“The Serbian government gave me assurances that it is intensely working on Mladić’s case, and I believe it is doing its best to fulfill this obligation,” Tadić said. “Having Ratko Mladić in The Hague – this would solve a series of problems Serbia and Montenegro faces on its path to European integrations, membership in the Partnership for Peace, modernization of our armed forces, and access to European Union funds.”
The detention of wanted war criminals, particularly Mladić and former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzić, is an important aspect of U.S. certification for economic aid to Serbia and Montenegro. In June, after the country transferred 12 indictees to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague, the U.S. Department of State certified the country for aid, but stipulated: “We expect all leaders in the region to arrest and transfer to the ICTY in The Hague all the remaining indictees still at large, particularly Radovan Karadzić, Ratko Mladić, and (Croatian indictee) Ante Gotovina.”
VOA broadcasts 90 minutes of Serbian programs daily, including the half-hour TV/radio simulcast Otvoreni Studio (Open Studio) and Vikend Studio (Weekend Studio). The VOA Serbian Service Internet page is at www.VOANews.com/serbian.
The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 100 million people. Programs are produced in 44 languages, including English.
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