Serb Intelligence ‘Negotiating Mladic Surrender’

Belgrade _ Serbia’s Army Security Agency has been negotiating the voluntary surrender of the top war-crimes suspect Ratko Mladic, a newspaper reported.

The source quoted in the Banja Luka-based newspaper, Glas Srpske, gave gave no more details but added that "the stakes in either case – a reward if Mladic surrenders or sanctions if he refuses – are too huge".

Earlier, Serbian government ministers called on Mladic to voluntarily surrender in his own interest and that of Serbia. Read more: http://balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/12265

The newspaper source apparently referred to the arrest and extradition of the two remaining war crimes fugitives, Mladic and a Croatian Serb leader, Goran Hadzic, as key conditions for Serbia’s further integration into the EU.

"The authorities insist that Mladic goes to The Hague without problems," the source was quoted as saying, adding that "Serbia is determined to end The Hague saga".

The report follows the apprehension in July of the former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, twice indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia, ICTY.

In an interview with the German weekly Der Spiegel, carried by the Belgrade daily Blic on Tuesday, Rasim Ljajic, head of the National Council for Cooperation withThe Hague Tribunal and a Serbian minister, said Mladic hid in military barracks and flats in Belgrade until the end of 2005. Read more: http://balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/12331

Wednesday’s report comes days after sources told Blic that Mladic’s arrest could be expected within weeks. Read more: http://balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/12282

Prior to Karadzic’s arrest, Serbia in June apprehended and extradited another Bosnian Serb war time leader, Stojan Zupljanin.