ICTY CHIEF PROSECUTOR VISITS REGION TO ASSESS COOPERATION

THE HAGUE, Oct 16 (Hina) - The chief prosecutor of the international war crimes tribunal at The Hague, Carla del Ponte, will visit former Yugoslav countries next week to assess their cooperation with the tribunal, including access to archives and the execution of arrest warrants, del Ponte's spokeswoman Florence Hartmann told reporters on Wednesday. #L# During her visit, which is a regular one, del Ponte will on Monday visit Belgrade, where she will meet Yugoslav and Serbian officials. After Belgrade, del Ponte travels to Pristina and Sarajevo, and on Wednesday arrives in Zagreb for meetings with government officials, Hartmann said. Before visiting the former Yugoslavia, del Ponte will on Friday visit Tirana, Hartmann said, adding that the chief prosecutor had so far visited a number of neighbour-countries of the former Yugoslavia. Asked which requests will be put before Zagreb, Hartmann said that the prosecution insisted that General Janko Bobetko be arrested and appear before the tribunal. The Hague tribunal last month indicted the former Croatian Army chief-of-staff for war crimes committed in the 1993 "Medak Pocket" operation. Tribunal spokesman Jim Landale reminded that Zagreb had both the indictment and the arrest warrant and was therefore obliged to carry out the arrest. Landale and Hartmann confirmed that the chief prosecutor had recently brought up the question of Yugoslavia's cooperation with the prosecution at a meeting with tribunal president Claude Jorda. At the beginning of the Croatian and Bosnian part of the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic del Ponte pointed to problems in cooperation with Belgrade. In late October, Del Ponte and Jorda will submit to the UN Security Council a report on the tribunal's work, including a report on the countries' cooperation with the tribunal. (hina) rml