Serbia has told the EU it would soon arrest war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic, as the EU insists, but expressed concern that the dispute over Kosovo is driving the country further apart from the bloc.
Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic spoke with EU foreign ministers on Saturday in the first high-level EU-Serbia encounter since members began recognizing Kosovo's secession last month. To date, 18 of the 27 EU nations accept Kosovo's independence.
Jeremic said that EU nations' recognition of Kosovo was dangerous, counterproductive and illegal and that it played into the hands of nationalists running in Serbia's May 11 elections.
He told the ministers it was not certain that his own or other pro-EU forces in Serbia could win a legislative majority as long as Kosovo continues to be seen as an independent nation. He also expressed concern about the fate of Kosovar Serbs in overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian Kosovo.
"I am worried that today, Serbia is further away from the European Union than it has been in quite a while," Jeremic said at the ministers' meeting.
Jeremic said Belgrade realized its role in bringing Balkan war crimes suspects to the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague was key to normalizing relations.
"We shall locate, arrest and hand over Ratko Mladic and other remaining [war crimes] indictees," Jeremic told the EU ministers.
Speaking to reporters later, he said Belgrade's commitment to cooperate fully with the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague would lead "in the very near future" to handing over the last remaining indicted suspects -- "first and foremost General Ratko Mladic."
He did not elaborate.
Mladic is wanted on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, most notably committed at the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in 1995 during the Balkan wars.
The EU foreign ministers met separately with Kosovar Prime Minister Hashim Thaci.
Jeremic and Thaci did not meet at a sprawling country estate in northern Slovenia where the EU foreign ministers completed two days of talks on Saturday.
Thaci said that his country wanted good relations with all neighbors "including Serbia," and eventual membership in both the EU and NATO.
Recognition of Kosovo by most EU nations in the past five weeks has been a setback for the EU's already troubled relations with Serbia.
Wary of Serbia falling into Russia's embrace, the EU has made it clear the country is welcome to join in the years ahead. But a pre-membership accord is on hold because of differences over Kosovo and what is seen as Belgrade's foot-dragging on handing over Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader during the Balkan wars.
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
Does Argentine President Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept? Forced to respond to questions about his mental health, the president’s office has lashed out at “disrespectful” speculation. Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was asked about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, said to have died seven years ago. Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and today is believed to own four copies he refers to as “four-legged children.” Or is it five? In an interview with CNN this month, Milei referred to his five dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton. Conan,
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
French singer Kendji Girac, who was seriously injured by a gunshot this week, wanted to “fake” his suicide to scare his partner who was threatening to leave him, prosecutors said on Thursday. The 27-year-old former winner of France’s version of The Voice was found wounded after police were called to a traveler camp in Biscarrosse on France’s southwestern coast. Girac told first responders he had accidentally shot himself while tinkering with a Colt .45 automatic pistol he had bought at a junk shop, a source said. On Thursday, regional prosecutor Olivier Janson said, citing the singer, that he wanted to “fake” his suicide