U.S. lifts Yugoslavia aid freeze

Martic leaves Belgrade bound for The Hague

THE HAGUE, the Netherlands -- The U.S. has lifted a freeze on aid to Yugoslavia, but U.N. prosecutors have attacked Belgrade for allegedly not cooperating fully with the war crimes tribunal.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said funds would again be able to start flowing to Yugoslavia after talks on Tuesday with Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, one of the more pro-Western members of the new Yugoslav regime.

Powell said the freeze would be lifted because of new laws passed in Belgrade concerning war crimes suspects and several voluntary surrenders.

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About $40 million in U.S. aid has been frozen since March 31 when the U.S. insisted Yugoslavia hand over its suspected war criminals.

But United Nations prosecutors have accused the new Yugoslav regime of not fulfilling its part of a bargain to arrest and transfer war crimes suspects from the 1990s Balkan Wars to the International War Crimes Court for the former Yugoslavia.

Five suspects have surrendered themselves to the court in The Hague, but 18 are still believed to be at large in Yugoslavia, including Radovan Karadzic.

Only former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has been forcibly handed over.

Deputy Prosecutor Graham Blewitt at The Hague told Reuters news agency: "We find the level of cooperation to date with the tribunal by the Belgrade authorities leaves a lot to be desired."

Florence Hartmann, spokeswoman for chief prosecutor Carlo Ponte, added. "We have yet to see our access to documents, archives, witnesses and the arrest of the remaining fugitives."

Last month the reformist Belgrade government told suspects to surrender or face arrest.

Five have now turned themselves in, including ex-Yugoslav army General Mile Mrksic and former Serb Croat rebel leader Milan Martic, but 18 other suspects are still believed to be at large on their territory.

Martic has denied committing warcrimes in Zagreb. (Full story)

Bosnian Serb Dusan Knezevic, charged with committing atrocities against Croats and Muslims at two prison camps in 1992, on Saturday became the latest suspect to surrender to the tribunal.

But notably absent from The Hague's docks, apart from wartime Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic, is his military commander Ratko Mladic.

The tribunal's most wanted men have so far eluded attempts to arrest them and bring them to justice.