The hunt for Ratko Mladic

The Serbian authorities are doing their damndest to convince international prosecutor Carla del Ponte that they’re serious about catching indicted war criminal Ratko Mladic. To wit, Serbia just announced that they sacked five police officials for inadequate zeal in pursuing Mladic. The authorities have good reason to tout their seriousness: negotiations with the European Union hang in ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.
606818_mladic8.jpg
606818_mladic8.jpg

The Serbian authorities are doing their damndest to convince international prosecutor Carla del Ponte that they're serious about catching indicted war criminal Ratko Mladic. To wit, Serbia just announced that they sacked five police officials for inadequate zeal in pursuing Mladic. The authorities have good reason to tout their seriousness: negotiations with the European Union hang in the balance.

The Serbian authorities are doing their damndest to convince international prosecutor Carla del Ponte that they’re serious about catching indicted war criminal Ratko Mladic. To wit, Serbia just announced that they sacked five police officials for inadequate zeal in pursuing Mladic. The authorities have good reason to tout their seriousness: negotiations with the European Union hang in the balance.

Mladic is one of a handful of men on the lam for genocide and crimes against humanity. Many of them have benefited from the drift in international attention occasioned by the war on terrorism. The EU, to its credit, has kept steady pressure on Serbia, and my guess is that they’ll cough up Mladic at some point soon. 

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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