BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: Bosnia and Herzegovina's High Representative Miroslav Lajcak stresses his full co-operation with Hague Tribunal

A visit by the ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte to Bosnia, has seen the country's new High Representative stress his co-operation with the Hague. Del Ponte says international cooperation is required to bring about the arrests of fugitives Karadzic and Mladic. Bosnia and Herzegovina's new High Representative stressed his full co-operation with the Hague Tribunal on Tuesday (July 10) during a meeting with the ICTY's Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte in Sarajevo. "I stress that for this office, office of the High Representative, as well as for the office of the EU Special Representative and for me personally, the full cooperation with the, with the Hague Tribunal is one of the priorities of my mandate of my mission here," said Miroslav Lajcak, who took over the position of High Representative on July 2nd. Del Ponte said that full cooperation with the Hague Tribunal meant that local authorities should either arrest or locate the fugitives wanted by the Hague to face war-crimes, such as Bosnian Serb wartime military chief Ratko Mladic and his political boss Radovan Karadzic. "I have only other important fugitives, four fugitives. And if I think as a prosecutor that Karadzic and Mladic are still at large and that this tribunal was created for the most responsible, I think that we must achieve that these only four fugitives are arrested," Del Ponte said. She also responded to criticism from members of the Association of Mothers of Srebrenica for not succeeding in arresting Mladic and Karadzic. "I was trying during the year to explain that it is not the prosecutor who can arrest Karadzic and Mladic," she said. "The prosecutor expect that the national authorities are providing with the help of the international, so, I will do the same. I will try to explain to the Mothers of Srebrenica that I still hope to get all the fugitives and I will go to Srebrenica of course, if I can fly to Srebrenica, but I think that when I'm there I have the full comprehension from them," Del Ponte added.

ITN Source | July 11, 2007

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