by nomo » Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:41 pm
Mladic's arrest - a political game by Serbia?<br>By Zdravko Ljubas Feb 22, 2006, 19:33GMT<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/article_1132029.php/Mladics_arrest_-_a_political_game_by_Serbia">news.monstersandcritics.c..._by_Serbia</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Sarajevo - Reports on the alleged arrest of Ratko Mladic, one of the most wanted Bosnian Serb fugitives from the 1992-1995 war, are typical of the political cat and mouse game played by Serbia, a survivor of the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica said Wednesday in Sarajevo.<br><br>'They all know where he is, but they wait for a good moment to use Mladic for some other interests,' Munira Subasic of the Srebrenica Mothers Association told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa.<br><br>'Everyone knows that, the birds on the trees, little kids, everyone knows it is just a game, some strange policy that has been underway for more than 10 years,' said Subasic.<br><br>Chief Prosecutor of The Hague-based UN War Crimes Tribunal, Carla Del Ponte, has denied Tuesday's reports of Mladic's arrest.<br><br>'Ratko Mladic, one of the world's most wanted men for more than 10 years, has not been arrested and remains a fugitive from international justice,' Del Ponte told a press conference in The Hague.<br><br>Subasic, meanwhile, claims that it is not only Mladic and his political leader Radovan Karadzic who are guilty of the Srebrenica massacre. She says the United Nations must also take responsibility for failing to protect people in Srebrenica which at the time was under UN protection as a so-called safe-zone.<br><br>The survivors of the 1995 massacre in Srebenica, the eastern Bosnian Muslim enclave where Bosnian Serb troops under Mladic's command massacred up to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men in July 1995, are still hoping for truth and justice more than a decade after the massacre.<br><br>Bosnia-Herzegovina's law suit before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which accuses Serbia and Montenegro of aggression and genocide during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia, should help to finally reach justice, says Subasic.<br><br>She believes that speculation about Mladic's arrest was an intentional move designed to somehow impact the course of the ICJ case, scheduled for February 27.<br><br>Tanja Topic, a political analyst based in Banja Luka, says many theories can be applied regarding the contradictory information from Belgrade about Mladic's alleged arrest, but they are all just speculation, including the ICJ claim.<br><br>'At this point we can link the possible action of Mladic's apprehension with many issues important for Serbia, like Kosovo negotiations, EU negotiations, internal problems there..., but all of that would be just speculation,' said Topic.<br><br>Some sectors of the Bosnian media have suggested that Belgrade disseminated contradictory information to test public reaction in Serbia and the Bosnian Serb entity, the Srpska Republic, allowing the government to gauge probable response in the event of Mladic's actual apprehension.<br><br>'The radicals in Serbia will not remain calm if Mladic is arrested. The Serbs in the Bosnian Srpska Republic would also protest, but I am sure possible protests in Serbia and Bosnia would not be as strong as they would have been maybe five years ago,' said Topic.<br><br>Bosnia's poor economic situation has forced people to concentrate on their own personal problems rather than on the fate of the suspected war criminals, said Topic.<br><br>The Hague-based UN War Crimes Tribunal indicted general Ratko Mladic and his political leader Radovan Karadzic in 1995, charging them with war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and severe breaches of the Geneva Conventions during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.<br><br>Both Mladic and Karadzic remain at large.<br><br>Mladic is believed to be hiding in Serbia, while Karadzic's whereabouts remains unknown. He is however believed to be moving between Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro.<br><br>© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur <p></p><i></i>
