Posted on 02/21/2006 3:25:30 PM PST by presidio9
Gen. Ratko Mladic, the fugitive Bosnian Serb commander accused of orchestrating Europe's worst massacre of civilians since World War II, has been located in Serbia and authorities are negotiating his surrender, security officials said Tuesday.
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Mladic, considered the most ruthless commander of the Balkan wars of the 1990s, "has not yet been arrested," one official who is close to the operation to find Mladic told The Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not entitled to speak to the media.
Another security official, also demanding anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information and fears of jeopardizing negotiations, confirmed that Mladic's "hiding place has been discovered in recent days."
Both officials refused to specify the exact whereabouts of Mladic's hideout, but the private Beta news agency said the former commander was found on Cer Mountain, some 60 miles west of Belgrade on the border with Bosnia. Beta did not cite its source.
Earlier, the Belgrade-based agency reported that "an operation was in progress to locate" Mladic. It also did not name the source of that information.
Chief U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte repeatedly has said Mladic is in Serbia and "in the immediate reach of the authorities."
"We have said for the last 10 days that the arrest could take place very quickly," her spokeswoman, Florence Hartmann, said in The Hague, Netherlands.
Serbia is under intense pressure from the European Union and the U.S. to capture Mladic, charged by the war crimes tribunal with genocide for allegedly ordering the massacre of 8,000 Muslim boys and men in Srebrenica and for the 1992-95 siege of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo.
State news agency Tanjug, quoting Bosnian Serb BN television, earlier reported that the 62-year-old Mladic had been arrested and was "being transported" to the U.S.-run air force base in Tuzla, eastern Bosnia. Mladic was to be flown to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, the report said.
But Srdjan Djuric, spokesman for Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, told the AP in a statement that Mladic had not been arrested. He called the Tanjug report a "manipulation" meant to derail the government's efforts to detain him.
The contradicting reports on Mladic started with Kostunica's senior aide, Vladeta Jankovic, predicting earlier Tuesday that Mladic's arrest was imminent.
"Those who are searching have all means and are in full swing" in efforts to capture Mladic, Jankovic said. He said the government wanted to persuade Mladic to surrender.
"This problem has to be solved, and it will be solved in the shortest possible period," he said.
However, Jankovic said he had no information on whether Mladic's hiding place had been located or whether the government was involved in any negotiations for his surrender.
The conflicting reports caused confusion in Belgrade. There have been numerous incorrect reports in the past that Mladic had been located or captured.
Serbia, seeking to establish closer ties with the European Union and NATO, faces renewed international isolation if it fails to extradite Mladic to the U.N. tribunal in The Hague.
EU officials had given Serbia until the end of February — in a week — to hand Mladic over to The Hague and threatened to freeze EU membership talks otherwise.
Hartmann and officials at the EU and NATO said Tuesday they had no information about Mladic's reported arrest.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said he was not aware Mladic had been arrested or detained.
Mladic, who was head of the Bosnian Serb army during the war, is No. 2 on the tribunal's most-wanted list after Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader who remains at large. Mladic went into hiding in 2002 after Slobodan Milosevic was ousted as president in 2000.
The State Department has offered $5 million for the capture of Mladic, who was known to have made forays into Belgrade even as recently as a few years ago to dine and to watch soccer games.
Under an indictment last amended in October 2002, the U.N. war crimes tribunal charged the general with 15 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in 1992-95. If convicted, Mladic faces life imprisonment, the tribunal's maximum punishment. The U.N. court has no death penalty.
An estimated 200,000 people died during the Bosnian war and half the country's prewar population of 4 million were displaced.
I think you are full of it. Srevenica never happened except in the evil minds intentions of the Mooslems and their handlers.
That said, Mladic is being scapegoated by the Euro trashers establishment in their pell mell rush to placate the muzzies.
And by the way...the evil that was done was done on one side: the Mooslem side. I'll give you a tiny break: You sound naive as to what they are and how they operate...
What happened? Did you have something to do with crashing that site and are you glad it is down?
I remember you told me about that site years ago - and who was who.
You were fighting a lot with that Croatian woman who hates Serbs. For some reason she reminded me a bit of the White Witch in "The Chronicles of Narnia". She could be rather icy and arrogant towards those she disliked, she had an icon of a queen at one point, and I remember she was talking about how tall she was - like almost 6 ft - just like the character in the tale. If you have the chance, ask her how tall she is.
Last I checked Destro was fighting with her too.
he just brought up links, no substance to the table.
The links are informative and appreciated; the articles he posted were so too. You don't have to read what he posted - no one is forcing you too. So who are you to say what he can and cannot post and what others may want to read? I also thought he was good at debating - even without using links. Why don't you stop being his enemy and find another target of your crabby disposition? Go after the genuine Serb-haters more.
But how can you say it was Mladic and his snipers when the Bosnian Muslims had snipers and that they used and controlled buildings along the infamous "Sniper's Alley", according to top UN officers who were in Sarajevo and during the war.
http://www.un.org/icty/transe29/020705ED.htmWITNESS: DAVID FRASER
… JUDGE NIETO-NAVIA: And you told us yesterday that there were some BH snipers, units, somewhere. And do you know the positions of those snipers?
A. The BiH snipers?
JUDGE NIETO-NAVIA: Yes.
A. They would move around. We knew where there were some buildings.
We believed they fired out of the Unis building. And there were some buildings across the street and along sniper alley they would use. When we tried to press the corps, General Karavelic, about those positions or try to investigate where those positions were, we were always prevented or we couldn't find them. But we would actively go out and try to stop the BiH from doing these actions against -- based on if it was against nonmilitary targets on the other side. But we did the same thing on the Serb side. So we knew where the areas were, but snipers wouldn't go back to the same spot all the time because they wouldn't last very long.
----------
WITNESS: CHRISTIAN BERGERON
A. I am Lieutenant-Colonel Christian Bergeron. I am a member of Canadian Armed Forces.
…
A. Yes. I served with the UNPROFOR from April 1993 until April 1994. I started with the three weeks at the UNPROFOR HQ in Zagreb and then I was moved to the Sector Sarajevo until April 1994.
…
Q. One more question, Mr. Bergeron. How much were you informed about the activities of snipers of the BH army?
A. Again, I don't have very good knowledge of specific activities on such a date. But according to the reports that we received and what was observed on the ground, we knew that there were also obviously snipers who were operating on the Bosnian side.
I agree murder is murder monsters are monsters at least everyone will one day be judged
Wow all of three months ago, I am what we call a old bstard now too old to be of use according to some bloody law.
i would get back into uniform tommorow if I had the chance.
You want a real debate I will debate ya.
Just stop being a commando keyboard warrior with all your sarky put down comments
Tom, meet tony the UK warrior that knows all about Kosovo. He wants to debate. Will you be his huckleberry? (as ma bell microwaves some kettle popcorn..munch munch munch as the previews are shown til the main attraction)
Racak, was a hoax. I assume that you know that. Srebrenica was also to a certain extent. Racak was absolutely a Hoax and a scam.
One cannot debate the truth........
:) that's not a problem.....Does he think that Racak actually happened? What is the story?
you would be surprised fkin humans can debate anything depends how hard you are that is how much you want to back up with your fists, and how much a bstard you can be.,p>
LOL tanks mam
Well, you are right about that......one must be willing to die for what he believes in. If he's not willing to die, then he must abandon the point and concede or dabble in it.
So, the best "debator" is the one married more than once.......:) So, yes fueKnghumans kan absolutely debait anyting.....:)
and you can prob beat me in a argument. and it makes you feel good like you done something for your country
Enjoy that feeling LOL
naw.....you got me cornfused with someone else....I'm just an old grunt......
Per Mare Per Terram
Semper Fidelis
ooooouuuu rah.....
Puts a little light on the story you'd just told about not being on these threads for years.
Here's a bulletin: 3 months DOES NOT EQUAL years.
Is that necessary?
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