DEL PONTE REQUESTS THAT KARADZIC BE ARRESTED

SARAJEVO, March 27 (Hina) - The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Carla del Ponte, has again urged the international community to make efforts and finally apprehend Radovan Karadzic, a former Bosnian Serb leader. Following her meeting with the international community's High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Wolfgang Petritsch, in Sarajevo on Tuesday, del Ponte told reporters she would not stop insisting that all 38 war crimes indictees from the former Yugoslavia be arrested, but Karadzic was still among her top priorities. Del Ponte said she particularly looked forward to Karadzic's arrest so that he could be tried in The Hague together with Momcilo Krajisnik and Biljana Plavsic. She recalled that the three were suspected of the same crimes and it was only logical that they be tried together so that court processes would not be repeated unnecessarily. The ICTY prosecutor therefore called on the international community to make additional efforts so that Karadzic was finally arrested. High Representative Petritsch said the authorities of the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska also shared responsibility for the arrest of Karadzic and Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic. He recalled that the leaders of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) Mirko Sarovic, Dragan Kalinic and Dragan Cavic last December signed a document binding them, among else, to cooperate with the ICTY. Now that three months have passed, it is time for them to hand Karadzic over, Petritsch said. (hina) rml