Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said today he expects to deliver top war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic to the Hague tribunal by April and pre-empt a freeze of Serbia's bid to join the European Union.
"Regarding Mladic, Serbia's primary interest now is to solve that case and complete cooperation with the Hague tribunal," he told a news conference marking two years in office.
The EU said this week the handover of the genocide suspect to the United Nations war crimes court was a condition for Serbia to continue its association talks with the EU, the first step on the road to eventual membership of the bloc. Mr Kostunica indicated he had no fear that the talks, due to be resumed on April 4-5th, risked being suspended.
"I simply start from the premise that we will fulfil this obligation, and I would not be such a pessimist nor such a sceptic as you," he told a reporter asking who would be responsible if the deadline is not met. Asked what he based his positive outlook on Kostunica said: "On the basis of everything I know and everything the relevant services know."
He said there were no half-baked solutions to the handover of Mladic, commander of the Bosnian Serb Army in the war of 1992 to 1995. It would have to be done in a way to take it off the agenda once and for all, the prime minister said.
"It is the responsibility of the government and above all of myself. Everybody knows that," he said. The comments come a week after rampant media speculation that Mladic was either under arrest or about to surrender. The government denied the reports, saying Mladic was still at large and Serbia was "doing all in its power" to bring him to justice.
Mladic was indicted in 1995 for genocide for the 43-month siege of Sarajevo which claimed 12,000 civilian lives and for orchestrating the 1995 massacre of 8,000 unarmed Muslims at Srebrenica, the worst atrocity in Europe since World War Two.
Talks between the EU and Serbia on the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, viewed as the first rung on the ladder to membership, started four months ago. Belgrade hopes to complete them before the end of the year. EU officials say the technical side is going well but the political condition for the negotiations to continue is delivering Mladic.