Serbian govt 'preparing action plan' to find Mladic

Serbia’s government is drafting an “action plan” to locate and capture top war crimes suspect General Ratko Mladic, a senior government official said today.

Cabinet minister Zoran Loncar, speaking to reporters after a meeting of security chiefs and the prime minister, gave no details of the plan, citing its “confidential nature”.

He described it as an effort to jump-start the hunt for Mladic.

The Bosnian Serb wartime military commander has been indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, for some of the worst atrocities from Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war.

Mladic’s capture and transfer to the tribunal has become the key condition for the Balkan nation to move closer to the European Union and Nato.

Mladic is believed to be hiding in Serbia, but authorities in Belgrade have repeatedly said they are unable to locate him.

Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica summoned his security chiefs today to review police and secret service reports on progress in the search.

At a news conference after the meeting, Loncar offered no details on the discussions or the efforts to find the former general.

The UN tribunal has charged Mladic with genocide for allegedly orchestrating the massacre of up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica.

While Serbia’s government claims it cannot locate Mladic, officials at the UN court accuse Belgrade of not doing enough or possibly even sheltering the suspect. The European Union suspended pre-membership talks with the Balkan republic earlier this year after it missed a deadline to deliver Mladic to the court.

Officials recently suggested launching a new operation to find Mladic involving cooperation with Western intelligence and police experts. Western diplomats have said that US and British agents have already joined the search for Mladic.

Rasim Ljajic, Serbia’s government official in charge of co-operation with the tribunal, said it would be naïve to believe that foreign spies can arrest Mladic in Serbia if they have failed to locate the tribunal’s other top fugitive, the Bosnian Serb’s wartime political leader, Radovan Karadzic, who is believed hiding in Bosnia, where Nato and EU-led peacekeepers are stationed.

“The co-operation with foreign agencies is important, but it should be placed in a realistic frame,” Ljajic said.