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Belgrade Paper Says Mladic Stranded in Serbia
Prevented from returning to Bosnian Serb
Mladic, twice indicted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia in The Hague, on Tuesday attended the funeral in Belgrade of General Djordje Djukic, who was also indicted by the same court, incensing the international community. Serbia's President Slobodan Milosevic signed the Dayton accord last December and is obliged to apprehend indicted war criminals like Mladic or his political leader Radovan Karadzic on his territory.
Belgrade's Dnevni Telegraf paper quoted reliable sources saying that "Mladic had to stay in Belgrade since he could not return to Bosnian Serb Republika Srpska." There was no official confirmation of the report.
According to the paper, Mladic entered the Yugoslav army General staff building on Wednesday and immediately after him Milosevic went in. "Speculations exist that Milosevic is not allowing Mladic to return to Republika Srpska," the paper quoted its sources as saying. Yugoslav army commanders were unavailable for comment and a senior army source told Reuterss he could not confirm that Mladic was back home or in Belgrade. "It could be either way."
Bosnian Serb army sources told Belgrade Beta news agency that Mladic was not in Belgrade, but in Republika Srpska. Beta later quoted the duty officer in the BSA press center in Lukavica near Sarajevo as saying in a telephone conversation that the "official information is that General Mladic is in RS territory."
The speculation coincides with growing pressure on Milosevic to remove Mlic and Karadzic from power and hand them over to The Hague. In Washington the United States States Department said it had heard nothing to confirm the report Mladic was detained. "After an hour of calling around, we don't have any
evidence to corroborate that... We have not been able to confirm
it," State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns told Reuterss.
The president of The Hague tribunal Antonio Cassese has reportedly officially informed the U.N. Security Council that Mladic was present in Belgrade. Cassese in his letter said Mladic's appearance at Djukic's funeral was "new proof that Yugoslavia refuses to cooperate with The Hague tribunal." Yugoslavia risks the reimposition of economic sanctions if it does not cooperate with the tribunal.
Beta said the Yugoslav Foreign Ministry was preparing a bill on extradition of indicted war criminals to The Hague tribunal. The bill would already next week be submitted to the federal parliament, Beta said. |
BELGRADE, May 23 (Reuters) — A Belgrade daily on Thursday reported that Serbia's President had prevented Bosnian Serb army commander General Ratko Mladic from returning to Bosnian Serb territory. The Bosnian Serb army denied the claim.
Berserkistan, May 21 · Ratko Mladic Seen at Djukic Funeral
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