Nato blamed for Bosnia failures

Carla Del Ponte wants more suspects arrested

The war crimes tribunal prosecutor for the former Yugoslavia says the court's most wanted man is free because Nato did not have the will to catch him.

Carla del Ponte says Nato had enough intelligence to find all the court's most wanted men, including former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic.

But she told the BBC that until recently there was not the political will to do it.

A spokesman for Nato said that her remarks were unfair.

Mrs Del Ponte says the situation has now changed, but it is too late as Nato is leaving Bosnia.

It will hand over peacekeeping duties to a new European Union force this Thursday, after nine years in Bosnia.

Shared frustrations

"You know, Nato is a strange instrument because Nato was supporting us a lot in what we have done in the field to obtain evidence, but Nato has always, always said they don't have the mandate to locate fugitives," Mrs Del Ponte told the BBC World Service Newshour programme.

Mr Karadzic and his military chief Ratko Mladic have so far evaded capture, including raids by the Nato troops.

Nato soldiers had a standing instruction to arrest anyone they come across during normal duties.

Former Bosnian leader Karadzic is suspected of war crimes

Nato spokesman James Appathuray said the alliance did not shy away from the task and it shares her frustrations.

"A lot of effort has been made," he told the BBC.

"This is a complex situation, it is a complex country and they have become very sophisticated at hiding themselves, but that doesn't mean no-one has been trying," he added.

The UN-sponsored war crimes tribunal would close in 2008, she said, whether or not all the wanted suspects have been captured.

But Mrs Del Ponte said she would ask for more time if the suspects had not been captured by then.

Just after the end of the war in the former Yugoslavia, there was a risk that peace would be jeopardised by the arrest of Radovan Karadzic, says the BBC's defence and security correspondent Paul Welsh.

Now that peace is more stable and Mr Karadzic been out of the public eye for so long, the risk is reduced, our correspondent adds.