New push to find Bosnian war crimes fugitives

THE HAGUE - Bosnia peace envoy Paddy Ashdown sees a new drive to arrest top war crimes fugitives, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, around the 10th anniversary in December of the end of the Bosnian war.

"There is urgency, renewed impetus and we'll be taking strong action to ensure that this happens," Ashdown said during a visit to the UN tribunal in The Hague to speak to chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte.

Ashdown, who has been UN High Representative in Sarajevo since May 2002, said he wanted to talk to Del Ponte about how best to use his time until he steps down from the post in January to ensure Karadzic and Mladic are caught.

Mladic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb army, and Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb wartime political leader, are both indicted for genocide in the 1992-1995 Bosnian war including the massacre of up to 8000 Muslims in the town of Srebrenica.

Ashdown noted that cooperation from the Serb authorities with the UN tribunal had improved this year with a number of other suspected war criminals transferred to the Hague.

"That means Karadzic and Mladic are more isolated, that their support structure is less effective," he said. "That's what now gives us a better chance for success."

Ashdown said it was now up to the Serb authorities to move on the two fugitives believed to be hiding in Serbia or Bosnia, adding Nato and European Union forces were doing all they could.

"If you want to put the blame, don't put it on Brussels, put it on Banja Luka," he said.

On a visit to Belgrade last month, Del Ponte said Serbia had promised her Mladic would be in The Hague before the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Dayton agreement in December.

- REUTERS