The UN chief war crimes prosecutor has accused the Yugoslav government of harbouring the Bosnian Serbs’ wartime commander who has been indicted for genocide.

The chief prosecutor at the UN War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague has accused the Yugoslav government of harbouring Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic, who is wanted by the UN.

Slobodan Milosevic, architect of the Balkan conflicts that produced Europe’s worst atrocities since World War Two, is to appear before a United Nations judge on Tuesday to enter a plea on war crimes charges.

Slobodan Milosevic’s lawyers were promising to go to a high court today to challenge a government decree paving the way for Yugoslavia’s former president to be extradited to the United Nations war crimes tribunal.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has welcomed a move by the Yugoslav Government that clears the way for the extradition of the country’s former dictator Slobodan Milosevic to the United Nations war crimes tribunal.

The passing of a law that will allow extradition of Slobodan Milosevic to the UN war crimes court is in doubt.

A UN war crimes tribunal envoy handed Yugoslav authorities an arrest warrant for Slobodan Milosevic today and said the country’s justice minister promised to serve it on the jailed former president.

A judge has ordered that Slobodan Milosevic should be held for 30 days in jail as part of an investigation into corruption charges.