NATO force chief 'knows' where Karadzic is

SARAJEVO, SEPT. 5. The chief prosecutor of the U.N. war crimes tribunal on Wednesday said she hoped a meeting with the NATO commander in Bosnia would reveal the whereabouts of her court's two most sought-after suspects.

Ms. Carla Del Ponte spoke a day after U.S. Gen. Michael Dodson, outgoing commander of NATO-led peacekeepers in Bosnia, indicated he knew the locations of Mr. Radovan Karadzic, wartime leader of Bosnia's Serbs, and Mr. Ratko Mladic, his top general.

Ms. Del Ponte, who arrived from Belgrade, said she was ``very, very interested'' in what Gen. Dodson had to say, adding she was hoping for ``important information'' in the Tribunal's attempts to have the two detained and extradited for trial on charges of genocide during the Bosnian war.

Over 200,000 people were killed during Bosnia's 1992- 1995 war, which erupted when the Muslim-majority republic declared independence from Yugoslavia, sparking armed Bosnian Serb opposition. The U.N. tribunal in The Hague was created in 1994 to deal with war crimes committed in the area of former Yugoslavia.

Dozens of war crimes suspects have been arrested and tried in The Hague but many more are still at large, including Mr. Karadzic and Mr. Mladic. The two were indicted for their alleged roles in the massacre of thousands of Muslims in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica.

There has been no dependable information on the whereabouts of the two, though both are believed to have moved in and out of Bosnia. Mr. Mladic was occasionally sighted in Belgrade until recent months, while Mr. Karadzic was said to have sometimes visited his sick mother in Montenegro, which makes up Yugoslavia along with Serbia.

On her last visit to Bosnia in March, Ms. Del Ponte expressed exasperation with claims by Yugoslav and Bosnian Serb authorities and NATO commanders that they did not know their whereabouts.

While not mentioning Yugoslavia by name, Gen. Dodson said the arrests of Mr. Karadzic and Mr. Mladic would require a ``regional approach.'' He said his forces have failed to arrest the two because their mandate stops at Bosnia's borders, while most of the wanted suspects ``do not reside in Bosnia.'' ``They do come into Bosnia, we should fool no one about that. But often they come in quickly and exit quickly,'' he said. ``That makes them very difficult to apprehend.''

Ms. Del Ponte spoke after discussing further tribunal cooperation with members of Bosnia's three-person presidency. Muslim Presidency member, Mr. Beriz Belkic, told reporters afterward that the need to arrest Mr. Karadzic was discussed, as well as the responsibility of the Bosnian Serb authorities to take action.

Guard admits guilt

DPA reports:

A former Bosnian Serb camp guard pleaded guilty today to crimes against humanity at the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague.

The 41-year-old Mr. Dragan Kolundzija surprised the court by pleading guilty to charges that he persecuted Bosnian Croats and Muslims in the Keraterm camp in 1992 because of racist, political and religious reasons.

Earlier in the trial that began in January this year and involves two other accused, Mr. Kolundzija had pleaded not guilty.

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