UN Prosecutor Urges EU Not To Resume Serbia Talks
January 31, 2007
Carla del Ponte spoke after talks with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Brussels (official site)
January 31, 2007 -- Chief UN war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte today urged the European Union not to resume talks with Serbia until it hands over war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic.
The EU froze negotiations on a stabilization and association agreement with Serbia last May, demanding that Belgrade fully cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal on the former Yugoslavia.
But several EU members have recently urged the bloc not to isolate Serbia.
Former Bosnian-Serb military commander Mladic, one of The Hague-based tribunal's most-wanted fugitives, is accused of genocide and war crimes for atrocities that include the Srebrenica massacre of some 8,000 men and boys.
Del Ponte confirmed on January 30 she is to retire from her post in September, saying, "It's time for me to go back to a normal life."
(AP, Reuters, dpa)