Mladic fate a mystery as Serbia faces EU axe

"Not much attention was really paid to this event in the Bosnian media, to be honest, but it was about time that the Serb authorities did something about the fact that basically the same structure of authority, more or less the same political parties, were in power at the time when the genocide was committed as today."

"Listen, in Bosnia at the moment, there are so many other problems that average people are facing. Economic conditions are very bad, the political situation is very unstable, so basically unless you lost someone in Srebrenica - a family member or an entire family like myself - you would not be bothered too much with apologies and genocide and things like that."

"You have to look at this issue from two different angles. I am a citizen of this country, just like all other people facing the same problems plus I survived genocide. So, sometimes - no, not sometimes, very often - I'm frustrated to see that it's only the survivors themselves who actually are still the only ones to keep this issue alive."

"Now, this apology came ten years after we started our campaign for truth and justice. We want the truth and the punishment. There are others who may want the truth and the reconciliation. We think we should first get the truth and then speak about reconciliation."

"Actually, we have not been quarrelling with anybody, so I don't see why I should reconcile with anybody. If the others are apologising to me, it's not only something I should think of, it's something that the entire population in Republika Srpska should think of. They are the ones who need to look in the eyes of the truth, you know, more than I have to do it."

"I know everything that happened. I know what happened to my family. I was there when they were taken away and later killed. And this apology is a step forward, but I think there still is a lot to be done in the future before we can say that some sort of truth and justice was finally given to the survivors."

"It's almost ten years now, nine and a half years, so I don't know why an entity like Republika Srpska which has a police force and an army and which has foreign troops at their disposal would not be able to arrest ten, 15, 20 war crime suspects. It is very clear that there's no political will to do that, and also that these war criminals are still considered as heroes among the population in Republika Srpska. A great part of the population in some areas is proud of what these individuals have done. It's just a matter of lack of political will and they look at the whole problem from a different angle."

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Mladic fate a mystery as Serbia faces EU axe Serbia on Tuesday denied that top Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive General Ratko Mladic had been arrested, but Bosnian and Serbian media insisted he was in custody and had been taken to neighbouring Bosnia. The storm of conflicting reports exposed Belgrade's extreme jitters one week from a European Union decision on whether to go on talking to Serbia about its EU membership Prospects or freeze the process as punishment for not arresting Mladic. The news about Ratko Mladic is not correct," government spokesman Srdjan Djuric said. "It is a manipulation which damages the (Serbian) government," he said in a statement phoned to various agencies including Reuters. The handover of Mladic to the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague, where he faces genocide charges, is increasingly seen by Serbia as a sacrifice it must make to appease the West, although many Serbs believe he did no wrong. Serbian newspapers have speculated that Belgrade planned to whisk Mladic to Bosnia after an arrest to defuse anger at home and cast doubt on Western charges that he has been hiding in Serbia all along, with government knowledge and army help. Independent Belgrade broadcaster B92 insisted the 63-year old general had been arrested in Serbia, then transferred to Tuzla in northeastern Bosnia for a flight to The Hague. This was the route used to deliver former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic to the tribunal in 2001, using the U.S. military's Eagle Base near Tuzla. Serbia's state news agency Tanjug and the main Bosnian Serb agency SRNA also said that was what had happened to Mladic too: the wartime Bosnian Serb Army commander had been arrested in Belgrade but moved swiftly to Tuzla. Hague, Washington not impressed Mladic personifies the ruthless Serb nationalism blamed for the wars that erupted as Yugoslavia fell apart in the 1990s, with up to 200,000 dead. To westward-looking Serbs he is the main obstacle to reinstatement in the European mainstream. He was indicted in 1995 for genocide for the 43-month siege of Sarajevo, which claimed 12,000 civilian lives, and for orchestrating the 1995 massacre of 8,000 unarmed Muslims at Srebrenica, the worst atrocity in Europe since World War Two. His political boss Radovan Karadzic, indicted on the same charges, is still at large. Serbian newspapers have debated for days whether Mladic would be in The Hague in time to avert suspension of EU talks with Belgrade, a penalty which would deal a body blow to the minority coalition government. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn is due to present a report to EU foreign ministers next Monday or Tuesday assessing whether Serbia is cooperating with the tribunal or stalling. Belgrade is desperate to save the association talks it began with Brussels four months ago. But the EU has warned they will be frozen if Mladic is not handed over very soon. "The government is aware of the consequences," said Vladeta Jankovic, an adviser to Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica. The government was approaching a decisive moment and Mladic's handover was "almost a condition of survival". Reports of the imminent arrest of Mladic or efforts to bring him in intensify each time Serbia faces a Western deadline. The retired general lived openly in Belgrade until the fall of Milosevic in 2000. He is still a poster-boy for hardliners and he drew his pension via surrogates until last year, facts that fuel Western suspicion of Belgrade. "Unfortunately, nothing happened," said a spokeswoman for Hague prosecutor Carla del Ponte of Tuesday's arrest reports. "Mladic was not arrested, although he is within the reach of the authorities in Belgrade." State Department Deputy Spokesman Adam Ereli also said Washington was "not aware that there's any change in the status of Mladic. He continues to be a fugitive from justice". The Srebrenica tragedy On 11 July 1995, the UN-designated ‘safe haven’of Srebrenica – which was being protected by Dutch peacekeeping forces – was over-run by armed forces from the Bosnian Serb army led by Ratko Mladic. 25,000 Bosnian Muslims fled the area to seek refuge in the Dutch military base at Potocari. The base soon became full and the decision was made to close it to any more of the refugees. The day after, while the UN was planning to evacuate Potocari, buses appeared and the Bosnian Serb army began separating out men from women. The men were taken away and, in total, some 7800 were killed. Serb apology for Srebrenica in 2004 Interview and article below produced RN 12-11-2004 Relatives of the victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre say the Bosnian Serb Republic's apology for the tragedy is too little, too late. Bosnia's Serb Republic has made its first formal apology for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of almost 8000 Muslims. The apology comes with a government report admitting Bosnian Serb forces were responsible for the atrocity. But Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic - two of the main suspects for the massacre - are still at large and victims' families say any apology is meaningless without justice. Hassan Nuhanovic survived the events at Srebrenica. In this interview with Radio Netherlands, he says the Serb Republic still has a long way to go. "Not much attention was really paid to this event in the Bosnian media, to be honest, but it was about time that the Serb authorities did something about the fact that basically the same structure of authority, more or less the same political parties, were in power at the time when the genocide was committed as today." RN: "You say that there hasn't been so much attention in the local media for this apology. Do you think it's something that people would rather not think about?" "Listen, in Bosnia at the moment, there are so many other problems that average people are facing. Economic conditions are very bad, the political situation is very unstable, so basically unless you lost someone in Srebrenica - a family member or an entire family like myself - you would not be bothered too much with apologies and genocide and things like that." RN: "But for the people like yourself, doesn't this apology mean something, is it worth having?" "You have to look at this issue from two different angles. I am a citizen of this country, just like all other people facing the same problems plus I survived genocide. So, sometimes - no, not sometimes, very often - I'm frustrated to see that it's only the survivors themselves who actually are still the only ones to keep this issue alive." "Now, this apology came ten years after we started our campaign for truth and justice. We want the truth and the punishment. There are others who may want the truth and the reconciliation. We think we should first get the truth and then speak about reconciliation." "Actually, we have not been quarrelling with anybody, so I don't see why I should reconcile with anybody. If the others are apologising to me, it's not only something I should think of, it's something that the entire population in Republika Srpska should think of. They are the ones who need to look in the eyes of the truth, you know, more than I have to do it." "I know everything that happened. I know what happened to my family. I was there when they were taken away and later killed. And this apology is a step forward, but I think there still is a lot to be done in the future before we can say that some sort of truth and justice was finally given to the survivors." RN: "Do you think now that the Serb government may make more efforts to capture Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic?" "It's almost ten years now, nine and a half years, so I don't know why an entity like Republika Srpska which has a police force and an army and which has foreign troops at their disposal would not be able to arrest ten, 15, 20 war crime suspects. It is very clear that there's no political will to do that, and also that these war criminals are still considered as heroes among the population in Republika Srpska. A great part of the population in some areas is proud of what these individuals have done. It's just a matter of lack of political will and they look at the whole problem from a different angle." (Taken from Reuters 2006-02-21)
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