U.S. AMBASSADOR FOR WAR CRIMES TO ARRIVE IN BELGRADE

BELGRADE, Jan 21 (Hina) - The U.S. Ambassador for war crimes, Pierre Richard Prosper, will arrive in Belgrade on Tuesday afternoon for a two-day visit where he is to hold talks with Yugoslav and Serbian top officials on cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. #L# Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic told Belgrade's Radio B92 that Prosper's visit "should be taken seriously because he brings a clear message to the authorities in Belgrade - which can also be interpreted as pressure - on the necessity of cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal in order to promote relations between Yugoslavia and the United States. Announcing Prosper's visit, the U.S administration said last week that economic assistance to Yugoslavia could be jeopardised should Yugoslavia fail to show progress in cooperation with the Hague- based tribunal. During his stay in Belgrade, Prosper will try to convince the authorities to arrest and extradite ICTY high-profile war crimes suspects in Yugoslavia, primarily former Bosnian Serb leaders Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, as well as Veselin Sljivancanin and Miroslav Radic, indicted for war crimes committed in Vukovar in 1991. A law on economic assistance for Serbia worth US$115 million and further support to Yugoslavia in international financial institutions in the 2003 fiscal year is still on "the waiting list" in the U.S. Congress. The law was harmonised in the Senate and the House of Representatives back in September, but its adoption will depend on Belgrade's cooperation with the ICTY. (hina) it