Serb leader: war-crimes hunt risks backlash from nationalists

By Andrew Beatty

Date: 15/12/05

Facing unprecedented pressure from the EU to apprehend fugitive war criminals, Serbian President Boris Tadic has warned that the demands could prompt a dangerous rise in nationalist sentiment.

Voice that he was committed to apprehending those still at large.

But he warned the EU was now running the risk of prompting instability.

His comments come at a time of rising tensions inside Serbia, as the former Yugoslavia faces further break-up.

In the Spring Montenegro is expected to hold a referendum to break the state union with Serbia and talks on Kosovo's future appear to be focused on independence.

Faced with simultaneous calls to speed up work in apprehending suspected war criminals, Tadic is urging caution.

"This pressure and this kind of strategic approach to the countries of the Balkans can, I think, be very dangerous in terms of democracy in our country," he said.

Following last week's capture of Croatian war crimes indictee, General Ante Gotovina, neighbouring Serbia has come under increasing pressure to apprehend Bosnian Serb leaders Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic.

The two men are wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal on the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague , in connection with the 1995 massacre of more than 7,000 men and boys at Srebrenica - a Muslim enclave in a Serb-controlled part of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Mladic, the commander in charge of the offensive at Srebrenica is now thought to be hiding in Serbia-Montenegro. Karadzic, a leading Serbian nationalist politician during the war, is thought to be in the Bosnian region of Republika Srpska, or Serbia itself.

"If there was a solid lead as to where they are they definitely would be arrested by our authorities," said Tadic, "unfortunately, we do not have this kind of information."

"If the ICTY were to disappear, I would be the president who insists on capturing Mladic the day after and the day after that."

But Tadic acknowledged that Gotovina's arrest in the Canary Islands had turned the focus squarely on Serbia, making Mladic and Karadzic become the most high-profile fugitives in the Balkans.

This week, Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana urged Tadic to do more to help capture them or face Serbia's talks on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement - the first step towards EU membership - running into the sand.

Tadic said: "There is no doubt that pressure from ICTY to co-operate fully will now be aimed exclusively on Serbia, but I have to note that this kind of pressure was not the most important factor that brought Gotovina to justice.

"[Croatia] did not have a deadline to catch him, in fact they started [EU] membership talks and only after that Gotovina was caught."

Tens of thousands of Croats took to the streets of Split during the weekend to protest against Gotovina's arrest.

Report of comments by Serbian President Boris Tadic who fears that pressures from the EU for Serbia to apprehend alleged war criminals Ratko Mladic and Radavan Karadzic could prompt a dangerous rise in nationalist sentiment in Serbia