UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY ENDORSES REPORT ON ICTY'S WORK

NEW YORK, Oct 28 (Hina) - The United Nations' General Assembly on Monday supported a report which Judge Claude Jorda compiled on the work of the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the past year. #L# The General Assembly condemned the conduct of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, describing it as completely unacceptable. The President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Judge Jorda, spoke about trial chambers, ongoing processes and trials and plans for the future. He said all processes, including the appeals proceedings, should be completed in six to eight years. He also informed about the financing of the tribunal. During a discussion on the report, representatives of Bosnia- Herzegovina, Croatia, FRY, Denmark as the current chair of the European Union, Malaysia and Norway expressed their stands. The Bosnian Ambassador, Mirza Kusljugic, expressed objection to the fact that notorious war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic were still at large. The diplomat said this affected the stability and the process of reconciliation in his country. Responding to the criticism levelled against Belgrade, Yugoslav representative Dejan Sahovic said that cooperation by the FRY had substantially improved and that the current problems were the actually repercussions of the previous blockades. Danish representative Metter Dissing disagreed with it. She described as absolutely unacceptable cases such as the failure to arrest and hand over ICTY indictees and a lack of cooperation with regard to documents and witnesses. On behalf of the EU, the Danish diplomat said it was high time Croatian authorities apprehended and extradited generals Ante Gotovina and Janko Bobetko. Similar remarks were voiced by representatives of Norway and Malaysia. Jorda and the ICTY's chief prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, will submit their report to the UN Security Council on Tuesday. (hina) ms