Nato's top officer in Bosnia said today that he believed former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic would soon face justice and urged the local authorities to redouble efforts to seek him out.
US Brigadier-General Steven Schook welcomed what he said were clear signs of rising support among Bosnian Serbs for Mr Karadzic to be sent to the UN war crimes tribunal to face accusations of genocide.
"I am very optimistic that we hope we can conclude this chapter that is causing such delays in the progress of Bosnia and Herzegovina," Brig-Gen Schook told a news conference after briefing NATO chiefs in Brussels.
"It is now time to use the full apparatus of the government to go after people who are not going to voluntarily surrender," he said.
The fugitive Mr Karadzic led the breakaway Bosnian Serb state in the 1992-95 Bosnian war, Europe's bloodiest since World War II. He is wanted for genocide for the Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslims and the 43-month siege of Sarajevo in which 10,000 people were killed.