Key minister quits over failure to make arrest

SERBIA: Serbia's ruling coalition suffered its first serious blow in two years yesterday when a key minister quit over the government's failure to arrest fugitive Ratko Mladic and the resulting rebuff by the EU.

Deputy prime minister Miroljub Labus said he was resigning because prime minister Vojislav Kostunica's failure to keep a promise to detain the wartime Bosnian Serb army commander had blocked the way to Europe and betrayed the people.

The move prompted a warning of political crisis and instability - the very outcome the EU is anxious to avoid. Mr Labus said his liberal G-17 Plus party would support the minority government for now, but decide on May 13th whether to stay in the coalition or pull out, triggering an election.

Serbia's ultranationalist Radicals have a clear lead in opinion polls.

"The European Union suspended stabilisation talks because your government, contrary to your promise, did not secure the political conditions for the continuation of talks," Mr Labus said in a letter of resignation to Mr Kostunica.

"As deputy prime minister and head of the negotiating team for EU accession, I want no part in such politics," he wrote. But Mr Kostunica said the EU move was unfair and insisted his government was doing all it could to deliver the genocide suspect.

"In view of the fact that his entire network of helpers has been uncovered, Ratko Mladic is now hiding completely alone. The question now is . . . to discover where he is hiding," he said.

Few Serbs were surprised by their government's failure to deliver Mladic to the UN war crimes court or by the political crisis now looming. Mladic disappeared soon after the arrest of former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic in 2001, having lived openly in Belgrade for several years following his indictment by the UN for crimes against humanity.

And though some of his Bosnian Serb deputies from the 1992-95 war were later captured or surrendered to the tribunal at The Hague, the elusive Mladic became the stuff of legend among the many Serbs who still regard him as a hero.

From mountain missile bases to luxury apartments of Belgrade allies, Mladic has been reported in a variety of locations recently, staying one step ahead of security services that appeared to finally be gaining on their man. - (Additional reporting from Reuters)