good, balanced report."

Belgrade's bid to activate the EU Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) hinges on its "full cooperation" with the UN war crimes tribunal.

The Netherlands, where the ICTY is based, is refusing to lift its veto on the SAA until Serbia arrests Mladic and Hadzic.

The Dutch government fell in 2002 over the perceived inaction of its peacekeepers in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica when Serb forces under Mladic massacred some 8,000 Muslims.

The Belgrade government, an unwieldy 10-party coalition that came to power four months ago after defeating nationalists, insists it has lost all trace of Mladic since 2006.

It is concerned, however, the war crimes question is preventing it from fulfilling election promises such as benefits from faster EU integration.

Serbia, which hopes to become an EU membership candidate by 2009 and join the bloc by 2014, believes the capture earlier this year of former Bosnian Serb president Karadzic proves it is willing to act on information.

Karadzic was arrested in July on a bus in Belgrade, where he had been living incognito behind a thick beard as an alternative medicine guru.

Serbia signed the EU accord on the eve of its May 11 elections, but crucial parts of the pact offering economic and trade benefits are yet to be activated.

Brammertz, who visited Croatia and Bosnia last week, said at the time he was insisting on the need to promptly arrest Mladic and Hadzic.

"Their arrest is today the highest priority. It is critically important for all victims. But it is also question of the credibility... of the international community," he said in Sarajevo.