U.N. prosecutor: Mladic will never give in

LUXEMBOURG, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- A U.N. prosecutor says Serbia's leaders do not have the political will to arrest Bosnian Serb war crime fugitive Ratko Mladic.

Carla Del Ponte, chief prosecutor of the U.N.tribunal in The Hague, told reporters in Luxembourg Monday her report on Belgrade's cooperation was "absolutely negative," Serbia's RTS radio-television reported.

She said she hoped the European Union would confirm its decision taken in May, when it put off association talks with Serbia until Bosnian Serb military leader Mladic is arrested and transferred to The Hague.

If Serbia continues working as it has been up to now, Mladic will never be arrested, Del Ponte said.

She said Belgrade is not looking for Mladic, but the Serbian government is trying to arrange his voluntary surrender. However, Mladic will never surrender himself voluntarily, Del Ponte said.

The U.N. tribunal is seeking Mladic on charges pf genocide and crimes against humanity in the former Yugoslavia from 1991 to 1995, including the massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in July 1995, and a three-year-long siege and shelling of Sarajevo.