DEL PONTE HOLDS TALKS WITH CHRIS PATTEN

ZAGREB/BRUSSELS, March 7 (Hina) - The chief prosecutor of the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Carla Del Ponte, has voiced dissatisfaction with the level of Serbia and Montenegro's, and to some extent, Croatia's cooperation with the tribunal. #L# At a meeting with the European Commission's representative for foreign affairs, Chris Patten, in Brussels on Friday, Del Ponte said that Serbia and Montenegro continued to cooperate partially and insufficiently, as did Croatia to some extent. The EC quoted Del Ponte in a statement as saying that Croatia failed to demonstrate true commitment to arresting the accused who were on its territory. Patten reiterated the stand of the EU's foreign ministers at their meeting in February stating that respect for international law was an important segment of the Stabilisation and Association Process. He added that full cooperation with the ICTY was important for the process of drawing closer to the European Union. After Thursday's talks with the EU's High Representative for the Common Foreign and Defence Policy, Javier Solana, Del Ponte harshly attacked Serbia and Montenegro for failing to arrest Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic. She slammed Croatian authorities over General Ante Gotovina, who is still at large. She added that she had come to Brussels to ask the EU to exert pressure on countries which were not cooperating with the tribunal. (hina) rml sb