"Croatia has taken all necessary steps to trace General Gotovina. He is at large and Croatia should not suffer damage for not being able to perform one task," Mesic said answering a reporter's question about the report which del Ponte submitted yesterday to EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
"All of our intelligence services and the Interior Ministry have checked all leads about Gotovina's possible whereabouts and they all proved false. I can say with certainty that according to information at Croatia's disposal, Gotovina is not in the country," Mesic said.
"However, we are still ready to check every piece of information, regardless of its source, and take all necessary measures. Croatia cannot be a hostage of one man and there is no reason for Croatia to protect anybody in the implementation of its law on cooperation with the Hague tribunal," Mesic said.
"I would like to use this opportunity to call on General Gotovina, who claims to have defended Croatia out of patriotism, to understand that Croatia is jeopardised by his escape and that he can confirm his patriotism by surrendering," the head of state said.
Mesic was also asked to comment on the statement by British Minister for Europe Denis MacShane that Croatia's security mechanism had failed in tracing Ante Gotovina. "It's not good for ministers of other countries to give offhand assessments about the functioning of other countries' security systems. We would never do something like that," Mesic said.
ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte asked European Union member countries in Luxembourg on Monday to exert pressure on Croatia and Serbia to extradite as soon as possible the accused who are still at large.
After giving the Council of the European Union her assessment of cooperation of former Yugoslav countries with the ICTY, del Ponte told a news conference she was confident the Croatian authorities would locate general Ante Gotovina by the end of November, but expressed disappointment with the fact that the fugitive general was not located before the summer.
When I talked to representatives of the Croatian government this spring, I believed that Gotovina would be arrested before the summer holidays, but that did not happen and I am very disappointed, del Ponte told the news conference.
I hope Croatia will locate Gotovina by the end of next month, because I will submit a report to the UN Security Council on November 23, del Ponte said and added that this was a very important deadline for the Croatian government.
At Monday's meeting in Luxembourg, EU foreign ministers adopted conclusions warning former Yugoslav countries that lack of complete and timely cooperation with the Hague tribunal could seriously undermine their further progress to the EU.