Six Serbian war crimes suspects, including two senior allies of ousted leader Mr Slobodan Milosevic, will give themselves up to the United Nations court in The Hague, the Yugoslav government said today.
Their surrender will mark the biggest catch of Serbian indictees for the war crimes tribunal since Mr Milosevic was forcibly extradited in June 2001 to the Dutch-based court.
"It would be significant and from our point of view very welcome," UN deputy war crimes prosecutor Mr Graham Blewitt said.
It was not immediately clear whether the move would be enough for the United States to unblock around 40 million aid funds that were frozen when Belgrade missed a March 31st deadline to ship suspects to the tribunal.
"These people are definitely the most important indictees who are believed to be on Yugoslav territory and their surrender should be seen as proof of Yugoslavia's full cooperation with The Hague tribunal," Interior Minister Mr Zoran Zivkovic said.
Still at large are two of the world's most wanted men - wartime Bosnian Serb leader Mr Radovan Karadzic and his military commander General Ratko Mladic.
Belgrade said the two are beyond its reach, rejecting allegations from The Hague that General Mladic enjoys army protection.
Serbian authorities had urged 23 indicted Serbs to turn themselves in, promising to give the tribunal guarantees so that they might be freed pending trial.
The government had set a deadline of midnight yesterday for their surrender or ultimate arrest.