Global Policy Forum

By Misha Savic

The chief U.N. war crimes prosecutor lashed out at Yugoslav officials Monday for refusing to hand over more than a dozen suspects still at large in the country.

Carla Del Ponte said there was "no movement forward" after her talks with top Yugoslav and Serbian officials in Belgrade.

"I want to express my serious concern and deep dissatisfaction with the level of cooperation of Yugoslavia with my office," a visibly irritated Del Ponte said after the talks. "On a whole range of issues, I can report no serious progress."

The pro-democracy Yugoslav leadership last year ousted former President Slobodan Milosevic and handed him over to the Netherlands-based tribunal for trial on charges of crimes against humanity stemming from his 1998-99 crackdown on ethnic Albanians in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo.

But Del Ponte complained that since Milosevic's extradition on June 28, the authorities in Yugoslavia, which is made up of Serbia and much smaller Montenegro, have stopped cooperating.

"Cooperation is not limited to the transfer of one accused," Del Ponte said. "It is also about access to documents, to archives, to witnesses."

"I had hoped that I would finally have access to all necessary evidence, but I was waiting in vain," Del Ponte said. "Denying access to this information ... only fosters suspicion that people in power are not interested to disclose and face the truth."

But she added: "To be fair, I must say that Mr. (Zoran ) Djinjdic, the (Serbian) prime minister and his government are trying to foster some aspects of cooperation."

Djindjic was behind Milosevic's extradition to the Netherlands-based court despite opposition from new Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica and his pro-nationalist allies in the federal government.

Del Ponte has been demanding the extradition of about 15 suspects who live in Yugoslavia and have been indicted for alleged crimes in Kosovo as well as in the wars in the former Yugoslav republics of Bosnia and Croatia.

Among the key Serb suspects sought by the tribunal on Milosevic-related charges are former army chief Gen. Dragoljub Ojdanic; former Serbian Interior Minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic; and Milan Milutinovic, part of Milosevic's government who continues to serve as figurehead president of Serbia.

Yugoslav officials have suggested that the extent of their future cooperation will depend on the U.N. court's resolve to also prosecute members of other ethnic groups involved in the 1990s Balkan conflicts, particularly ethnic Albanians who fought against Serbs over control of Kosovo.

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