Del Ponte says Serbs not doing enough on Mladic

HELSINKI, Sep 30 (Reuters) UN war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte said she was ''not satisfied'' that Serbia was carrying out its own action plan to arrest and extradite Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic.

In an assessment sinking Serbia's dwindling hopes of resuming suspended membership talks with the European Union this year, she yesterday said Belgrade was still ''far away from full cooperation'' with the war crimes tribunal.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said after hearing an informal briefing from Del Ponte in Finland that he had heard nothing to prompt him to revive the frozen talks on closer ties.

''There are no new elements that we are aware of, and there is no sign of progress from the Serbian side,'' Rehn told Reuters.

''We will maintain our conditionality as regards full cooperation with the (tribunal) before we can resume the negotiations on the Stabilisation and Association Agreement.'' Del Ponte, due to visit Belgrade next week, told a news conference she believed Mladic would face justice, provided the EU stuck firmly to conditions it had set for Serbia before it can resume early stage talks that could lead to membership.

That means he should be either in The Hague or in detention ahead of transfer to the tribunal, she said.

Negotiations were frozen in May because of Serbia's lack of progress in trying to catch Mladic, who is charged with genocide for atrocities by his army in the 1992-95 Bosnia war.

''In our evaluation they are not working properly to locate Mladic,'' Del Ponte said, adding that she would try on her mission to Belgrade to persuade Serbia to do more.

CRUCIAL MOMENT A key coalition partner of Serb Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said in May it would pull out of the government if the talks did not resume by October. 1, triggering the collapse of the coalition and a snap general election.

The liberal G17 Plus party repeated on Thursday its four ministers would duly tender formal resignations on Friday. But the party later said it would remain silent on the issue until tomorrow.

Rehn said he expected a fuller report from Del Ponte after her fact-finding visit to Belgrade next week ''but for the moment there is no need for any new assessment from the EU side''.

Del Ponte said it was a ''crucial moment'' in efforts to compel Serbia to cooperate fully and urged the EU not to wobble.

''If the EU keeps the suspension of negotiations until full cooperation with us, and full cooperation is Mladic in The Hague or Mladic located, and if he is located after two hours he will be arrested and transferred, if the EU keeps this conditionality, I am optimistic we will have Mladic,'' she said.

While he tops the list of six fugitives she wants to put on trial, Del Ponte said she was still also determined to track down Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic.

''I don't know who is looking for Karadzic, probably nobody, just me and my office,'' she said.

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