Britain: Britain warned Serbia and Croatia yesterday that there could be no steps towards EU membership unless they did their utmost to ensure the most wanted war crimes suspects were handed over to an international tribunal.
Serbia and Croatia are among a number of Balkan states hoping to join the European Union, but London said it all depended on the successful arrests of Croatian general Ante Gotovina, Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and his army general Ratko Mladic.
The three suspects are the most wanted by the Hague-based tribunal which is prosecuting cases of war crimes committed during the 1991-95 Balkans war.
"These men have a network of support and it is up to the Croatian and Serb authorities to take energetic measures to track them down and put pressure on those protecting them," the British minister for Europe, Mr Denis MacShane, said in a statement. "There can be no serious moves towards future EU accession until this essential step is taken," he said.
Both Serbia and Croatia say they are doing their best to assist the UN war crimes tribunal and its chief prosecutor Ms Carla del Ponte in efforts to bring war crimes suspects before the tribunal.
Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic is among those on trial before the tribunal, charged with genocide.
- (Reuters)