Positive del Ponte hints at more Serb handovers

By Ellie Tzortzi

BELGRADE (Reuters) - U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte praised Serbia for "serious commitment" to the handover of war crimes fugitives on Wednesday, saying "we may have other positive results" before her June 18 formal report.

Del Ponte spoke after talks following the handover last week of Bosnian Serb general Zdravko Tolimir, an aide to the Hague tribunal's most wanted man, Ratko Mladic, suspected mastermind of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims.

Arresting fugitives is key to Serbia's hopes of closer ties with the European Union, on ice since Brussels suspended talks in 2006 to punish Belgrade's inaction. The EU was pleased by Tolimir's arrest, but is waiting for Del Ponte's report before setting a date for resuming the negotiations.

Serb judicial and police sources say two further fugitives of five still at large -- Croatian Serb Goran Hadzic and Bosnian Serb Stojan Zupljanin -- have been located and could be handed over soon.

"I expect that other fugitives and especially Mladic will now be located, arrested and sent to the Hague," Del Ponte told Serbian independent television station B92 in an interview.

She said Serbia's three-week-old government was showing it had the "political will to get it done".

"I never doubted (Serbia's) technical capacity. But now I think it is the right political moment as the government expressed the will to send the fugitives to The Hague," she said.

Mladic, seen as a hero by Serb ultranationalists, has been del Ponte's target for four years, during which she repeatedly said he was within the reach of Serb authorities -- though Belgrade denied this.

But Serbia was forced to admit last year that Mladic was indeed living in the capital Belgrade in various hideouts until January 2006, as the prosecutor had constantly asserted.

MLADIC

Speaking of Tolimir's arrest, del Ponte noted the improvement in Serbia's cooperation, but said more was needed.

"Mladic is a priority," the prosecutor told reporters. "I want results. The question is when. The answer is now."

She said she would make it clear that Serbia had made "positive progress", but it was up to the European Union to make the political decision on whether to re-start the suspended Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) talks.

The SAA would be the first step towards membership for Serbia, languishing in the basement of Balkan EU hopefuls because of its role in the wars over the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, under the late strongman Slobodan Milosevic.

Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has shifted direction on The Hague more than once, famously declaring it "not a priority" in 2003, then arranging the surrender of 12 fugitives in 2005, followed by a year of apparent inaction in 2006.