Hague prosecutor to assess Serbia's hunt for Mladic

BELGRADE (Reuters) - U.N. prosecutor Carla del Ponte met Serbia's new government on Monday to assess its cooperation in hunting war crimes suspects, the key to the country's prospects of joining the European Union.

Her visit, due to last four days, follows the arrest and handover to the Hague tribunal last week of general Zdravko Tolimir, an aide to the tribunal's most wanted man, Bosnian Serb wartime commander Ratko Mladic.

Mladic and Tolimir are indicted for genocide in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims.

Del Ponte and Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica did not shake hands at their meeting, local reporters said. It was "moderately cordial" but the prosecutor began by pointedly putting photographs of fugitives on the table.

Kostunica's office said he told del Ponte that completing cooperation with the tribunal was one of the top priorities of his government.

Serb ultranationalists, however, said Tolimir had been arrested in Belgrade and dumped over the border illegally into the hands of Bosnian police. A Belgrade radio station said he was a hero and callers described his arrest as a betrayal.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn last week said the arrest showed Belgrade's "clear commitment to full cooperation" after a year of inaction, which would merit the resumption of stalled talks later this month, once del Ponte reports back.

But while Serbia can expect to resume negotiations on a Stability and Association Agreement (SAA) which the EU froze last May because of non-cooperation, it is unlikely to be able to sign the agreement until Mladic himself is in detention.

FUGITIVES

"No one can promise del Ponte a deadline by which time Mladic and other fugitives will be in The Hague," said Rasim Ljajic, who heads the National Council for Cooperation with the tribunal.

"But we must restore confidence, and a series of activities undertaken and planned will be proof of our will to resolve this issue," he told Sunday's Blic newspaper in an interview.

It was "hard to believe" Serbia would sign the SAA without Mladic in the Hague, he said, as so far the EU insisted on it.

Del Ponte says hardline renegades in the army and security services have helped Mladic stay one step ahead of the law, and there was insufficient readiness to intervene on the part of Kostunica's last government, which relied on nationalist support.

Resistance to the hunt for Mladic may be undermined by the new coalition deal which turns over the reins of the security service to the Democratic Party of President Boris Tadic.

"I think that President Tadic will now have control over the security services and full insight into what they are doing. The most important thing is to have coordination between BIA and VBA (police and military security services)," Ljajic said.

But Ljajic said no one should expect sudden breakthroughs.

"It is true that General Tolimir used to organize the hiding of Mladic and they used to hide together. But for quite some time they have not been together, so this arrest need not necessarily mean we are a step closer to Mladic," Ljajic said.

Now was the "moment to surrender" for fugitives Stojan Zupljanin and Goran Hadzic, he said, so "their families get financial support and they themselves get legal assistance".

"As for Mladic, I doubt he intends to surrender."