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ICTY Praise, US Suggestions Effective in Getting Serbia to Cooperate - Paper2006-07-31BBC Monitoring EuropeanText of unattributed commentary entitled "Cold reprieve" published by the Serbian newspaper Danas on 31 July After many words of harsh criticism directed against the Serbian Government and Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, and particularly against the so-called intelligence and security communities, ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte has dispatched words of praise to Belgrade. Even though she will wait for the details and implementation of the operational part of the Action Plan, she is certain that at long last Serbia genuinely wants to arrest Ratko Mladic. And on top of that she said that advisers had evidently deceived Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, assuring him that Mladic would surrender by his own free will. This explains, she feels, his earlier promise that the most wanted Hague indictee would be "given" to the Tribunal [International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia - ICTY]. In this context we view the very articulate claim made by Carla Del Ponte that, judging by the most recent BIA [Security Information Agency] report, it was this agency that was familiar with the details of Mladic's whereabouts. Almost at the same time while this Belgrade reprieve of sorts was "simmering", US War Crimes Envoy John Clint Williamson conveyed to the Serbian authorities a recommendation sent by the world's most powerful administration which reportedly contains 11 items for an effective implementation of the Action Plan. According to reports in the media - and symptomatically enough no one from Belgrade has denied it - the Serbian prime minister has been advised to apprehend and question his former head of intelligence Aco Tomic, and the former SCG [Serbia-Montenegro] Army Chief of Staff Branko Krga, as well as Mladic's son Darko. Also, the Serbian prime minister has been advised to ask the Serbian Orthodox Church to publicly support the arrest or surrender of Ratko Mladic. The assembly is expected to adopt laws with strict sanctions for all those abetting ICTY fugitives, and the police are expected to step up their investigations of war crimes suspects, basing them especially on the information gathered by the [Bosnian] Serb Republic Srebrenica War Crimes Reconciliation Commission. Also very precise is the proposal to familiarize the public with Mladic's activities and crimes of which the wartime Bosnian Serb commander has been accused and, particularly, to reveal all of his past hideouts. There is no doubt that pointing to the military, the church, the police, the assembly and the media (insufficient information) draws a more than plastic picture of the logistics that allowed Mladic to remain beyond the reach of the law for 11 years. Even though it is not easy to establish a direct connection between the message sent by Carla Del Ponte and the US recommendation, this hot-cold combination is irresistibly reminiscent of a carrot on a stick and acts as some kind of instructions for Belgrade on how to behave. Judging by the solemn silence with which Belgrade has received them, there is no doubt that both The Hague and Washington are very persuasive. (c) 2006 BBC Monitoring European. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Channel: USHMM: International Law
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