UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon hailed the arrest of fugitive Bosnian Serb wartime general Ratko Mladic today as "an historic day for international justice".
"This arrest marks an important step in our collective fight against impunity," Mr Ban told an event in Paris. His remarks were reported by the UN press office in New York.
Mladic, accused of orchestrating the massacre of 8,000 Muslims in the town of Srebrenica and a brutal siege of Sarajevo during Bosnia's 1992-95 war, was arrested in Serbia after years on the run from international genocide charges.
He is expected to face trial before a UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
"This is an historic day for international justice," Mr Ban told an event marking the launch of a global partnership for girls' and womens' education.
"I commend the efforts of (Serbian) president (Boris) Tadic and of the Serbian government," said Mr Ban, who is in France for a G8 summit that opened today in Deauville.
US president Barack Obama congratulated the Serbian government for arresting Mladic and said he would now face justice.
"Today is an important day for the families of Mladic's many victims, for Serbia, for Bosnia, for the United States, and for international justice," Obama said in a statement.
"While we will never be able to bring back those who were murdered, Mladic will now have to answer to his victims, and the world, in a court of law."
British prime minister David Cameron said: "He is accused of the most appalling war crimes both in terms of what happened in Srebrenica but also in Sarajevo. There is a very good reason why the long arm of international law had been looking for him for so long."
EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said the has removed a great obstacle on Serbia's road to the European Union, but Belgrade must intensify work on reforms.
"Justice has been served, and a great obstacle on the Serbian road to the European Union has been removed," he said.
However, Mr Fuele said Serbia would have to intensify work on reforms in order to achieve eventual EU membership.
Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini said the arrest marks a turning point to be welcomed with great satisfaction.
“A turning point we had been hoping for and waiting for a long time, more than 15 years.”
“Mladic was the symbol of ethnic cleansing and brutal violence that cost the lives of a very high number of civilians in what remains one of the darkest chapters in European history.
“This is a test of great democratic maturity for Serbia, bringing it closer to Europe and the European Union, a process that Italy has strongly encouraged and that now needs to be accelerated further, without reservations."
Reuters