EU sees progress as Serbs hand over war crimes suspect

BUDAPEST: The European Union tried to draw a line yesterday under recent disputes with Serbia and Montenegro, saying it would gradually move to strengthen ties with Belgrade after it handed over an officer indicted for genocide at the weekend.

A series of top officials from the EU, the US and the UN tribunal at The Hague have berated Belgrade in recent weeks for failing to catch indicted war criminals such as Gen Ratko Mladic, sparking fierce rows between nationalists and liberals in government.

Brussels has also had to wait for Serb and Montenegrin officials to agree to negotiate separately with the EU on trade and economic matters while discussing issues such as foreign policy and human rights on a unified, federal level. They finally accepted this "twin-track" approach last week.

"I am glad that we are finally in a position to move on with Serbia and Montenegro, after long delays due to internal disputes in that country," the EU's External Relations Commissioner, Mr Chris Patten, said in remarks to be delivered at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.

"We do not want to see Serbia and Montenegro fall behind its neighbours."

Former Yugoslav republic Slovenia joined the EU this year and Croatia will start accession talks next year, with a view to joining by 2009.

US officials warned Belgrade this month that it faced prolonged diplomatic isolation unless it moved swiftly to capture war crimes suspects still at large on its territory.

The nationalist prime minister, Mr Vojislav Kostunica, and the pro-Western president, Mr Boris Tadic, have clashed bitterly over how to proceed, with Mr Tadic urging swift arrests and Mr Kostunica denying allegations that he or other senior officials know the whereabouts of key suspects.

On Sunday, Serb authorities handed over to The Hague the former chief of Bosnian Serb security, Col Ljubisa Beara, to face charges of involvement in the massacre of 8,000 Muslims men and boys at Srebrenica in 1995.

Belgrade's independent B-92 radio station quoted government sources as saying yesterday that the UN's chief war crimes prosecutor, Ms Carla del Ponte, told Mr Kostunica where Col Beara was hiding when they met last week, to see whether he was willing to act on the information.