"This is the only remaining obstacle to the cooperation of Croatia with the ICTY. As soon as Gotovina will be in The Hague, it will be possible to say that, indeed, Croatia is cooperating fully with the Tribunal," she said.
"Should international pressure recede in this case, this will be perceived as a signal that the international community may not be interested anymore in having the most senior leaders responsible for the most serious crimes, including (Radovan) Karadzic and (Ratko) Mladic, appearing in front of the ICTY," del Ponte said.
She said that since his disappearance in June 2001, when Croatian authorities informed him of the existence of a sealed indictment against him, Gotovina had repeatedly been seen in Croatia, the last time in the summer of 2004.
"In the course of this spring, Croatia has apparently stepped up its efforts to locate and arrest Gotovina. However, doubts may be raised concerning the efficiency of those measures, or even their seriousness, as they have not produced any concrete results so far, not even relating to his whereabouts inside or outside of Croatia," the chief prosecutor said.
She went on to say that there were strong indications that Gotovina, "whose public image of a national hero is not denied by anyone, has enjoyed, and continues to benefit from a well-organised support network, including within state structures".
Stressing that Gotovina's transfer to The Hague was of paramount importance for the tribunal's exit strategy and overall achievements, del Ponte said that until this happened, it would mean that those networks were stronger than that part of the Government which genuinely wanted to cooperate fully with the tribunal.
Speaking about Gotovina as one of the most wanted ICTY fugitives, alongside Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, del Ponte said that if those men were not extradited to the ICTY in the next few months, deadlines for the tribunal's exit strategy would have to be re-examined.
Croatia's Assistant Justice Minister Jaksa Muljacic, who is in charge of cooperation with the ICTY, said that del Ponte's report was "objective and within expectations".
Muljacic said that del Ponte "stressed that efforts to locate and arrest Gotovina have been stepped up" and that she confirmed that Gotovina was the only remaining obstacle to Croatia's cooperation with the tribunal.
Asked about her assessment that Gotovina also enjoys the support of some state structures, Muljacic said that this was not true. "I am certain that he does not enjoy support within state structures."
In her report, del Ponte also underlined positive developments in the case of Miroslav Bralo aka Cicko, mentioning his voluntary surrender and transfer to The Hague on 12 November in the context of trans-border cooperation which she said should be supported.
Muljacic confirmed that Croatian state bodies played "a positive role" in the resolution of the Bralo case.
Del Ponte criticised the authorities of Serbia and Montenegro and Republika Srpska for refusing to arrest ICTY fugitives, stressing that at least ten of 20 fugitives were in Serbia.
She singled out as the only positive examples the transfer of Ljubisa Beara from Serbia and Montenegro and the Bosnian Serb government's report on the Srebrenica genocide.