AN initial check has turned up no evidence to corroborate a report "that the Bosnian Serb military "commander, Gen Ratko Mladic, has been prevented from returning to Bosnian Serb territory, a senior US official said yesterday.
"After an hour of calling around . . . we don't have any evidence to corroborate that ... We have not been able to confirm it," State Department spokesman Mr Nicholasa-Burns said. But Washington "would be pleased if the report were true", he added.
A Yugoslav daily, the Betgrade Dnevni Telegraf reported yesterday that President Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia had prevented Gen Mladic from returning to Bosnian Serb territory.
Gen Mladic, twice indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia in The Hague, incensed the international community when he attended the funeral in Belgrade on Tuesday of Gen Djordje Djukic, who was also indicted by the same court.
Mr Milosevic signed the US brokered Dayton accords last December and is obliged to apprehend indicted war criminals like Gen Mladic and the Bosnian Serbleader, Dr Radovan Karadzic. But so far he has failed to deliver.
There has been growing pressure from the US and other members of the international community for Mr Milosevic to take action against Dr Karadzic and Gene Mladic because of concern their presence will sabotage Bosnia elections due by mid September.
Washington has accused Mr Milosevic of violating the peace accord on this matter and has threatened to extend existing sanctions and reimpose old sanctions on Belgrade if the two Bosnian Serb leaders are not arrested.
The president of the tribunal, Judge Antonio Cassese, complained to the Security Council yesterday about the failure of Serbia to arrest Gen Mladic, who was indicted last July for genocide and other atrocities against Bosnian civilians and again in November for genocide after the fall in July of the Bosnian town of Srebrenica.
Meanwhile, the UN war crimes chief prosecutor, Judge Richard Goldstone, yesterday was keeping up pressure on Dr Karadzic and, Gen Mladic to step down and answer genocide charges. Judge Goldstone said he expected the tribunal's two most prominent war crimes suspects would indeed face trial.
The tribunal said on Tuesday it would hold proceedings against the two men on June 27th.