Serbian minister quits over failure to capture Mladic

Dec 29, 2009, 14:33 GMT

Belgrade - The Serbian minister in charge of cooperation with the United Nations war crimes tribunal in the Hague resigned Tuesday over the failure to track down Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, making good on a pledge made earlier this year.

Rasim Ljajic handed to Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic his resignation as the head of a group called the Action Team, which is involved in the hunt for war crimes suspects still at large.

But he will remain the head of the National Council for Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, which is a separate body.

'The Council will continue to work closely with the Action Team and other bodies in concluding Serbia's cooperation with the Tribunal as soon as possible,' Ljajic said in a statement sent to Belgrade media Tuesday.

Earlier this year Ljajic, who is also Serbia's labour minister, said he would resign if Mladic were not arrested and handed over to the Hague tribunal by the end of 2009.

Serbia has to conclude its cooperation with the tribunal in the Hague by arresting remaining fugitives - Mladic and Goran Hadzic.

The arrest of Mladic, charged with genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, is a key condition for Serbia's progress towards membership in the European Union. Ratification of EU's pre- membership Stabilization and Association Agreement is on hold because of Belgrade's failure to arrest Mladic.