Serb officials insist war-crimes fugitive cornered

SERB security officials insisted yesterday that top war-crimes fugitive General Ratko Mladic had been located and that authorities were trying to persuade him to give himself up.

Chief UN war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said that although Mladic was “within reach” of Serbian authorities, he “remains at large”.

She said Serbian officials told her no negotiations were underway for the surrender of the Bosnian Serb wartime commander, who has been indicted for genocide for his role in Bosnia’s 1992/95 conflict.

A senior Serb state security official, who is close to the operation to capture Mladic, said on Tuesday that the wartime Bosnian Serb commander had not been arrested but that authorities were trying to persuade him to turn himself in.

“If he does not surrender, we’ll do everything possible to hand him over” to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, the official said.

Mr Del Ponte’s comments in The Hague came amid conflicting reports that led to confusion over Mladic’s fate.

The private Beta news agency said Tuesday that Mladic had been found on Cer Mountain, some 100 kilometres west of Belgrade on the border with Bosnia.

Serbia’s state news agency Tanjug earlier quoted Bosnian Serb BN television that Mladic was arrested and was “being transported” to the US-run air force base in Tuzla, eastern Bosnia, from where he was to be flown to The Hague.

A spokesperson for Serbia’s Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said Mladic had not been arrested and blasted media reports as “manipulation” meant to derail government efforts to detain the top fugitive.

Serbia is under intense pressure from the European Union and the US to capture Mladic. EU officials have threatened to freeze membership talks with Serbia unless Belgrade hands Mladic over to The Hague by the end of February.