Yugoslavia 'ready to cooperate'

Kostunica has previously said it is not possible to hand over the wanted men

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- Yugoslavia has agreed to surrender wanted war criminals to the United Nations, Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic said.

The government met in crisis after a U.S. deadline passed without any suspects being handed over to the tribunal based in The Hague, The Netherlands.

Washington was threatening to withhold up to $50 million in aid if Yugoslavia did not extradite the accused men - in particular four close aides of ex-President Slobodan Milosevic.

Svilanovic said: "We (made) a unanimous decision that, as a member of the U.N., we are obliged to fully cooperate with the tribunal and have asked all state bodies to fully cooperate."

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"I think that after such a decision all state bodies are obliged to cooperate with the Hague, which means ... to arrest those accused of war crimes and transfer them to the Hague."

Federal President Vojislav Kostunica has been under mounting pressure after Yugoslavia missed the U.S.-imposed deadline of midnight EST on Sunday 31 March (07:00 GMT Monday).

Serbian reformers are blaming Kostunica for what they say is Yugoslavia's worst crisis since Milosevic was overthrown 18 months ago.

Kostunica has repeatedly refused to hand over the four, saying Yugoslav law does not allow such action.

Djindjic: Wants suspects extradited

In an interview published on Monday, Kostunica blamed rivals in the Serbian government for allegedly obstructing a draft law regulating cooperation with The Hague.

Serbia, the dominant republic of Yugoslavia, and the federal government in Belgrade have long been at odds over cooperation with the war crimes tribunal.

Serbian cabinet ministers and Yugoslavia's foreign minister and deputy prime minister failed to find a resolution to the standoff during a meeting on Sunday.

Kostunica, who did not attend the meeting, has opposed cooperation with the U.N., accusing the war crimes tribunal of being anti-Serb and unjust.

But Zoran Djindjic, Serbia's prime minister, has favoured cooperation in hopes of improving relations with the West.

The four Milosevic aides, who all held senior positions during the 1998-99 Kosovo war, were charged for crimes against humanity on the same indictment as the former president.

They are;

Last June, over Kostunica's objections, Serbia turned over Milosevic to the international tribunal.

U.S. sanctions will not become official for several days. Secretary of State Colin Powell has to certify to Congress that Yugoslavia is not in compliance with the resolution.

In addition to holding up direct U.S. aid, the failure to meet the deadline may also hurt Yugoslavia's chances of obtaining sorely needed economic assistance from the International Monetary Fund and other international bodies.