Mladic fate a mystery as Serbia faces EU axe

BELGRADE – Serbia on Tuesday denied that top Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive General Ratko Mladic had been arrested, but Bosnian and Serbian media insisted he was in custody and had been taken to neighbouring Bosnia.

The storm of conflicting reports exposed Belgrade’s extreme jitters one week from a European Union decision on whether to go on talking to Serbia about its EU membership prospects or freeze the process as punishment for not arresting Mladic. “The news about Ratko Mladic is not correct,” government spokesman Srdjan Djuric said.”It is a manipulation which damages the (Serbian) government,” he said in a statement phoned to various agencies including Reuters.The handover of Mladic to the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague, where he faces genocide charges, is increasingly seen by Serbia as a sacrifice it must make to appease the West, although many Serbs believe he did no wrong.Serbian newspapers have speculated that Belgrade planned to whisk Mladic to Bosnia after an arrest to defuse anger at home and cast doubt on Western charges that he has been hiding in Serbia all along, with government knowledge and army help.Independent Belgrade broadcaster B92 insisted the 63-year old general had been arrested in Serbia, then transferred to Tuzla in northeastern Bosnia for a flight to The Hague.This was the route used to deliver former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic to the tribunal in 2001, using the US military’s Eagle Base near Tuzla.Serbia’s state news agency Tanjug and the main Bosnian Serb agency SRNA also said that was what had happened to Mladic too: the wartime Bosnian Serb Army commander had been arrested in Belgrade but moved swiftly to Tuzla.Mladic personifies the ruthless Serb nationalism blamed for the wars that erupted as Yugoslavia fell apart in the 1990s, with up to 200 000 dead.To westward-looking Serbs he is the main obstacle to reinstatement in the European mainstream.He 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.His political boss Radovan Karadzic, indicted on the same charges, is still at large.Serbian newspapers have debated for days whether Mladic would be in The Hague in time to avert suspension of EU talks with Belgrade, a penalty which would deal a body blow to the minority coalition government.- Nampa-Reuters”The news about Ratko Mladic is not correct,” government spokesman Srdjan Djuric said.”It is a manipulation which damages the (Serbian) government,” he said in a statement phoned to various agencies including Reuters.The handover of Mladic to the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague, where he faces genocide charges, is increasingly seen by Serbia as a sacrifice it must make to appease the West, although many Serbs believe he did no wrong.Serbian newspapers have speculated that Belgrade planned to whisk Mladic to Bosnia after an arrest to defuse anger at home and cast doubt on Western charges that he has been hiding in Serbia all along, with government knowledge and army help.Independent Belgrade broadcaster B92 insisted the 63-year old general had been arrested in Serbia, then transferred to Tuzla in northeastern Bosnia for a flight to The Hague.This was the route used to deliver former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic to the tribunal in 2001, using the US military’s Eagle Base near Tuzla.Serbia’s state news agency Tanjug and the main Bosnian Serb agency SRNA also said that was what had happened to Mladic too: the wartime Bosnian Serb Army commander had been arrested in Belgrade but moved swiftly to Tuzla.Mladic personifies the ruthless Serb nationalism blamed for the wars that erupted as Yugoslavia fell apart in the 1990s, with up to 200 000 dead.To westward-looking Serbs he is the main obstacle to reinstatement in the European mainstream.He 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.His political boss Radovan Karadzic, indicted on the same charges, is still at large.Serbian newspapers have debated for days whether Mladic would be in The Hague in time to avert suspension of EU talks with Belgrade, a penalty which would deal a body blow to the minority coalition government.- Nampa-Reuters