EU set to censure Serbia as Mladic still at large

SERBIA: Serbia is braced for EU condemnation today for failing to catch Ratko Mladic, but hopes Brussels will give it another month to seize the war crimes suspect before freezing talks on closer ties.

In a report to foreign ministers, EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn is expected to condemn Belgrade's unwillingness or inability to catch Gen Mladic, who was widely rumoured last week to be cornered, in custody or about to surrender.

But with his whereabouts still a mystery, Serb officials said yesterday that they hoped for a rap on the knuckles from the EU, rather than a suspension of talks on a stabilisation and association agreement that is a key step towards accession.

Serbian deputy prime minister Miroljub Labus said he did "not believe the EU would sever ties with Belgrade" at the Brussels meeting, but would grant Serbia a few more weeks to capture and deliver Gen Mladic.

"But our responsibility to deliver Mladic must be fulfilled," he added.

"After Monday, bad things can happen to us at any moment," Mr Labus said.

Officials in Belgrade and Brussels suggested the EU might slow down talks, without actually halting them, until Serbia does more to catch Gen Mladic. That could mean the cancellation of the next planned round of talks on April 5th.

Such a move would not only cool Serbia's hopes of eventual EU accession, but dent its efforts to curry favour with the West amid talks on Kosovo's final status.

A decade after the Bosnian war, its most wanted men - Gen Mladic and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic - are still on the run. They are accused of crimes that include ordering the Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslims at the end of the war.

Gen Mladic is believed to be hiding in Serbia under the protection of hardliners in the Serb military and police, while Mr Karadzic is said to move between Bosnia, Serbia and his native Montenegro.

They are still regarded as heroes by many Serbs, and influential nationalists threaten unrest if the government hands them over to the UN court in The Hague.

About 10,000 people massed in central Belgrade on Friday to support the fugitives, and repeat calls for them to choose suicide over capture or surrender.

"You owe it to Serbia never to be in The Hague. Domestic traitors may hound you, but your place is not in The Hague," declared Tomislav Nikolic, acting leader of the Serb Radical Party.

Although indicted on genocide charges in 1995, Gen Mladic moved freely around Belgrade until 2002, when he went underground with the help of security service allies.

Liberal politicians and analysts say the military, police and intelligence agencies are still riddled with supporters of the nationalist former president, Slobodan Milosevic, making it hard to mount an operation to catch Gen Mladic.

"They want to close Serbia's roads toward Europe and push it back into isolation and poverty," said Serbian foreign minister Vuk Draskovic.

"That is the only way for those forces to come back to power."