Minister: Mladic considering surrender

Dutch foreign minister Ben Bot said Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic was reportedly sick and considering surrender.

Bot, briefing parliament about his recent trip to Belgrade, said he heard from Serbian sources that Mladic was ill and was speaking with his people about surrendering, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hannah Tijmes said.

Dutch media had reported earlier that Bot said Mladic was negotiating with Serbian authorities, but ministry spokesman Dirk Jan Vermeij said those reports were inaccurate.

“The minister said that he heard during meetings in Belgrade that Mladic is sick, but that the Serbs don’t know where he is,” he said.

“The rumour Bot picked up was that Mladic was negotiating with his entourage.”

The ministry officials did not identify Bot’s sources.

On Wednesday, security officials in Belgrade told The Associated Press that negotiations for Mladic’s surrender were under way.

But the Serbian government denied that Mladic – wanted by the United Nations tribunal for crimes committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian war – has been detained.

Serbia is under intense pressure to yield Mladic, the tribunal’s second most-wanted fugitive.

“This is just another example of similar news we’ve seen in these past days, meant to manipulate and impose pressure on the (Serbian) government,” government spokesman Srdjan Djuric said in Belgrade, dismissing the earlier Dutch reports.

Bot met the prime minister, foreign minister and president during his visit on Monday to Belgrade, Tijmes said.