Labus: "Only miracle can save Serbia"
By Gilles Castonguay
MILAN (Reuters) - The European Union should suspend talks with Serbia for failing to hand over war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic as promised, the Hague tribunal's chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte said on Tuesday.
Speaking a day ahead of her report to the EU Commission in Brussels on Belgrade's co-operation with the United Nations court, she said she hoped the EU would get tough with the Serbs.
Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus, who was in Brussels for meetings on Tuesday, agreed that "only a miracle" could now prevent the EU from suspending the association talks.
"don't you mean only a 'Mladic' could prevent the EU from suspending talks?"
The EU wants wartime Bosnian Serb Army commander Mladic extradited to the Hague tribunal as proof that Serbia will comply with international justice, before advancing its hopes of eventual membership in the 25-member bloc.
Del Ponte declined to say during a visit to Milan what she would tell the commission, but said she hoped it would result in a decision to penalise Belgrade for its failure to deliver.
"I would appreciate it if the EU would strongly support the fact that if Mladic is not delivered the suspension of negotiations will be done," the UN prosecutor said.
Serbia has failed to keep a pledge that Mladic -- alleged to be hiding in the country with the protection of renegade army and intelligence officers -- would be handed over by the end of April. It was the latest of a number of such failures.
MAYBE TOMORROW, MAYBE IN 5 YEARS
Speaking after talks with EU western Balkans director Reinhard Priebe, Labus told reporters his impression was that the formal EU negotiation was, as a result, now just a step from being postponed. The next round is due on May 11.
Labus said Belgrade could not guarantee that Mladic, 64, would be extradited in the next 24 hours, when EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn is due to meet del Ponte then decide on the fate of the Belgrade-Brussels talks.
Rehn wrote in a Serbian newspaper article on Sunday that Serbia should take its place in the EU but if Mladic was not turned over this week, the Commission would have to postpone the talks and put the process on hold until Belgrade co-operates.
Mladic's arrest "can be done in a day, but also in five years", Labus told Belgrade's Radio B92. "Only a miracle in the next 24 hours can save us, and stories that Rehn might change his mind are groundless."
Labus, however, said Priebe told him the EU and not del Ponte would ultimately decide whether or not to suspend talks.
The EU has given Belgrade the benefit of the doubt in the past despite del Ponte's impatience, because it is concerned about the political stability of Serbia, where Mladic enjoys the emotional support of ultranationalists.
Newspaper reports say Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica is confident the suspension of talks would not delay the one-year association agreement process by more than a month.
Del Ponte said she had no fresh word from Serbia on Mladic, who is wanted for genocide in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims, Europe's worst atrocity since World War Two, and over 10,000 deaths in the 1992-95 siege of Sarajevo.
He has been on the run since 2001 when the late strongman Slobodan Milosevic, his protector, was sent to the Hague.
"We'll see tomorrow if they have detained and arrested him," del Ponte told reporters. "Tomorrow we'll adopt our position on the co-operation with Belgrade."
(c) Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
This article: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=657102006
Last updated: 02-May-06 14:09 BST
tagged under balkans,mladic, ICTY
MILAN (Reuters) - The European Union should suspend talks with Serbia for failing to hand over war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic as promised, the Hague tribunal's chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte said on Tuesday.
Speaking a day ahead of her report to the EU Commission in Brussels on Belgrade's co-operation with the United Nations court, she said she hoped the EU would get tough with the Serbs.
Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus, who was in Brussels for meetings on Tuesday, agreed that "only a miracle" could now prevent the EU from suspending the association talks.
"don't you mean only a 'Mladic' could prevent the EU from suspending talks?"
The EU wants wartime Bosnian Serb Army commander Mladic extradited to the Hague tribunal as proof that Serbia will comply with international justice, before advancing its hopes of eventual membership in the 25-member bloc.
Del Ponte declined to say during a visit to Milan what she would tell the commission, but said she hoped it would result in a decision to penalise Belgrade for its failure to deliver.
"I would appreciate it if the EU would strongly support the fact that if Mladic is not delivered the suspension of negotiations will be done," the UN prosecutor said.
Serbia has failed to keep a pledge that Mladic -- alleged to be hiding in the country with the protection of renegade army and intelligence officers -- would be handed over by the end of April. It was the latest of a number of such failures.
MAYBE TOMORROW, MAYBE IN 5 YEARS
Speaking after talks with EU western Balkans director Reinhard Priebe, Labus told reporters his impression was that the formal EU negotiation was, as a result, now just a step from being postponed. The next round is due on May 11.
Labus said Belgrade could not guarantee that Mladic, 64, would be extradited in the next 24 hours, when EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn is due to meet del Ponte then decide on the fate of the Belgrade-Brussels talks.
Rehn wrote in a Serbian newspaper article on Sunday that Serbia should take its place in the EU but if Mladic was not turned over this week, the Commission would have to postpone the talks and put the process on hold until Belgrade co-operates.
Mladic's arrest "can be done in a day, but also in five years", Labus told Belgrade's Radio B92. "Only a miracle in the next 24 hours can save us, and stories that Rehn might change his mind are groundless."
Labus, however, said Priebe told him the EU and not del Ponte would ultimately decide whether or not to suspend talks.
The EU has given Belgrade the benefit of the doubt in the past despite del Ponte's impatience, because it is concerned about the political stability of Serbia, where Mladic enjoys the emotional support of ultranationalists.
Newspaper reports say Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica is confident the suspension of talks would not delay the one-year association agreement process by more than a month.
Del Ponte said she had no fresh word from Serbia on Mladic, who is wanted for genocide in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims, Europe's worst atrocity since World War Two, and over 10,000 deaths in the 1992-95 siege of Sarajevo.
He has been on the run since 2001 when the late strongman Slobodan Milosevic, his protector, was sent to the Hague.
"We'll see tomorrow if they have detained and arrested him," del Ponte told reporters. "Tomorrow we'll adopt our position on the co-operation with Belgrade."
(c) Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
This article: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=657102006
Last updated: 02-May-06 14:09 BST
tagged under balkans,mladic, ICTY
posted by redemption department at 3:22 PM
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