Del Ponte demands Bosnian help

The Hague wants Mladic and Karadzic to be handed over

The UN's chief war crimes prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, has condemned Bosnian Serbs and Croats for their lack of co-operation with the Hague tribunal.

Ms Del Ponte said she was now planning to set up her own team dedicated to tracking down war crimes suspects within Bosnia.

Carla Del Ponte: wants own tracking teams

The wartime Bosnian Serb leaders, Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic, are currently at the top of the Hague's most wanted list.

On Tuesday Ms Del Ponte called on Serbia to help arrest General Mladic and transfer him to The Hague. Mr Karadzic is rumoured to have taken refuge with communities of monks in northern Montenegro and eastern Bosnia.

Apart from Mr Karadzic, the Hague tribunal believes about 20 other war crimes suspects are believed to be on the territory of the Bosnian Serb entity, Republika Srpska (RS).

Ms Del Ponte said both RS and the Bosnian Croats in post-war Bosnia's other entity, the Muslim-Croat federation, were not fulfilling their obligation to hand over indicted criminals.

Tracking team

"I am sure, if I can put in place my own tracking team, that I will locate fugitives in Republika Srpska, if the government is not co-operating," she said.

She called on liaison officers from each ethnic group to be appointed as go-betweens with the tribunal.

We do not know his whereabouts, he is not our citizen and the Serbian government does not have jurisdiction over this case

Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic

Wolfgang Petritsch, the head of the international mission in Bosnia, also pledged to help in bringing pressure on the authorities.

On a visit to the Serbian capital, Belgrade, on Tuesday, Ms Del Ponte received promises of assistance from the authorities there.

But the Serbian Prime Minister, Zoran Djindjic, rejected her suggestion that the government knew the whereabouts of General Mladic and that he should be handed over.

"We do not know his whereabouts, he is not our citizen and the Serbian Government does not have jurisdiction over this case," he told Belgrade's B92 radio.

'Difficult to arrest'

On Tuesday, S-For gave the clearest statement yet that it is able to keep track of Mr Karadzic and General Mladic.

Around 20 war crimes suspects are thought to be in the RS

"These men do not reside in Bosnia. They do come into Bosnia, but often times they come in quickly and exit quickly and that makes them very difficult to apprehend," said General Michael Dobson, the outgoing commander of the international S-For troops in Bosnia, though he refused to be specific about the men's whereabouts.

The UN tribunal indicted the two men six years ago for their role in the 1992-1995 siege of Sarajevo and the 1995 massacre of up to 8,000 Muslims in the town of Srebrenica.

The BBC's Paul Wood in Belgrade says General Mladic is thought to spend time in the Serbian capital.

He says facts about Mr Karadzic are hard to come by.