Serb minister sees Mladic in Hague "in a few days"
BELGRADE (Reuters) - Top war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic could be in detention at the Hague tribunal "in a few days", a Serbian government minister said on Thursday.
Zoran Loncar, who is a member of Serbia's National Council for Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal as well as Minister for Local Government, said he was optimistic and hopeful that the wartime Bosnian Serb Army commander would be handed over soon.
"A pensive-looking Loncar wanders into the
high stakes arena of promise-making over Mladic,
that for Serbia, has all but lead to promise-breaking..."
Addressing a news conference after a cabinet meeting, he said he hoped "no one will be surprised" if "fulfillment of the Hague obligation" is completed within the next few days, Beta news agency reported.
"I express optimism and hope that this can happen in a few days," Loncar said. He added that his optimism was based on the facts given to ministers as well as information received by the National Council.
Mladic's handover to international justice is a key condition for the eventual admission of Serbia to European Union and NATO membership, and the foreign investment that accompanies international endorsement of its democratic credentials.
However, there have been dozens of hints, nudges and speculative pronouncements about the imminent handover of the man wanted for the genocide of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995, and he is still at large.
The EU this month suspended talks with Belgrade on closer ties because Mladic had not been delivered to the United Nations war crimes court, and the United States is again warning that its 2006 aid to Serbia is also conditional on that action.
Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, under fire by pro-Western critics at home for failing to deliver Mladic in time to avoid the EU talks suspension, said once again on Thursday that he would keep his promise and insisted he had never given or set himself any deadline.
Kostunica made no mention of delivery "in a few days".
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Zoran Loncar, who is a member of Serbia's National Council for Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal as well as Minister for Local Government, said he was optimistic and hopeful that the wartime Bosnian Serb Army commander would be handed over soon.
"A pensive-looking Loncar wanders into the
high stakes arena of promise-making over Mladic,
that for Serbia, has all but lead to promise-breaking..."
Addressing a news conference after a cabinet meeting, he said he hoped "no one will be surprised" if "fulfillment of the Hague obligation" is completed within the next few days, Beta news agency reported.
"I express optimism and hope that this can happen in a few days," Loncar said. He added that his optimism was based on the facts given to ministers as well as information received by the National Council.
Mladic's handover to international justice is a key condition for the eventual admission of Serbia to European Union and NATO membership, and the foreign investment that accompanies international endorsement of its democratic credentials.
However, there have been dozens of hints, nudges and speculative pronouncements about the imminent handover of the man wanted for the genocide of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995, and he is still at large.
The EU this month suspended talks with Belgrade on closer ties because Mladic had not been delivered to the United Nations war crimes court, and the United States is again warning that its 2006 aid to Serbia is also conditional on that action.
Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, under fire by pro-Western critics at home for failing to deliver Mladic in time to avoid the EU talks suspension, said once again on Thursday that he would keep his promise and insisted he had never given or set himself any deadline.
Kostunica made no mention of delivery "in a few days".
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
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