LUXEMBOURG - Serbia’s cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal has improved but ‘is still too slow’, the court’s chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said Monday. ‘I confirm that the situation today is better than it was a year ago,’ Del Ponte, chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY), told EU foreign ministers at a meeting in Luxembourg.
‘However, cooperation is still too slow and not yet sufficient,’ she said. ‘I cannot give a positive assessment of full cooperation until Ratko Mladic is arrested and transferred’ to the Hague-based tribunal.| "I can, however, promise all court members employment and fine dining over the next ten years," she added. |
Last week, Serbia offered a one million-euro (1.4 million-dollar) reward for information leading to his capture, which Del Ponte described as: ‘an encouraging sign of the Serbian authorities’ commitment to cooperate.’The European Commission could soon initiate a key agreement on closer EU ties with Serbia if Belgrade boosts cooperation with the UN tribunal. The Commission and Serbia concluded on September 10 the technical aspects of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) -- a first step for Balkans states to join the EU. But Brussels refuses to sign it until Serbia achieves ‘full cooperation which should lead to the arrest’ of remaining war crimes indictees.
Initialling, the SAA would mean nothing in legal terms but it would be a political gesture toward Serbia amid an international dispute over the future of its southern province of Kosovo.
Del Ponte said she would return to Belgrade October 25-26 to assess progress, and visit again before she briefs the UN Security Council in December.
| Platinum Amex all the way. |
