DAYTON: MESIC, DEL PONTE HOLD CLOSED-DOOR TALKS

DAYTON, Nov 18 (Hina) - Croatian President Stipe Mesic on Saturday held closed-door talks with the chief prosecutor of UN's war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Carla del Ponte. The half hour talks were held at the Wright Patterson air base in Dayton, where both officials participated in a conference marking the fifth anniversary of the Dayton peace accords, which marked the end of the conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mesic wanted to learn about the tribunal's current activities, especially how the prosecutor's office intended to bring the chief accused war criminals under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Earlier today, del Ponte told the conference she was sure former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic would soon have his day in court. The Mesic and del Ponte talks were initiated by the Croatian president. Earlier today, he told the conference all signatories to the Dayton peace accords should continue or establish full cooperation with The Hague tribunal. He said the tribunal "is an instrument which will help us all face the dark sides of the past, and to consistently establish and individualise who the perpetrators of the crimes are is the only way to prevent the designation of any people's collective guilt." (hina) ha